Laptop not reading CD-R's

[MacDaddy]

Hi all

 

I've happened across a bunch of CD-R's and CD-RW's which have stems from recordings I did about 20 years ago.

With each disc I'm getting the the following. What must I do?

 

Edited August 18 by MacDaddy

[paul_5]

Have you got cd writing software on the laptop? If the discs weren’t closed properly when they were burned then the laptop wouldn’t see them as CDs. Might be worth installing some and see if that lets you either finalise and close the cd or lets you access the files on them.

Edited August 18 by paul_5

[lowdown]

A few options on this link worth investigating:

 

CD-R Disc Reading Issues

 

 

[MacDaddy]

31 minutes ago, paul_5 said:

Have you got cd writing software on the laptop? If the discs weren’t closed properly when they were burned then the laptop wouldn’t see them as CDs. Might be worth installing some and see if that lets you either finalise and close the cd or lets you access the files on them.

 

The cd's are from the studio I used. 

 

Normal cd's work fine, but I'm still getting the 'Files Ready to be Written to the Disc' option under the audio tracks.

 

[BigRedX]

Unfortunately CDRs and CDRWs have a limited lifespan, and IME 20 years is really pushing it. 

 

The problem is that unlike a glass-mastered CDs, writable CDs use a laser-activated dye to encode the information. Over the years the dye tends to break down and eventually the discs will become unplayable. Also back in the day there were a lot of cheap dodgy CDRs in circulation whose lifespan is even shorter than normal. However even if these are a good quality brand like HHB, Sony or Imation your chances of reading the information off them becomes slimmer every year.

 

Being able to read old CDRs also isn't helped if you are using a flimsy modern CD drive built into a laptop. It might be worth looking for a tray loading, robustly made device with a higher-powered laser and seeing if that gives you any better results. If you do get the disc to read, copy them immediately.