Help saving an old CD Rom

[rei101]

Hey

I have a CD that I burned back in 1997 with things I did back then like songs and videos. I had a Powermac 9600 and Toaster.

Every time I have tried to read the files the drives are having troubles reading. It seems the files were too fragmented, that is the impression I have.

So... now, I have been looking a way to copy all that data into my hard drive. I have been trying to do a disc image using Disk Utility and Toaster and nothing.

Does anybody knows a software that can copy that data "as is" to the hard drive? Because once is in the drive it can be defragmented with no problem IF that is the problem.

Or does anybody has any idea?

Thank you!

 

[Pharmscott]

I doubt it's a fragmentation issue. More likely, the disc is dirty or scratched. Try cleaning it with a soft cloth (no cleaner) using radial strokes (from center to edge, not in a circle). Also, try popping into every friend and relative's computer you can; fussy discs sometimes work in one machine but not another.

Good luck!

 

[rei101]

Is not scrached, looks very well. But every drive has a very hard time reading it. Is the kind of CD I grab every 2 years to read it in a different computer waiting for technology to get very advance to read it just fine.

But in the case of the audio files, Quicktime start to read and play back the first second and then stops to read for ever the rest of the data. Those were my original techno songs from early 90's! You can imagine.

 

[wordsworth]

Do you know someone with an old PowerPC?

I assume you're trying to read the CD's contents on a more recent Intel Mac whereas it was burnt on a pre-Intel system?

Maybe that's the problem?

 

[Macman45]

CD's themselves have a shelf life, and it could just be that this one is reaching the end of it's life. I have had similar situations and found that trying the disk in different CD drives often works...then you can grab the data and bac it up.

Try to find somebody with an older drive...They seem to be able to read these CD's better..

Good luck!

 

[rei101]

Thank you guys.

 

[flynz4]

CD's themselves have a shelf life, and it could just be that this one is reaching the end of it's life. I have had similar situations and found that trying the disk in different CD drives often works...then you can grab the data and bac it up.

Try to find somebody with an older drive...They seem to be able to read these CD's better..

Good luck!

This is almost definitely the case. CDs and DVDs (especially those burned vs pressed) have a short shelf life. Once they go... they cannot be read anymore.

Try as many different CD players as you can. If you can get the data off of your CD... then keep it on your computer as part of your primary data... and part of your normal backup cycle.

/Jim

 

[flynz4]

Is not scrached, looks very well. But every drive has a very hard time reading it. Is the kind of CD I grab every 2 years to read it in a different computer waiting for technology to get very advance to read it just fine.

But in the case of the audio files, Quicktime start to read and play back the first second and then stops to read for ever the rest of the data. Those were my original techno songs from early 90's! You can imagine.

If you have copied it to older computers in the past... you may still have other copies of the data around. Search your older computers and/or media.

Failing everything else... and once you have nothing else to loose... bring the CD to be professionally cleaned and polished. Possibly audiophile or pro photo shops may have the equipment. This is probably a long shot if there is already excessive bit rot.

Obviously... if you have other data on CDs, DVDs or video tape... get them onto permanent media that is being backed up right away before you have more loss.

/Jim

 

[rei101]

I just downloaded a software called FileRecovery For Mac. It is pulling the data slowly, it will take like 20 hours but it looks promising, lets see.

If you have copied it to older computers in the past... you may still have other copies of the data around. Search your older computers and/or media.

Failing everything else... and once you have nothing else to loose... bring the CD to be professionally cleaned and polished. Possibly audiophile or pro photo shops may have the equipment. This is probably a long shot if there is already excessive bit rot.

Obviously... if you have other data on CDs, DVDs or video tape... get them onto permanent media that is being backed up right away before you have more loss.

/Jim