Is there any way to "fix" CD Hub cracks?

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i would probably return the cd, and wait for another.

i waited 5 years for my copy of Mama's Boys - Official Album in NM- cond. worth the wait.
burn this one, return the cd/refund, buy another.

 

Seems an “over abundance of caution “. Live a little take a chance!

 

most likely it has never happened to anyone. they are pretty strong. Ever try to break one in half? No CD player could exert that type of force. Even tiny cracks are pretty rare in my experience, and I have thousands of CDs dating back to the 80s.

 

I haven't yet read the thread, but about fifteen years ago, a reissue of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" had cracks in the center hub. At the time, it was deemed not important enough to worry about. I have this CD, too. My solution just to ensure I could play it was to copy it onto a CD-R. Later, I simply ripped it to a hard drive. I do not play the actual CD, and keep it in a box, so I don't know if the cracks have gotten worse. But, it's just an idea: copy your CD and play the copy.

 

I have one cracked around the center hole cd, Rick Wakemans Journey to the Center of the Earth on MFSL. Kind of sucks. I’ve thought about coating the area around the hole w some clear nail polish. What do you think?

 

Just make a copy of it and don't play the original.

 

I would think putting a small amount of superglue along the crack (both sides) would be a good thing. It would stabalise the damage and reduce the risk for the crack to extend into the playing area.

Keep the glue away from the playing area. And as previously suggested, do an EAC backup first.

 

To keep the cracks from expanding all you have to do is find a tiny drill bit, same size s the crack or a tiny bit larger, put in a drill press, protect the CD and drill a hole at the very end of the crack. The hole will stop the crack from expanding and then you can rip the CD or what ever you want to do. It always works.

 

I used to work in tech support for software, around 1998-1999. A customer called in with a Kenwood 50x drive (back when that tech was very new). I was on the line with the guy and his drive started to sound like a jet engine, and then it shattered across his room, luckily missing him. I've been a little scared of high speed drives since!

 

I've used the clear coat from a dupli-color paint applicator on the center hole of a CD that had a few hairline cracks (as you explained) with good results.

 

As @Sckott said, this CD has multiple cracks, don't play in a snap in hub such as a laptop disc drive. I like the idea of reinforcing the cracks with Duplicolor, or maybe a drop of nail polish. The idea of drilling holes does stop the crack, but a huge risk of breaking the CD with a dull drill or mishandling of the drill. Super glue is risky due to its creeping effect. It may bleed into the foil area, dulling the plastic and rendering the CD unplayable. (don't use super glue)

Another solution may be the best yet but requires the purchase of a CD recorder such as a Pioneer PDR-509 or PDR-609.. play the CD in a drawer loading CD player with an optical out to the CD recorder. This makes a direct digital clone of the CD, and the lowest risk of breakage. A CD player spins at low speed, and has a non-snap in hub.. no stress on the cracks. The CD-R clone can be ripped to FLAC or WAV.

 

Yeah.... I 2nd that notion, it will haze the polycarbonate and could possibly destroy the disc/data.

 

maybe in computer drives spinning at multiple times CD speed. probably not in any audio CD player though.

 

I was a DJ for a while. One night a bachelorette party had a male stripper show up, and he had me put his own CD in the player. It would not play and would not eject. When it finally did it was cracked in half. The guy was pissed, but since it was the bars CD player I told him to get the money from them.

 

Thin penetrating cyanoacrylate, prefaced by a plastics prep bonder, seems the best way to repair cracks.


I've used this stuff to bond slippery nylon to nylon to fix gears; even the manufacturer couldn't believe it worked.

Then set your drive with the manufacturer utility to 1x speed to rip. Oh, you probably can't do that, but I can with my Plextor Ultraplex.

It was Sony that had a big problem trying to push CDs to 52x and them destructing. 300-600RPM -> 15000RPM. You had to hold eject for 5 seconds to enable 52x mode (whereas other manufacturers touting high speeds up to 56x were just stretching the truth).

Sony says this on their Product Information sheet: "On rare occasions, some discs may not be able to tolerate 52x speed, causing them to break. We recommend that you do not use deeply scratched, brittle, or other discs that may break at 52x speed."

Kenwood's only computer optical drive was also the only one that used a beam splitter to read seven tracks at once, and actually spun at a much lower rate, so I think the anecdote above is missing some details.

 

Yes, while ripping, one disc out of about 2500. I was using a desktop computer, and because of the shattered CD, I had to replace the internal optical drive. When I did, I also got an external drive to use for ripping; I use the internal drive only for a second try at discs that don't rip on the external one.

TO answer the OP: I agree with those who suggest copying the disc to a CD-ROM -- while selecting the drive's low speed in your software -- as soon as you can.

 

I, also, have had a CD explode into multiple shards in a desktop PC CD-ROM drive. It was a customer's PC, and his factory supplied CD's for software reinstallation. It nearly made me jump out of my chair when it shattered! The optical drive was toast afterward, and required replacement. I honestly don't remember the disc having any cracks, but I'm betting that it did. Like a mini version of a bird flying into a jet engine, lol.

 

I have a couple of CDs with the those cracks and of course they're DCC discs. I did make a backup copy of each but now I put those away and just play the original discs. Life's too short and never any problems with those.
I did replace a Pink Floyd SACD that had a crack but only because the replacement disc was not expensive.

 

That was very cool. I noted that the CD's shattered from the outside edge, not the center.

 

That's where the forces would be highest, near the outer edge, not just from the weight of the spinning disk wanting to be flung free like a child on the edge of a carousel, but also tension forces from the whole circle of the disc wishing it could be bigger.

 

In their follow up video, you will find that vinyl discs want to be bigger too

 

Like most have said rip it at slow speed & if u do play it don't use it in drives or CD players that use as spindle that snaps into the hub of the CD, like a lot of laptop drives & portable players.

 

Not that I advise to do it but it's possible to weld glue acrylic and polycarbonate with chloroform. There may be less toxic products available.