How to save an AVI from a scratched disc

[pomo]

Hi,
my problem is clear and simple: windows tells me it cannot copy the AVI file from cd (reason is that disc has 2 major scratches).

Usually you can throw away the disc and forget about what ther was on it, but as there is an avi-file on it (and as AVI has a certain strucure) there must be some way to extract that AVI from the disc (at least the "good" parts, replacing the bad parts with anything/nothing/etc. ). I prefer having an AVI missing 5mins somewhere in the movie than having no AVI at all.

My Question: is there some program that can do the above?

I googled the internet but found nearly nothing. (someone said to make a raw image of the disc and try to read that)(I'm trying that right now but don't think it will work). My usual method, opening file from disc with virtual dub and using "direct stream copy" didn't help.

I guess this is a common problem (but found nothing searching the forum).

Thanks in advance.

[mrlipring]

isobuster might work.

[dragongodz]

cd-r diagnostic will and i have seen another called bad cd copy aswell which may.

of course once you get the avi off it would need to be repaired as it would have damaged frames from the damaged sectors.

[erbuk]

There are repair kits for scratched optical discs. I'm very sceptical to products like this but I tried it and it really works.

[redeemer-dk]

A program called "CDCheck" can also copy partly unreadable cd's.

[Doobie]

If the scratch doesn't go all the way through, it could probably be buffed out.

[killingspree]

I usually use CloneCD to copy the iso file to my harddrive, as i have yet to see a single scratched/bad disk that CloneCD refuses to read. (It just drops to speeds like .3x on the bad parts). then I use Isobuster to extract the avi/ogm/whatever from the disk. This way I end up with a movie that is still playable most of the time aslong as the header isn't corrupted. if so you're faily screwed and it's most of the time easier to do your backup again - most of the time with a new codec and better quality anyway.

Sometimes you have to use divFix (or similar) to get the avi to play all the way through though.

steVe

[pomo]

wow, thanks for all the fast answers, I'll give them a try.

As already said I tried to do an image with alcohol 120% but stopped that one as it seemed to take endlessly, same for Isobuster wich at one time didn't even respond as I wanted to stop it. (Guess the two of them could do it if they had enough time. when I've got nothing to do i'll give them another try ;) ).

Nice Idea to combinate an disc-image tool with isobuster, I'll try that one too.

And no problem about screwed up files, usually I can save any screwed up file (VirutalDubs direct stream copy that rewrites headers or bad sectors(not sure of what it sais when doing this) or AVI-mux_GUI wich does a god job too).

about those disc repair sets: I heard about them, even read articles about them confirming they could do wonders (they softly scratch away some millimeters of the protection layer of a disc and polish it afterwards somehow), but those sets are quite expensive (at least the ones I saw) and as killingspree said: at last it's just a backup, so if it's to screwed i can do the backup again.

so thanks at all, if I succeed I probably tell it here.

PoMo

[Dr.Karnage]

If you do the way killingspree explained, it shouldn't be any problem.
I've had a divx that I couldn't copy from a cd and I used CloneCD, IsoBuster and DivFix.
I lost about 3/4 min in the beginning of the file, but it was worth it.
Also check http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=56401

Hope that helps.