recommended player/reader for scratched disks?

[octeuron]

im in the process of backing up my dvd collection onto a harddrive, and stumbled upon a few disks that dvddecrypter could not read (i/o error)
initially i thought that the disks were unreadable however decided to try a laptop at work which was able to read and backup all 3 disks that mt laptop at home could not.
obviously the optical in my own laptop is not as good as the work unit (not sure if this is because the work laptop is a combo dvdrom/cdrw (not a dvd burner) or just simply a better brand) but regardless i would like to buy a external usb (slim?) dvd burner and was wondering which one is recommended as a known good reader

[jman98]

What exactly isn't readable - original purchased DVDs or your copies?

If it's the first one, you should be aware that DVDDecrypter cannot rip discs that use ARCCOS and similar copy protection methods. This has been true for years.

If it's your copies, we'll need to know what brand(s) of disc you have and approximately when they were made. Most consumer burnable DVD discs sold in the USA are garbage and it's been like this for some time. The situation is just getting worse as now good old (previously) reliable Verbatim has now switched to a lower quality manufacturer for some discs sold in the USA and Canada and it's probably very quickly going to reach the point where you simply cannot buy high quality media in any brick and mortar store in the USA and Canada and your ONLY choice will be to buy it online.

[classfour]

FYI: I have an external Panasonic LFD-521 for the "hard ones". Nothing else reads like it. It dates from 2002 - 2003. It was my second DVD burner (2X), quite expensive for the time, slow....but the best reader ever.


......Good Luck

[octeuron]

What exactly isn't readable - original purchased DVDs or your copies?

If it's the first one, you should be aware that DVDDecrypter cannot rip discs that use ARCCOS and similar copy protection methods. This has been true for years.

If it's your copies, we'll need to know what brand(s) of disc you have and approximately when they were made. Most consumer burnable DVD discs sold in the USA are garbage and it's been like this for some time. The situation is just getting worse as now good old (previously) reliable Verbatim has now switched to a lower quality manufacturer for some discs sold in the USA and Canada and it's probably very quickly going to reach the point where you simply cannot buy high quality media in any brick and mortar store in the USA and Canada and your ONLY choice will be to buy it online.

no it is not copy protection that is the issue (as i said, using same software on another laptop worked just fine)
it is the optical device.

i agree and am finding out the hard way that most blank dvdrs are crap.
especially the ridata dvdrs are most problematic... not a single scratch on the thing and my optical still cannot read it (although as ive mentioned the laptop at work can read them)
i do think that the sony 16x dvd-r are pretty good though... it is all i buy now and dont think ive had even one fail on me yet (although time will tell)

[octeuron]

FYI: I have an external Panasonic LFD-521 for the "hard ones". Nothing else reads like it. It dates from 2002 - 2003. It was my second DVD burner (2X), quite expensive for the time, slow....but the best reader ever.


......Good Luck

this is the exact sort of thing im looking for except that i dont think i can find an old unit like that.
im hoping to find a external usb unit that is a strong reader.

im thinking of getting this one:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151194