Alone in the Dark

[walker72]

I was having trouble with this one it kept saying power shortage and would not read it and just if anyone else is having this trouble or any other problem you might want to try and slow down your read speed. I had to go from 4x to 2.4x in order to back this one up. Maybe this will help someone in the future.

[Jman 31]

One thing for sure is to make sure that your source disk is clean and free of major scratches. It only takes one good fingerprint in the right place to mess up a disk read.

[sadalius]

Thats for sure Jman. When I first started making backups of my games and movies and such, it took me a couple of times before I started the habit of just cleaning the disk before I even tried to back it up. I've even been able to get a few rips even though I thought the disk would have been too badly scratched up before just by cleaning it very well.

[Digital Menace]

i just give it a spit shine with my shirt....usually does the job.

lol...that is if the disc is readable...u won't overcome bad scratches with nothing but another disc or if u resurface it.

[walker72]

I clean all of mine first with a alcohol pad before I put them in the tray-- it was something co free told me in the beginning.

[sadalius]

You guys might not believe this, but I've actually had a few of disks that I thought were just plain toast. But I recovered most of them. I've not had this trick work on every scratched up disk that I've ever ran across, but it does work in my opinion. I'll tell ya what I did, then explain why I think it works.

First I cleaned the disk in a normal manner. Then used an alcohol pad. Then I would try the disk just to make sure that wasn't enough to get a read out of it. When it failed the read, I took Vaseline, petroleum jelly to those that aren't familiar with the brand, and got a small amount on my finger tip. Then I rubbed it onto the data side of the disk in a circular motion, almost like polishing it. I would keep getting a small amout on my finger tip and putting it on the disk like this till I had the whole surface covered with a thin layer. Then I took a Kleenex, and yes I used the Kleenex brand because they are pretty soft and I thought those would not cause further scratchin, and polished the Vaseline back off. Then I could get a read out of the disk so I could rip it.

Why I think this works is I think the Vaseline fills the scratches and since when its spread out, its pretty much a clear substrate, allows the laser to read the data. Even though the majority of the Vaseline is removed in the polishing process, most of the scratches remain filled with the Vaseline. I've done this several times and have only twice had it not to work. but those disks look really bad.

Try it if you like and post back if you do and if it worked. I won't be disappointed if it doesn't work for you, so give it go if you want, after all, if it isn't reading, whats it going to hurt?

[CoFree]

whole surface covered with a thin layer

got a small amount on my finger tip

i do believe this would work.as long as you do not put on to much.you must clean it well before you put it back in your sh-d162c dvd drive..if the vaseline gets on your laser lens,you would then need to clean it.
i have never had to do it myself.

if i cant get it a dump to work, after a good cleaning.i run it through a resurfacer.
like this.
http://www.nextag.com/Digital-Innovatio ... 9185ED1CAC" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
it has worked every time even with some bad scratches on the disc.

edit:
i was talking about the sh-d162c reading dvd drive.

[sadalius]

Keep in mind that I use the Vaseline with the intention of making a backup, so the Vaselined disk does not get put into a console. Just so I can get a backup of the damaged disk.

[CoFree]

sorry about that man.
i was thinking about the sh-d162c dvd drive.

I picture someone getting a handful of Vaseline and plopping it on the disc,rubbing it around and in the sh-d162c drive it goes.

that would be bad news for sure.

[sadalius]

No worries man but yeah, well, I make no warranties if someone does something like that. Just make sure to use a very small amount. When you get done, the disk should look as if it has no Vaseline on it at all. That way, the only thing that would have any Vaseline on it would be the scratches and there should be enough surface area in a scratch to hold the Vaseline in place. Remember, when you get done, the disk should not have any visible Vaseline on it.

[Jman 31]

Keep in mind that kleenex, paper towels and toilet paper are all wood based products. They themselves will scratch the surface. It is best to use a soft piece of cloth or eyeglass rag to clean anything you do not wish to get scratched. I guess maybe that's being a little extreme, but it's true in theory.

[sadalius]

I try to avoid using a cloth only because the Kleenex is pretty soft, and doesn't leave any noticable damage on the disk. Plus I don't like getting Vaseline on my lens cleaning cloths, kinda hard to get out, so the disposable properties of the Kleenex wins again.

[Digital Menace]

nice method sad, i used toothpaste a few times i guess it didn't really work.

don't really buy vasilne lol.

but yea i would say to try that for anyone with bad scratches, anything is worth a shot.

[Digital Menace]

this is funny, i tried ripping a game and it failed.

so then i used some toothpaste but instead of washing it all off like before lol i "buffed" a very small amount into the disc, and then to my suprise it ripped 100%.

i guess i was doing it wrong before lol. so yeah i guess toothpaste works too.

[sadalius]

Yeah, just about anything with a light polishing property to it will work. I wouldn't recommend using a toothpaste that has all those crystals in it thought, I think that would probably defeat the purpose