Hey guys i got a little bit of an issue..my arcanum2.dat file is buggered up on the CD (scratched) is there anywhere i could find that file? (i'm trying to install fresh on my new computer.) hope i don't end up having to go buy the game again cause of one scratch :/ any help is appreciated.
You could try Alcohol 120%. It's a CD image prog, not the best out there, but it has one good feature - Data Position Measurement. I have gotten some of my CDs data off them by using it (at lowest speed - 1x and highest precision). There's also IsoBuster, which is also supposed to be a CD/DVD image making and data recovery program. I usually try them both - if neither can get the data off, I'm screwed.
Try Shadowbird's methods, they can't hurt. Then you can see if you can get that file from someone else. I would upload it for you, but at 150 MB, I don't really have online space to keep it in. Maybe someone in the IRC will share it with you.
If the scratch is not outrageously deep, go buy a SkipDR and use it to polish out the scratch and you'll be good to go. I have one and they will refurbish all but the worst scratches. Just be sure to follow the instructions properly when you use it. Remember, the plastic on a CD is optical media that supports the actual recording media. The underside of the label is where the data is actually stored.
