I have a question all...

I have a Civ IV game CD that the kids have scratched to high heaven and no longer can be read in my laptop drive, however I can read it on my desktop computer.

Of course, I very rarely have a chance to use the desktop, so I would much rather install the game on the laptop.

So from what I can see I may have a couple options, none of them good:
1) I understand that fair use laws in the US dictates that you can make one backup copy of a computer CD for personal use. Of course the game has on CD protection to prevent copying, so I'm not sure that's an option.
2) The game is about 3 years old, so I doubt I could bring the CD back to the store and exchange it at this point.
3) I could buy the game again, but given limited finances, that would be my last option...

Anyone have some advice on what I can do to get a working CD?

You could try a "disk doctor" which smooths down the disk to remove the scratches.

You could create an ISO of the disk on the desktop and burn a copy (legal if for personal / back up reasons)

Create the ISO and leave it on the HD, just mount it as a drive and you'll have it instead of carrying a CD.

In my house I have a CD server which has Images of all the games that we play most and when you boot up your PC, it attaches to those images so they don't have to worry about the CD's, it's all on the internal network. (of course there are those that I don't have images for but there not use much and the kids use CD's for those)

Hope that helps.

CCotD'

What is an ISO?

ISO is basically an image of a CD/DVD. The computer sees it as the same as the original source except in the case of extreme(ly bad) copy protection. Now see, I actually own CIV, but I can't find the disc anywhere. So, I DLed a copy off of BitTorrent. I am legally entitled to do so as a rightful owner...but they technically aren't supposed to be sharing it. Very gray area. Back in high school, I was a pirate, but nowadays, I only download TV shows. Only time I download software is when I loose my discs.