I was just reinstalling the FU3 and the San Francisco region, and it was currently copying FU2 CD2 to the drive, when I heard a quiet *snap* from the CD-ROM drive. When it finished copying the files and I ejected the disc, it had several big cracks going from the center of the disc and extending outwards. The disc also felt "soft" around the edges of the inner hole, and kind of bendable. I decided to try and copy the contents to the harddrive, and then make a backup copy (I have a CD-Writer).So I copied the disc to a temp. folder, praying that the disc wouldn't disintegrate inside the CD-Reader. I have read horror stories on the internet of people's CD discs disintegrating and shooting out of the CD drive. Luckily it finished copying without problems.After ejecting the CD again, the cracks had extended to the edge of where data is written on the disc, and I'm not sure the disc would have survived another couple of minutes of spinning.The other FU2/3 discs look OK, but I'm still going to make dual backups of all CDs of the series, just in case.Anyone else had this happen? If you haven't already, check your FU CDs, and make backups of them.Check it out! You can even see the crack from the upper side of the disc. There are about five cracks in total...

Holy Poop!I've had this happen to old audio discs that I used to use with my PA gigs. I assumed it was caused by being repeatedly yanked out of the retaining clips on my portable player - maybe it wasn't? In that case it may have been heat 'coz the gear used to sit in the van all day in the work carpark before a gig. Hasn't happened to any discs at home though (and they're older).I have had the problem with writable discs that the edges weren't sealed properly and the aluminium coating slowly degrades from the outside. I have lost a couple of backups this way.What brand were the discs? Or were they the originals? I customarily make backups of everything I buy even though I believe the originals would outlast the backups :-(Jon Point*************************([email protected])*************************

That was the original FU2 CD-2. For several years, I didn't have a big enough harddrive to store CD2 on the drive, and FU2 was virtually the only "game" I played, so the CD was spinning for hours each day for several years. Maybe that's why it started to develop cracks...

Could be!A colleague just told me he has seen the same thing with network CD 'jukeboxes' with discs that are used continually. He said sometimes it takes as little as 3 months for the cracks to appear. The problem is caused by a combination of embrittlement due to constant heat and the disc being slightly unbalanced to start with. High-speed drives are worse he says - the problem never existed before 12+speed drives were common. Some vendors have even re-supplied software so there seems to be some admission that their discs weren't up to scratch. Of course, this doesn't help us much but there you go - continuous use and an unbalanced disc.A footnote - when the compact disk was originally developed (as a music storage medium, remember?), the nominal speed of the disc was 200-700RPM! Compare that to a 50X unit today. 21KRPM? I notice that some discs spin quietly whilst others really shake the whole PC - remind me to back THOSE ones up (and not use them again). :-hahJon Point*************************([email protected])*************************