Any advice for ripping a badly scratched disc?

[Bix]

I'm trying to rip a pressed dual layer DVD (using my BTC OEMed IOMagic burner) and it's seems like there's a scratch or two that're too deep to get past (I've tried DVDFab HD Decrypter, RipIt4Me, and DVDShrink). Are there any remedies or am I screwed? I'm guessing it's the latter option but I figured that I'd double check.

Thanks!

[MOVIEGEEK]

You can try buffing the scratch with a toothbrush and toothpaste.
In my experience if DVDFab Decrypter or IsoBuster can't rip it then it's a lost cause.

[Bix]

Thanks.

Does the toothpaste buffing ever work?

[Weapon]

Try cleaning it with Isopropyl alcohol, and then using automotive wax on it. Buff it to a nice shine and try it. I read that on here some time ago and it worked.

[redwudz]

My advice would be to look around for a local CD music store with a polishing machine. They can often do it for a couple of dollars. The toothpaste method works best on a single deep scratch and takes a long, long time. But sometimes that's the safest way. Use a white tartar control toothpaste and some cotton balls. If you just have lots of small scratches, the polisher would be my first choice.

There are plenty of programs that can read a scratched disc, unfortunately they can't read the parts under the scratch, so some sort of polishing is usually the best if you want to recover most all the data. The wax method works sometimes, though mostly on small scratches.

[AlanHK]

IsoPuzzle is very persistent. It will keep trying to read the disk till it gets the data, or you stop it.

As for physically smoothing the scratch, yes, if you have a local company with a disk buffer that's probably the best option.

And IF ALL ELSE FAILS -- AND ONLY THEN, you can try smoothing the scratches with Brasso.
No doubt several people will follow up telling you I'm an idiot and it doesn't work. Whatever. I know that I have recovered data from several scratched-up disks by polishing them with Brasso, using a soft cloth, then washing and patting dry.
There aren't any "professional" disk polishing services around here I know of, so that was my only option.

One data point: Using Isopuzzle on one disk before and after I went from 94% readable to 100%.

Proceed at your own risk. No guarantees.

See eg: http://www.instructables.com/id/Re-surfacing-CDs-so-they-work-again.

[Bjs]

Don't touch anything made from plastics with alcohol or any petroleum based products, it will make them brittle over time.

Avoid anything related to polishes, such as the mentioning of "wax" ... some have no idea of what there talking about.

The toothpaste referred to is the one smokers use as it contains scrubbing particles to remove stains, non gel type, this helps.

The other trick is to get hold of the finest wet and dry sandpaper you can find to slowly remove the scratches, then polish the disc using something like polyglaze cut, used to restore dull car paint work, and wash thoroughly after, it works, but these things do take time and elbow grease. Try to get the one that dose not include polishing compound, you only want the buffing compound.

If your not this handy, take it to you local video store, as most provide some service for disc restoration, considering they have to service all those disc's their clients return scratched.

If you can find it, the product know as "wipeout" is absolutely brilliant.

I once scratched a dvd with a nail very deeply in front of a group at the local video store, used 400g wet and dry sand paper to remove the scratch, then a few drops and a few minutes of elbow grease, the disc played flawlessly in the shops dvd player. They were all surprised when I told them one bottle could easily do over 100 disc's.

Here's where you should have had a look > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XblrADLb0AU

Oh, and avoid those idiots that are using banana's to clean disc's, their taking about the wax, it fills the scratches, which is what you should avoid at all costs.

Finally, if the disc cannot be read 100%, then why do these people keep thinking that some kind of software will perform some kind of magical recovery ... because they dont understand how these things work.

[cal_tony]

I have tried everything above. Some procedures will work on one disk. Other scratched disks need another approach. I have found that over time, the DVD fab products keep getting better with scratched disks. Decrypter works well and has an added advantage in that in file mode you can skip the bad files, rip everything else than go back and rip what was bad. Usually just one vob. With Decrypter, you can remove the disk in the middle of a rip, re clean it or re polish it and the program will continue with the rip where it left off. Also, it seems to do better with a bad vob when it only has one to rip at a time.

Another thing I have used to check on what works with scratched disks is to scratch one of those clear spacer disks that come with a 50 pack and use everything mentioned above to see how clear the disk is after the procedure.

