I have a CD that has gotten scratched, and I would really like to recover the tracks on it. But I tried with Sound Forge but once it reaches Track 03 it just halts and stops the extraction, this is really bad.

Is there any software you can recommend that can make a attempt to extract the tracks?


Here is the disc

EAC (Exact Audio Copy) is usually regarded as the best software for ripping scratched CDs, I believe. The EAC home page is here.

EAC isn't the most straightforward package to set up and use, but it's worth persevering. There are lots of support resources on HydrogenAudio and elsewhere if you find it confusing.

I'd also advise you to use EAC, but if the CD is so damaged that EAC can't read it correctly you could try ripping it with CDex, for I think it is not as picky when it comes to reading errors as EAC. If your ripped .wav file contains any klicks or pops you could try to filter them out using the Deglitch utility which you can find on rarewares.org in the 'Other' section.

Also if any normal CD player plays the CD fine, you could attach your player to your soundcard using a digital cable and then record the whole CD with SoundForge. You'd just have to cut the tracks by hand then.

Guys, stop the nonsense, and stop kidding yourself. All EAC does is rereads and make a majority decision. The digital audio extraction quality lies in the drive. This is what this bloke really needs.

My advice is to go an read the DAE Quality test on the EAC website and find a good drive 1st.

Triza

A CD has two surfaces. It is read through the "bottom," the label is on the "top." The data is right under the label.

If the scratch is on the top, the data is generally gone. No hardware or software can recover what isn't there.

If the scratch is on the bottom it is only obscuring the data. That can almost always be fixed. There are a variety of automated and manual approaches. The automated ones require somewhat less user understanding and skill, the manual ones somewhat more, but both work when done correctly. There is probably significant discussion on this forum about techniques and materials, there is certainly much information in various places on the web.

here goes a DIE HARD guide to obtain what you want:

http://forum.calonet.org/index.php/topic,127.0.html

But be aware that, once you start the process, go out and go make some tea coz depending on the stratch, a single track can take A VERY LONG TIME to get ripped. And if it does, listen to the WAV if there's any defect to it.

You could also try to use isobuster from smart projects. The programm is part freeware so you might want to give it a try. It helped me a lot with some scratched data cds.

However, as it has been said before, error correction capabilities also depend on the quality of the drive the cd is in. To circumvent a recovery failure only due to the poor quality of the drive in use, iso buster allows to create an incomplete image of your cd in your drive - which you can then take (the image and the cd), and try to complete on multiple other computers with other drives which might be able to read off the previously non-recoverable data. Recovery can take VERY long (do it over night) depending on the state the disc is in.

Note that I am A. not affiliated with smart projects in any way and that B. I am not sure on how well this works with audio cds or if there really is any difference to the way EAC can recover data. All i can say is it did do it's job very well for me (especially the use multiple drives to complete one image feature).

Regards, freak

Although it's not specifically an audio tool, ISObuster was developed to recover just about every optical format in existence. I've successfully used it before on problematic discs. Extract an image using the software, mount it on a virtual drive, and then rip using whatever other software you wish. Should work.

You can easily and safely buff out the scratches. 2500 grit wet sandpaper is available from automotive refinishing stores followed by Novice medium or heavy polish to finish will fix anything really except for label side damage.

If the scratch truly obscures the data, no software is going to help you.

There are a few good threads on scratch removal available with the search function.

Is there any application that will artificially try to remove clicks from a badly ripped wav file (eg. no longer have the original CD)?, and reconstruct the waveform

J.M.

Declicking software is extremely common, i.e. there are a great many applications. There are programs with few functions than declicking, declicking is part of at least most audio editors, and there are many enhanced declicking plugins that work from within editors.

Exactly, it's all about the drive. And you can greatly help your drive by enlisting SkipDr. AutoMAX's help, or that of a similar device. My experience with it is that the CDs that made EAC hang or abort with Read Errors rip with matching CRCs in Burst mode after the treatment. Super-fine grit sandpaper + buffing with felt should work as well, but can be a PITA.

What a load of bollocks, mate. Introducing isobuster does not make any difference when it comes to the quality of the disc. Also ripping a virtual (ie already ripped) image is another nonsense.

Triza

I have to repeat. As a veteran of many heavily scratched yard sale cds, resurfacing is the only answer. If the data is obscured by the scratch badly enough, the scratch itself has to go.

I burned out my first drive letting EAC chew away sector by sector and wound up with nothing but error messages for my trouble.

Once buffed carefully, track qualities approach 100% and read fast fast fast.

Someone asked me to take some step by step photos of this process for a site they were starting. Not sure what became of the site.I had good intentions then got lazy.

Ahem - I think that's a missunderstanding.

Of course isobuster can NOT improve the quality of the disc itself but it can, in conjunction with the drive try to recover the data. AND if U then create an image of a damaged cd with the help of MULTIPLE DIFFERENT cd-drives as any single drive will not be able to read the whole cd - then you end up with an "intact" image of a "damaged" cd.
(Applies of course only to a case where you really need multiple drives to create the image)

Next you could load up that image in a virtual drive and rip it as isobuster only creates a "plain" image.

Hope that's the way it was ment...

An image extracted by ISObuster, even though it reports that a 100% successful copy was made, cannot be assumed to be a correct 1:1 copy of the original audio data.

Sometimes i use Toothpaste (colgate) and finger+tab water to wash the scratchs, it might work sometimes however, the CD will seldom get worse in my experience

Yes, toothpaste can work - don't think the brand is too important.

Also - not with scratches but with somehow, witout really seeing why, poorly readable CDs it might help if U put them in the freezer for 30 Minutes or so. I read about that once and tried it once with part success (not enough to recover everything though) - might be a last attempt.

Ok, ok - going slightly off topic

Isn't that freezing trick for dead HDDs, and not CDs?

Yeah no kidding you could say that again. . It really is all about the drive, but what you just mentioned alone keeps me away from EAC.



You can use the pop/click removal filter in Audacity and other applications. I would only use them for vinyl/cassette. I have an album I just recently found that's recorded using cassette. I tried removing some of the pops/clicks in it, but it's vintage recording away so I said ahh forget about it.

I only know it for CDs/DVDs - however, the physical effect of contraction due to the cold is of course equally true - never tried but might work...

As this thread keeps going, the bullshit keeps piling up higher and higher ...

Try this thread:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=40732

Plextools has worked wonders where EAC fails (at least for me).