How to stop XP from scanning a CD? (I know about AutoPlay)

I'm trying to recover files from a DVD that didn't burn correctly (left CRC32 errors on the file table). I have a recovery program that works quite well, and I'm hoping to use it. It reads all the bits directly from the disk (regardless of errors), and tries to reconstruct the missing files.

However, when I place the disk into the comptuer, XP continually tries to access the data on the drive...and operation that never ends. Thus I can never start my recovery program, since it needs access to the drive (which XP will not give up).

I've disabled AutoPlay, and set the default operations to "Take No Action" for EVERY type of disc (Music, Video, Mixed, etc). All I want is for XP to stop trying to read the disk to figure out what's on it.

Does anyone know anything about this? Help please!

 

Hmm reboot yout computer with a CD inside ?
(let the HDD to be a 1st boot option)

Insert your disc into the drive, then quick restart and let the OS booting up. It shouldn't try to read the CD while / after booting .. Give it a try

 

Have you tried pressing the shift key while inserting the disc? You need to keep pressing it until the drive stops spinning, sometimes up to a minute or more.

Holding the shift key would bypass the "autoread" function. This used to work on older versions of Windows. Don't know if it still works, but it's worth a try.

 

Well...I've made some progress here. But whenever my recovery programs try to access it still freezes...argh.

I'm starting to think that Linux might help me this time.