TOC Cloning...

[raintheory]

If I were to utilize the TOC cloning technique to get back audio that was erased from a disc (by cloning the TOC of a MD with one long track), wouldn't there be the possibility that the data on the accidentally erased MD might be fragmented, and thus would not play correctly after the TOC cloning? I ask because as I understand it, cloning the TOC fools the disc into thinking that it has one long track... and if the data for the track was all out of whack from fragmentation, it seems to me that it woulndt play back correctly.

Any thoughts on this?

Edited September 21, 2005 by raintheory

[Username Ahoy]

If I were to utilize the TOC cloning technique to get back audio that was erased from a disc (by cloning the TOC of a MD with one long track), wouldn't there be the possibility that the data on the accidentally erased MD might be fragmented, and thus would not play correctly after the TOC cloning? I ask because as I understand it, cloning the TOC fools the disc into thinking that it has one long track... and if the data for the track was all out of whack from fragmentation, it seems to me that it woulndt play back correctly.

Any thoughts on this?

I've heard accounts on another forum that contain lines to the effect of "some cut-and-pasting in a sound editor might be required" after a TOC clone. Having not yet had means to perform a cloning, I can't really state how exactly this plays out. Hopefully I'll either find a way to clone on my Sharp MS100, or acquire a MS702, and be able to do a little tinkering of my own.

Having said that, though, I would suspect, without actually going back and pouring over the specifications, that data isn't fragmented beyond actual samples, and that unless a minidisc is heavily (heavily!) used-reused, the fragmentation wouldn't be too severe. At worst, you'd encounter something like "ABCDEF-JKLMNO-GHI-PQRSTUVWXYZ" (as opposed to "AB-D-F-E-C-PQR-N-M-O-K-J-L etc").

I also remember reading that heavily fragmented MDs (on the order of the second example) will cause all sorts of gooey mayhem with most players, as the optics are too busy moving back and forth to the next "block" to keep the skip buffer fresh (and suck massive amounts of battery in the process) - but this is only the dimmest of memories, from years and ages ago.