Copying old scratched up CDs?

To many ads? Support ODJT and see no ads!

The Wizard Of OZ

Well-Known DJ
Dec 13, 2007
3,130
50
65
Tampa Bay Area
A friend of mine called me all excited. She is an entertainer, a singing DJ. She's CD based and her dual deck rack mounted player was dying so she bought a new one. It came in and she installed it into her rack and even the old, scratched CDs played. I told her that we needed to back up these old CDs that she can't find anymore and she was so happy to hear that we could.

Normally I would just put them in a computer and rip them at a high bit rate, but she said she already tried and the PC CD drives won't read them like her new rack mounted dual player will.

So what's the best way to do this? I can use her mixer or my mixer hooked up to her dual CD player and then???
 
A friend of mine called me all excited. She is an entertainer, a singing DJ. She's CD based and her dual deck rack mounted player was dying so she bought a new one. It came in and she installed it into her rack and even the old, scratched CDs played. I told her that we needed to back up these old CDs that she can't find anymore and she was so happy to hear that we could.

Normally I would just put them in a computer and rip them at a high bit rate, but she said she already tried and the PC CD drives won't read them like her new rack mounted dual player will.

So what's the best way to do this? I can use her mixer or my mixer hooked up to her dual CD player and then???

This is what i have been using for almost nine years to convert Vinyl, cassettes etc to CDA. You can take an analog signal and make a MUSIC CD out of it. After that you can rip to mp3s. Its a pricey unit but worth its weight in gold.
I am sure that there may be other options to copy and convert.

http://www.usa.denon.com/productdetails/1954.asp
 
Thank you for the suggestion, but that's not an option. She doesn't have $600. I know she's spent a fortune over the years on CDs and has a large collection.

I was thinking about using audacity and hooking a pair of RCA jacks out from the mixer into the inputs on my Behringer UCA-202 USB soundcard, but that would take a very long time since it would be recording in real time. I've thought about it and that may be the only way to do it. I was hoping there was another way . . .

She seems to think that the reason her new deck can read CDs that other drives can't is because of the sampling rate or oversampling? I don't know. That may be it?
 
Ron:

Have you personally thought about a CD replicator for your business? You can use it to backup your CDs. Take a look here.
 
That may be a good option for her if it has that oversampling or whatever it is that her new dual decks has that allow them to read her beat up old discs. She said it even read one disc that was cracked. Another reason that duplicator might be a good idea is because she recorded a CD a couple of years ago of her singing. It was very professionally done and the production was first rate. She sells them for $10 a piece at her shows. I wonder how to find out if it will work with the beat up, scratched up old discs?
 
I have an older model replicator. If she doesn't mind going to the expense of mailing me one of the more scratched CDs I can see if it will replicate it and send it back.
 
Great idea, I'll talk to her tomorrow, thank you!!!
I just had another idea. I bought a program from PowerKaraoke for ripping Karaoke discs. I need to try it. MTU also has a ripping program that claims it can read even scratched up and damaged discs. Hmmmm......
 
You're going in the direction I was going to suggest. Try different rippers, and different cd rom drives. I'm told a program called EAC (exact audio copy) is a meticulous ripper, in terms of error correction (and scratches cause cd read errors). If different audio cd players have different reactions to these scratched discs, realize that different cd rom drives might, as well. I've been a fan of Plextor.

If none of these suggestions lead to success, I'd suggest getting the cds resurfaced, and then immediately copying them and putting them into storage, while using the copies to play, from that point on. There are consumer grade resurfacing kits that are in the $30 range, and commercial unit that are in the $1000 range. You can find the commercial units in some cd stores, and some game stores (game discs get scratched, too), and pay per disc to have them resurfaced.
 
I've seen some of her discs and they are the worst I've seen. I don't know how they play at all in ANY drive. I doubt they can be resurfaced or repaired in any way. I don't know why she didn't try to back them up a long time ago before they got so bad? Who knows, maybe they CAN be resurfaced/repaired? Maybe she should look into it? I will let her know.

I don't think she's very technical oriented. I helped her with her computer a few weeks ago, some fairly simple stuff. She has a great voice and she's a very good entertainer. This lady has helped me get some gigs and helped me get started in the business and I feel obligated to try to help her in any way that I can.
 
Look into resurfacing. The places locally don't charge you if it doesn't fix the disc. Imagine her thrill if you succeed. I did this for wedding clients, who had a rare import CD with a bonus track (unreleased in the U.S.), which they wanted to use for their dance. As scratched by a small child, it was unplayable when they let me borrow it. I returned it, working, and it was a terrific first dance.
 
there is also programs that can recover the data from the cds

you may want to also look into that just in case
 
there is one that I have used well is called "CD Roller"

located here: http://www.cdroller.com

best $30 you will ever spend


also you can look at

Bad CD Repair

located here: http://solidlabs.com

so look at both and see what works for you

need any info just pm me
 
Look into resurfacing. The places locally don't charge you if it doesn't fix the disc. .

Agreed. Except for label side damage, almost EVERY CD can be repaired with professional re-surfacing.

Deep scratches require deeper re-surfacing, and it's a good idea to copy on to a fresh disc when done.

Also, resurfacing, then scan & correction software will definitely make them like new.
 
Agreed. Except for label side damage, almost EVERY CD can be repaired with professional re-surfacing.

Deep scratches require deeper re-surfacing, and it's a good idea to copy on to a fresh disc when done.

Also, resurfacing, then scan & correction software will definitely make them like new.

Sorry Joe there is a little problem if the CD looks like this...

CD-dont-do-this.jpg
 
Sadly it seems that I am more concerned about it than she is. It's weird. I feel strange almost begging someone to help THEM. As much as I would like to help her, she doesn't seem to care very much about it. Oh well . . .
 
The example in the photo could not be resurfaced and repaired... could software recover a disc that badly damaged?
 
Which is why a said in my previous post " Except for label side damage..." :sqerr:

lol yes that would be a problem, there is no way of retrieving data on a CD that looks like that....

anyway thats what happens
 
The example in the photo could not be resurfaced and repaired... could software recover a disc that badly damaged?


Standard software or anything else could not fix it. I have heard of data recovery specialists that have the equipment to read on the micro level to pick up data, but have no experience with them.