Is it possible to get to the middle of a music CD without the beginning?

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MaxMSC
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Is it possible to get to the middle of a music CD without the beginning?

Post by MaxMSC »

Hi,
I have a friend's CD here that is very damaged at the beginning, it can't be read even with data retrieving softwares.
But he has tracks on it that are the only copy remaining, and since it's a music CD I was wondering if there's anything that could bypass the beginning of the CD and go straight to the middle and retrieve the data there.
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LarrySabo
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Re: Is it possible to get to the middle of a music CD without the beginning?

Post by LarrySabo »

ISOBuster is amazing but I doubt very much that it (or anything else) can rescue tracks from that CD, given its deplorable condition.
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ddrecovery
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Re: Is it possible to get to the middle of a music CD without the beginning?

Post by ddrecovery »

There are CD repair kits available. We have had some success using them. Its a machine that spins the disc and smooths out the top protective layer and sometimes gives access to data. Probably not worth it for a one off use, so you may have to find someone locally who has one.
fzabkar
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Re: Is it possible to get to the middle of a music CD without the beginning?

Post by fzabkar »

The data is under the label, so you must not damage that side of the CD.

Also, since you have a large hole near the hub, you must not use a high-speed optical drive. If you do, the imbalance may shatter the disc and destroy the drive.
MaxMSC
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Re: Is it possible to get to the middle of a music CD without the beginning?

Post by MaxMSC »

I heard that police can retrieve even fragments of data from damaged discs, however I don't know what they're using.
Thanks for your answers.
MaxMSC
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Re: Is it possible to get to the middle of a music CD without the beginning?

Post by MaxMSC »

Ahah!
No it's actually from a report my father saw in the news I think.
I know there's powerful programs or gear that law enforcement can use out there not available to the general public, but to what point can they retrieve stuff I don't know.
Because if you can program something that says "ignore beginning of CD and treat any data found later as music data" then it could just go in the middle of the CD and any data found there could be retrieved, knowing already the format of the data.
I know someone on another forum talked about doing that kind of program but he never updated the post since 2017, and that forum is very strict in what we can ask (they won't let me ask the question, don't know much why).
I'm not a programmer, but if I was I would certainly do that.
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