i gave isobuster a try when i last had access to a pc with a burner (before you mentioned it dicer), and it basically gave me the same info that nero did, showed me the tracks, how much data they had, starting points, etc. isobuster did however give me options similar to those in the attached image. the image itself is actually me at my dvd-burnerless comp trying to imitate the situation. when i was at the burner comp, should i have extracted the User or RAW data??? would either of those have given me usable files??? i didnt have much faith in the situation at that point and chose not to pursue any of those avenues.....

thanks again for any insight, people