[nighttide]

Hi I've been trying to open a CD, but it just will not open. I've tired other CDs and they work fine, so I think the CD muust be defective. Is there a way of recovering information from a defective CD which won't open? Thanks in advance for your help on this matter. nighttide

[Advertisements]

I once got a driver CD with a used computer -- the PC CD-drive just refused to read it, wouldn't even display the contents, even though that same CD-drive read my own CDs no problem.

After scratching my head I decided to try making a CD-to-CD copy of it with "nero burning rom" (Using the CD Copy option).
I was amazed -- the PC CD-drive was able to read the copy perfectly and I proceeded to install the drivers from it -- success!

I hope it works for you, but it will of course depend on just what's wrong with the original CD.

Edited by phillipcorcoran, 17 January 2011 - 10:24 AM.

[phillipcorcoran]

I once got a driver CD with a used computer -- the PC CD-drive just refused to read it, wouldn't even display the contents, even though that same CD-drive read my own CDs no problem.

After scratching my head I decided to try making a CD-to-CD copy of it with "nero burning rom" (Using the CD Copy option).
I was amazed -- the PC CD-drive was able to read the copy perfectly and I proceeded to install the drivers from it -- success!

I hope it works for you, but it will of course depend on just what's wrong with the original CD.

Edited by phillipcorcoran, 17 January 2011 - 10:24 AM.

[nighttide]

hi thanks for your suggestion but I don't think I can do a cd to cd burn because i only have one drive on my computer. Is there a way of getting around this or is there something else I can try? The CD I have appears to have a very slight scratch on it. Could this be the problem? Thanks for any help you can give me with this situation. nighttide

[phillipcorcoran]

You can still make a CD copy even with only one CD-drive.
Put the original CD in and the burning software will write a temporary "image file" of it to the hard drive.
When the image is done, the software will ask you to take out the disc and replace it with a blank CD-R.
It will then write the image file to your blank CD-R.

The above refers to "Nero Burning Rom" which I use, but in principal it should work the same for most other burning software.

Otherwise you could try removing the scratch with "CD Polish" if the above is unsuccessful.
The CD Polish comes in a small bottle with a polishing cloth to remove shallow scratches, or even CD Cleaner may work.
But when using the cloth you must wipe the disc from centre to outside in straight lines, never wipe it in an arc.

Safest method for wiping a CD is to get one of those CD-Cleaning Trays where you turn a knob. It ensures the disc is wiped in the right way and it's far quicker.

Edited by phillipcorcoran, 17 January 2011 - 01:19 PM.

[nighttide]

Hi, The problem with burning is when I put the CD in the drive, it continues to try to open and load the CD and the infamous "wheel of death" continues to spin, so I can't click on anything while the CD is in the drive. Is there a way to deal with this ? Thank for your response and your patience. nighttide

[rshaffer61]

Just a suggestion but do you have access to another system you can try the cd in? If so then copy the info into a folder and then burn it to another cd there or to a flash drive.

[nighttide]

Hi, Thanks for the suggestion. The trouble is I have tried to open the cd on my wife's compture too, and the same thing happens. The drive keeps trying to open and download it without stopping, so I can't click on anything because the "wheel of death" continues to spin. Is there a way of getting around this? Thnaks for your suggestion. nighttide

[phillipcorcoran]

Hold down the "shift" key as soon as you put the CD in & close the tray, still with the "shift" key held down. This should stop the PC from trying to read it. After about 10 seconds after closing the tray (when the CD-drive light stops flashing or flickering) you can release the shift key.

Edited by phillipcorcoran, 17 January 2011 - 02:40 PM.

[nighttide]

The drive did stop when I held down the shift key, but when I tried saving to a file, it only saved the disc as a short cut of 1kb and when i clicked to open it, there were no files inside. It said drag files to save, but I can't open the defective cd to drag the files. Any suggestions to get around this problem? Thank you for you patience with this matter. nighttide

[phillipcorcoran]

I didn't suggest that you copy the CD by dragging all it's contents on to the hard drive then burning them to a blank disc.
You cannot properly copy an entire disc's contents like that, especially if it's a bootable disc, (and a scratched one at that).

What you need to do is start "nero burning rom" or some similar burning software & choose the option "CD Copy" or "Copy Disc" (depending on the actual software the wording will vary). Let it create an exact image of the CD on to the hard disk, the tray should then open and you'll see a prompt asking you
to remove the CD and put in a blank CD-R. Nero (or whatever you're using) will then burn the image data back to the CD-R.

Edited by phillipcorcoran, 17 January 2011 - 03:55 PM.

[nighttide]

Hi, So do I need to purchase and install a burning software to do this or can I do it using the cd program on my computer? How can I tell if what is already on my computer has the capability of using the option CD Copy or Copy Disc? As you can tell, I'm not too computer savy, so thank you for simplifying matters for me. I am working on a HP Pavilion p6610f PC with Windows 7. Thanks again for your help and patience. nighttide

[nighttide]

Are there reliable downloads out that can be used to recover info from cds that my computer cannot open? Or is there some other method I can use to copy the cd to my computer? nighttide