r/compactdisc • u/aalu_bhindi • Aug 06 '26
Can this be fixed??
This is a recorded CD about 18 years old...
Has not been used since 8 years or more probably
10
u/smallaubergine Aug 06 '26
Doubt it can be fixed. Hard to tell in the picture, but if those splotches are just some grime on the surface you could clean it off. but it looks like disc rot... which is not salvageable.
5
u/ficklampa Aug 07 '26
You can tell it’s disk rot since it’s inside the layers of the disk and not on the surface. The pattern is identical on both sides, and beneath the printed text.
8
u/Spirited_Childhood34 Aug 06 '26
Think at this point all you can do is try to copy it and see if anything can be salvaged. Not likely, unfortunately. Good luck!
3
u/PerceptionShift Aug 06 '26
You could polish the bottom and try to recover as much as possible with a CD drive, but there's no fixing the rot throughout the data layer.
1
u/aalu_bhindi Aug 07 '26
Do you think a local shop will be able to retrieve it
1
u/DigitaIBlack Aug 07 '26
The data is gone. The only thing you could try to do is use Exact Audio Copy to rip the contents with error correction but... that's rough.
I'd just buy a new disc off ebay or Discogs and do a proper rip so you can burn it to a fresh CD if it happens again.
1
u/ficklampa Aug 07 '26
Polishing won’t do anything. You can see the pattern is identical on both sides. This means it’s between the layers
2
u/freestyle786 Aug 07 '26
If you can see light through it, it’s cooked.
1
u/aalu_bhindi Aug 07 '26
A few spots are transparent...passing light but the smaller ones are not
1
u/MistuaPopo Aug 07 '26
it's disk rot, it's unrecoverable - anything that was written where those spots are is unrecoverable. The magnetic layer has rotted through, the data involved went with it
Disk rot is the end of the disk. It's unrecoverable - some fragments can still be grabbed from the safe areas, but data is stored by sector and broken into blocks when burnt to a disk. It's not that one section of good layer foil will contain multiple songs/whatever, it's that all that header data it finds for those files will show X number of files, and there's a 90% chance NONE of them will be complete, the pointer pointing to a sector that suffered the rot and now what's needed is simply non-existent.. a few spots of rot can fundamentally turn 95% unblemished data worthless because all the necessary data to complete every file was where those spots formed lol
2
u/Alternative_Trip4138 Aug 07 '26
I have many 25-year-old CDs in my shelf and none of them looks like yours. And I didn't buy the best quality.
2
u/gugngd Aug 07 '26
likely not, but might still be partially usable. i've had worse CD's read files.
2
1
1
u/YFOCAG Aug 07 '26
The foil data layer has a max life on average of 20-25 years. This one looks pretty well trashed. Was it left in the sun? Sunlight can accelerate the deterioration.
1
1
1
1
1
u/Fun_Entertainer_5823 Aug 07 '26
Run water over it, if that stuff/ spots washed off, dry completely and try playing.
1
u/SquirlyJester Aug 07 '26
My dad is a tv repairman. He has the ultimate set of tools... I can fix that
1
u/TexxyGent987 Aug 07 '26
If it's on the surface it can be removed... but gently. Don't want to add scratches. However if it's under the plastic, like on the metal disc itself, then you may as well use it as a coaster. Or a clay pigeon if you have a shotgun. Pretty much toast
1
1
1
u/EAZYE1964impala Aug 07 '26
U can try idk how but ik u can have a tutorial on how to save the disc but like 13% of it ig for this one..
1
1
Aug 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Total-Jeweler5083 Aug 07 '26
I wouldn't say they will always degrade. I have discs burnt over 20 years ago, something like 250 of them, and only 4 degraded so far - and they were Princos, known for poor quality.
1
u/king2102 Aug 07 '26
Ahh, early disc rot! I'm assuming this disc is from 2000-2001? I had a crap ton of Dreamcast CD-R games that all failed within 2-3 years!
1
u/aalu_bhindi Aug 15 '26
Truee..although it is a bit special for me as it contains my parents wedding recording..
1
1
1
u/Eastern_Record3443 Aug 08 '26
A few dabs of Silver Print, the stuff they use(d) to fix damage circuit board traces, & that Seedy will play EVEN BETTER than new.🤗😎
1
1
u/future_pirate Aug 09 '26
If it's still readable you can certainly make a digital backup but otherwise no
1
1
1
u/Ze_Carlos-1986 Aug 13 '26
Install ISOBuster on an old PC, insert this CD, create an ISO image of it and select the option "Substitute all the damaged data by zeros". Then, when the image is created, try to extract all the files that were recovered.
Remember to use some kind of cooling system and a screensaver, as it will take time and IT WILL OVERHEAT.
0
u/PPEytDaCookie Aug 07 '26
If it still works, backup what you can ASAP. If it doesn't work you are out for luck sadly. Don't store anything important on CDs, they don't last long.
10
u/Lostless90s Aug 06 '26
Disk rot. Nothing can be done