Cannot reinstall game -data error cyclic redundancy check

[minonda]

I uninstalled my game thinking I could get back the game with the previous patch and previous awesome mod (I had backed it up) but I did something wrong because I ended up with two Sims 3 folders and God knows what else. Without going into a recitation of everything that has transpired since last night, the basic situation is that I manually uninstalled the game using BBS instructions, and then tried to reinstall. About 2/3 of the way through the install, I get an error message saying:

E:\GameData\Shared\Packages\FullBuild1.package
Data error (cyclic redundancy check)

I looked at the file the message referred to but have no clue what to do to fix it. I tried reinstalling 3 times and got the message every time.

Is my disc irretrievably damaged, or is there some way I can fix this?

[J. M. Pescado]

Yeah, either your disk or your drive is shot. This is why it pays not to use crude physical disks.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

Yes, quite possibly your hard drive is shot, but I believe I had read that a quick defrag could help the situation.  I don't know why most people don't regularly defrag their computers anyway.  You really should defrag after you install, uninstall, or move a shitload of files.

[minonda]

Yeah, either your disk or your drive is shot. This is why it pays not to use crude physical disks.

If my hard drive were shot, wouldn't I see other evidence besides the game not installing? I was able to install it last night.

[Spotty]

Minonda, a "cyclic redundancy check" error means your computer was unable to verifiably read information off of an optical disk.  This will have nothing to do with your hard disk drive, but could be your optical disc drive.  The first thing to check is always whether the CD/DVD is scratched, scuffed, or dirty.  If it's not, it's likely the drive, which is neither surprising, since modern optical drives seem for me to have a shelf life of about a year if they're in use, nor a big deal, since a new one doesn't cost much more than a case of beer.

[J. M. Pescado]

If my hard drive were shot, wouldn't I see other evidence besides the game not installing? I was able to install it last night.

I was talking about your CD drive.

[minonda]

If my hard drive were shot, wouldn't I see other evidence besides the game not installing? I was able to install it last night.

I was talking about your CD drive.

Oh sorry. Zaphod said "hard drive" so I thought that's what you meant when you said "drive." I will humiliate myself publicly by admitting that it turned out that the disk needed to be cleaned. After I did that, the game installed. The error message seemed so technical that it didn't seem possible it could have resulted from a fingerprint on a disc. Yes, I know, I am a hopelessly non-awesome tard.

[minonda]

Minonda, a "cyclic redundancy check" error means your computer was unable to verifiably read information off of an optical disk.  This will have nothing to do with your hard disk drive, but could be your optical disc drive.  The first thing to check is always whether the CD/DVD is scratched, scuffed, or dirty.  If it's not, it's likely the drive, which is neither surprising, since modern optical drives seem for me to have a shelf life of about a year if they're in use, nor a big deal, since a new one doesn't cost much more than a case of beer.

Spotty, thanks, I did finally discover that and cleaned the disk. I have finally realized that before running to MATY for help, I should just google for answers. I know so little about the technical aspects of using a computer that error messages often sound to me like they are describing a huge crisis when sometimes all they mean is, clean your disk.