I have found that toothpaste and the plastic cleaners and re conditioners work very well on deep scratches but if you are not careful, they can introduce so many small scratches that in the end you are not any better off. When it comes to sandpaper, I have used 1500 grit wet with some success. I have one of those philips cleaners that you put the disk in and you close the device and rotate a knob that operates in a planarity fashion
I made some 2" circular sandpaper disks to fit the internal cushion of the Philips device and with water have successfully removed small scratches from disks. I follow that up with some auto buffing compound and than with wax and sometimes it works with one or the other mentioned rippers.

Something I have not ever seen mentioned is that with my limited knowledge of the disk making and reading process I get the feeling that some of these scratches confuse the program or the Dvd writer and your just not going to fix it. On occasion, using Decrypter, have seen just opening the writer door and closing it will allow the program to start ripping again. In other cases, especially if the error occurs near the end of a vob, I will exit Decrypter with whatever it has ripped of the vob and run Fix vts on whats left. Hopefully all that might be lost is just a snippet of the movie or an extra.

Finally, if the whole disk cannot be ripped, maybe just the movie can.

Tony

[babeflover]

scratched discs is the only reason i keep the following software: 1clickdvd, to me, has been better at this than anything other software. of course, you need a decrypter to work with it.

[AlanHK]

Finally, if the disc cannot be read 100%, then why do these people keep thinking that some kind of software will perform some kind of magical recovery ... because they dont understand how these things work.

Isopuzzle can't do magic, but it CAN recover a disk that is otherwise unreadable.
I've left it running overnight, it tries over and over, each time getting a few more sectors it missed on earlier runs.
It creates an ISO image of the disk, which you can open in any number of disk emulators and see what you can extractand get much more, perhaps all, of a video, where reading the actual disk would just freeze or crash.

[orsetto]

Try to find a video store or game store with a disc repair machine: its the easiest and usually most successful way to handle this. Unless the disc is irreplaceable, the other tedious DIY disc restoration tricks are usually too much effort: if you're very handy at such tasks and have patience, they work, if you have a short fuse, don't bother. On a pressed dual-layer disc, you may be really unlucky and the scratch may be at the exact spot where the idiot studio put an intentional "disc error" in a misguided attempt at copy protection: a scratch in one of these unfortunate sectors can be tough even for isobuster to patch up unless the scratch is buffed out really well.

[RickA]

Maybe try a program called Dead Disc Doctor. Might be worth a shot. It can be very slow from what I have heard, but has worked for others.

Cheers,
Rick

[redwudz]

One last bit of information probably should be mentioned. With many DVD burners/readers, trying to read a badly damaged disc can cause the unit to default to PIO mode. This can cause very slow reads and writes. If you are experiencing this after trying to read a damaged disc, check your device in 'Device Manager' and see if it defaulted to PIO mode. No optical or hard drive should be in PIO mode. Usually easy to fix by uninstalling the IDE channel.

And I have never recovered 100% of the data from a damaged disc without repairing the scratches, no matter what program I've tried.

[filmboss80]

Several suggestions have been offered. Before you spend any money, try the first suggestion: DVDFab Decrypter or Isobuster.

[lordsmurf]

Finally, if the disc cannot be read 100%, then why do these people keep thinking that some kind of software will perform some kind of magical recovery ... because they dont understand how these things work.

Isopuzzle can't do magic, but it CAN recover a disk that is otherwise unreadable.
I've left it running overnight, it tries over and over, each time getting a few more sectors it missed on earlier runs.
It creates an ISO image of the disk, which you can open in any number of disk emulators and see what you can extractand get much more, perhaps all, of a video, where reading the actual disk would just freeze or crash.

I don't think I was a fan of this software at first (it rejects a number of drives I tried), but I recently re-visited it since I've got more/different drives from last time. It did work with some degree of success. I was pleased overall.

[thecoalman]

Avoid anything related to polishes, such as the mentioning of "wax" ... some have no idea of what there talking about.

The toothpaste referred to is the one smokers use as it contains scrubbing particles to remove stains, non gel type, this helps.

Most automotive wax is slightly abrasive too, same effect as the toothpaste.

[fritzi93]

Dunno where I read it, maybe CDFreaks, but IIRC, DVDFabDecrypter did 7 retries, then ignored the bad sector. Maybe the latest version of DVDFabHDDecrypter still does 7 retries.

