Making a CD drive into a GD drive

[ksonic1055]

Just wondering, is it possible? The DC disks read from the outside, in. The data is also much closer together. Is it possible to turn the laser railing around to get it to work from the outside in? And is there a way to adjust the increments in which the laser moves inward towards the middle making them smaller so it could read the high density tracks?

[iq_132]

Just wondering, is it possible? The DC disks read from the outside, in.

Nope. GD-ROMs have two regions and they're both read like a standard disk. The inner region is a standard density CD-ROM, but the outer ring (which you can see with your plain eye), is of a higher density. It holds ~1GB of data.

The data is also much closer together.

Not that much closer. 1GB is only ~30% more than a standard CD. You can read GD-ROMs using a method in which you open a DVD drive, use a specially burned disk, and then swap in the GD-ROM and read it RAW.

 

Is it possible to turn the laser railing around to get it to work from the outside in? And is there a way to adjust the increments in which the laser moves inward towards the middle making them smaller so it could read the high density tracks?

Again, that's not how GD-ROMs work. However, using a firmware hack on a DVD drive, it may be possible to read the high-density GD section of the disk.

[ksonic1055]

thanks for this valuable information. Do you have any idea if there is firmware that i could use to do this? And also, the only reason it doesnt read this is because of the TOC, right? so is there a way to edit the TOC to make it incllude the whole disk?

 

thanks

[iq_132]

thanks for this valuable information. Do you have any idea if there is firmware that i could use to do this?

Haven't seen any actual firmware releases, so nope.

And also, the only reason it doesnt read this is because of the TOC, right?

Not exactly... the Drive expects a certain sized 'pit', large for CD-ROM, and small for DVD. The GD-ROM's pits are just small enough that drives will have a hard time reading them without the firmware telling them how to set the laser. (from what I've heard).