Re: [ARSCLIST] Replating CDs

[Ernie Longmire <arsclist-lazlo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Don Cox wrote:
> On 03/03/08, Steven Smolian wrote:
> > As a lad, I operated a large vacuum metalizer, making shiny silvery
> > iciles for a business. - thats over 50 years of technology ago.
> > Nonetheless, I doubt replating a CD could be done effectively.
>
> Why not? The metal is evaporated onto the surface in a vacuum, just like
> you were doing.

Freshly-molded CDs get their reflective layer under clean-room 
conditions and the material is applied to a virgin surface.  To properly 
re-coat an existing CD you'd need to remove the original label ink, 
lacquer and reflective coating, then prep the surface in a way that 
allowed the new coating to adhere properly, all without damaging the 
existing pits that the old coating was adhering to (assuming they 
weren't already damaged by the circumstances that made the disc need a 
re-coat in the first place).

It could probably be done, but if I had a disc that was worth the 
effort, I'd want to try the IRENE approach first: find a way to directly 
image the pits from the "clear" side of the disc and reconstruct the 
encoded data from that. Even if that side is so badly damaged it 
requires resurfacing before you can do any imaging, that process still 
poses less risk to the actual data than trying to chisel any remaining 
metal out of the pits themselves.