Old HD burn CD's Need Software

[larrylwill]

I am running Win 7 and found a bunch of HD burn Cd's I burned with my Optorite CD/DVD burner. I have since moved way on, However I would like to recover whats on these CD's. Does anyone know of any software that will allow me to read those disks? I know Nero 5-6 or something in that range supported it but it wont run on win 7 even in compatibility mode. It doesn't recognize either or my drives.

[Cornucopia]

ISOBuster (as long as the drive firmware supports those discs).

Scott

[larrylwill]

I burned them with that drive. I have a copy of Iso Burn and it recognizes the drive and other CD's but the HD burn CD shows as a blank CD.

[Cornucopia]

ISO Burn is NOT ISOBuster. Don't know WHAT the former can do. The latter should be able to read HD-Burn discs (if the drive supports 'em).

However, if you still have trouble, Get an XP pc and put your original burner & Nero on it. Transfer the discs' data, and then say goodbye to those discs and XP...

Scott

[larrylwill]

Sorry Typo.

I burned them with that drive. I have a copy of Iso Buster Pro 2.8 and it recognizes the drive and other CD's but the HD burn CD shows as a blank CD.

[jman98]

I had to look it up but HD burn was a proprietary format. Your options are going to be VERY limited here.

If you have Win 7 Ultimate you are allowed to download a free XP virtual machine from Microsoft. If you don't have Win 7 Ultimate then you can download the free VM Player from VMWare and install Windows XP to it. You should be able to install Nero 5 or 6 to that. It's up to you to acquire Nero 5 or Nero 6 and Windows XP.

I did read that HD Burn burners required a special firmware update. If you updated your burner's firmware since you made these discs that might be why you can't read them. Your drive is pretty old so it could just be going bad after all this time.

[larrylwill]

I have another computer running Xp, I can put that drive on that one. The firmware only got to V160 which came out not too long after I bought it. So I should be ok. I had a Samsung burner with HD burn and bought the Optorite because it also had HD burn. I was able to read all those disks because they all were written after the firmware update on the Opterite. I will try it on the XP computer.
I also have some copies of Nero 5 and 6. Thanks for your help.

[frank2]

Just like you OP, my Optorite DD0201 had problems reading any of my approximately 200 (8-yr old) HDBurns, had some problems with DVDs, yet it had no problems with CD.

Though the problem isn't the operating system, it's the age (and diminishing strength) of the burner's DVD laser. I resolved my problem by updating my firmware to 1.60E, and adjusting the laser's pot a scant 1/4 turn. This was just enough for a fair percentage of the discs to be readable under Window 7 x64 Ultimate and *only*extracted error-free using ISOBuster.

For the remainder of the discs, I might just have to start scouring the Internet for a duplicate drive. Just realize that a similar drive (of the same age) might just have the same problem. I personally have learned my lesson and will never again mess with proprietary formats! It would have saved me lots of time and frustration.

[larrylwill]

Mine was already 1.6E and I can read CD;s but not the HD burns with ISO buster. I will try to adjust the laser thanks for the reply.

[frank2]

Mine was already 1.6E and I can read CD;s but not the HD burns with ISO buster. I will try to adjust the laser thanks for the reply.

Can you read DVDs? Because there are two lasers, one for CD, and one for DVD. HDBurned CDs also use the DVD laser.

BTW, the two pots are located on the underside, the DVD pot is the farthest from the front of the player.

Another trick to try, use car polish to shine up the CD layer and increase reflectivity. This worked for a few of the more stubborn ones.

[larrylwill]

Frank2:
Right now Im backing up HD's on 2 different computers and installing a new MB/CPU/Memory on a 3rd. As soon as I get one free I will check a DVD and thanks for the locations of those pots and the polish idea.
Larry

[frank2]

No problem. I actually created an account to reply to your message. There's absolutely no recent information on these older HDBurns, so I just wanted to share my experiences.

I marked the pot with ink as a reference point to relative zero, and then turned it approximately 1/4 counterclockwise. Just be careful, too much power can burn out the laser. You can also measure the voltage increase with a multimeter.

[larrylwill]

Will do, Ill let you know the results. Maybe late tonight if not tomorrow. I beleive all of the backups I have and most are my stash of programs back to the 90's probley don't need them anyway. However Im really not sure.
Again thanks

[larrylwill]

Well looks like Im out of luck. I have a DD0401, Must be way different from your DD0201.
I put it on a computer with Xp and loaded iso buster. I put in a couple of DVD movies and it read them. I then tried a couple of CD's. It wouldn't read them. I then tried a few HD cd's. Iso Buster Pro 2.8 showed blank CD's. I opened the case and there are NO pots. The circuit board is just surface mount IC's and a couple of caps. I also only found 1 laser. The HD cds are pretty clean, they havent been used much.

[frank2]

The pots are tiny and very hard to see. Mine are on the underside of the laser assembly near two R00 resistors. I took this picture, perhaps it might help.

[larrylwill]

You are correct, I hadn't taken the bottom board off to be able to see the bottom of the laser board assembly. I had to remove 3 ribbon cable to get at it. Ill try again today.

[larrylwill]

I tried adjusting the pot but this is what I found. When I put in a DVD, the head comes in to the inside and the laser comes on and it reads the DVD, but when I put in a normal CD or HD CD THe head comes in the Laser blinks a couple times but then goes out and It does not read a disk. I suppose its looking for a track to see if its DVD or CD but the CD portion doesnt seem to be recognized or there are 2 lasers in the eye and one is burnt out.