You can do the same with DVDDecrypter, set it to ignore read errors and set retries to whatever. So it's more flexible in that regard, for whatever that's worth. I've had good success with a thorough cleaning, then DVDDecrypter, and trying several different drives. Really, if Decrypter fails, I think polishing is the best option.

[victoriabears]

Never had this problem with VHS, its all safe in a nice enclosed shell.

Evil old fart from BC alert

[tinker]

I'm trying to rip a pressed dual layer DVD (using my BTC OEMed IOMagic burner) and it's seems like there's a scratch or two that're too deep to get past (I've tried DVDFab HD Decrypter, RipIt4Me, and DVDShrink). Are there any remedies or am I screwed? I'm guessing it's the latter option but I figured that I'd double check.

Thanks!

Go to Blockbuster Video store.
I got letter from them to brimg any scratched DVD and they will fix it for a little fee.
They fix their rantals.

[tinker]

Never had this problem with VHS, its all safe in a nice enclosed shell.

Evil old fart from BC alert

I hope you do not play them too often and keep them away from a magnet.

[victoriabears]

In close to 25 years, and 100's of VHS tapes, had less than ten screw up by getting wrinkled, and if stored properly they last at least 15 years.

Optical discs get damaged far too easilly and Hard drives fail too regularly.

[AlanHK]

In close to 25 years, and 100's of VHS tapes, had less than ten screw up by getting wrinkled, and if stored properly they last at least 15 years.

Optical discs get damaged far too easilly and Hard drives fail too regularly.

Here in tropical Hong Kong, humidity often reaches 97% for days on end.

Tapes rarely last longer than a year before they have a colony of fungus growing on them. So I'm very glad to move to discs. (Fungus and mould grows on them too, but I can just rinse it off.)

[lordsmurf]

I've several times read folks in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore griping about high humidity destroying their media. I don't believe it's being stored properly. The humidity there is 60-70% most of the time, not 97% (even the thickest part of the Amazon is never 95-100%). Those countries are no more special than Florida, and I don't see mass complaints from Miami.

Do people in Asia not live in temperature controlled homes, or work in temperature-controlled offices? If I stuck my video collection in my attic or garage, it'd probably die in a few months (or less) too!

Outside humidity/temps never match inside ones.

[AlanHK]

I've several times read folks in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore griping about high humidity destroying their media. I don't believe it's being stored properly. The humidity there is 60-70% most of the time, not 97% (even the thickest part of the Amazon is never 95-100%). Those countries are no more special than Florida, and I don't see mass complaints from Miami.

Do not call me a liar again.
I live in Hong Kong. You don't.
You keep pontificating about all kinds of things in Hong Kong, usually, as in this case, in the most insulting and dismissive and ignorant way.
Just STFU about things you have no clue about.

• [list:a222d55a79][list:a222d55a79]RH = Relative Humidity = 99% at this moment.

[/list:u:a222d55a79][/list:u:a222d55a79]

[noki]

toothpaste, NOT the gel type. the white cream type has just the right amount of abrasives. using cloth the wipe on rigoriously from inside ring to out (edge) is circular motion. wash off with cool water. dry.

else

Brasso metal polish. follow instructions on can. same application method as above. YES, it does indeed work!

good luck.

[lordsmurf]

Do not call me a liar again.

No, not a liar. Stupid, maybe. Or misguided.

Are you storing your tapes and discs outside in a mud hut or something? Does Hong Kong not have building made of sticks and stones, with climate control inside of them?

I've lived in very humid climate too, but the humidity INSIDE A BUILDING is nowhere near what it is outside.

Even if the RH % you show is true, it's not a related detail unless you store everything outside.

[AlanHK]

Do not call me a liar again.

No, not a liar. Stupid, maybe. Or misguided.

Are you storing your tapes and discs outside in a mud hut or something? Does Hong Kong not have building made of sticks and stones, with climate control inside of them?

I've lived in very humid climate too, but the humidity INSIDE A BUILDING is nowhere near what it is outside.

Even if the RH % you show is true, it's not a related detail unless you store everything outside.

"Stupid"?
"If it's true"?

Jerk.

[Baldrick]

lordsmurf and alanhk: Continue your humidity discussion using PM or somewhere else.