Dog bit audio CD. Any Hope of recovery?

My dog bit one CD in a 17 disk set (Harry Potter book on CD). I tried
to read the disk with Itunes and Adaptec software and managed to copy
all but tracks 8 and 9. When I look at the disk there is one small
dent, the size of a pin head. I did a search on CD recovery, and all

Richard Crowley...

Assuming you are talking about the "bottom"side.
Note that the TOP side (the label side) is far more
vulnerable. If your dog is typical, it has teeth on both
the top and the bottom, and any kind of disruption of
the reflective layer (just under the label) or, even
worse, the moulded data, will ruin the data beyond
any possibility of recovery. Borrow a disc from
someone else and copy it, or record those chapters
yourself. Your kid(s) should love the personal touch.

posts talk about removing scratches. This is not a scratch, it's a
dent. What I'd like to be able to do is read the data that is still
there and live with some holes in the spoken text. I just don't want to
lose 2 whole tracks, which is about 12 minutes of the story. My basic
questions:

Is there software that will pull off what data is still readable?
Has anyone ever "ironed" a small dent out of a disk?

dplatt...

Many of the CD "ripping" packages (e.g. CD Paranoia, available on
Linux) will make extreme efforts to recover the data. How well such a
package can work will depend to some extent on your CD-ROM drive -
certain brands handle positioning problems better than others. Try to
force the ripping program to set the drive to its slowest speed (1x)
rather than doing a high-speed rip - there's a better chance that the
drive could re-focus and recover at least some of the data in the
dented area.

I imagine that there are special "forensics-grade" software and
hardware packages, and professional services to recover data from such
damaged discs. I suspect that the cost of acquiring same would be
prohibitive, in your situation.

If the dog's tooth scratched the upper surface (the aluminized layer,
screen-printed label, and the thin lacquer above it) then the data is
probably gone for good.

If there's enough of a dent in the bottom of the disc to cause
focusing problems, then I don't think much of your chances for
correcting it. You _might_ be able to reshape the dent by using a
clean white buffing wheel in a Dremel or similar tool - broadening and
flattening it, thus making it a bit easier for the CD-ROM drive to
read it - but frankly I think the chances are not good. I'd make
every effort to try to recover the tracks from the disc "as is" before
making any physical changes at all to the disc!

Laurence Payne...

Yup. And remember to make a back-up copy of the bits that DO read
before starting with the polishing.

Hell, I'd even buy a new disk, but they don't sell them one at a time,
and I don't want to spend $60 (or close to it) for a another set.

Laurence Payne...

Buy the book. Record the missing chapters yourself :-)

dplatt...

You might see if your local library has this set available for loan.
In your situation, since you've already paid for the set, I'd consider
it a "fair use" to rip the lost tracks from a library copy (or any
other copy you can borrow) and burn a replacement to fill out your own
set.

Tim Schwartz...

How about borrowing a copy from the library?