Full sized MiniDVD disc reader?

[Kirben]

Can anyone suggest a DVD or Blu-ray drive that is able to read a full size MiniDVD disc?
Specifically a MiniDVD, which is actually a full sized DVD, and won't fit into the lower section of the tray.

I have several Pioneer drives, internal and external, but none will recognise the disc.
I need to find a model that is known to work with these discs, as I would rather not waste more money.

[dcoke22]

Wikipedia suggests that a MiniDVD is the smaller, 8 cm DVD (as opposed to a normal 12 cm DVD). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiniDVD

If the disc is a full 12 cm, maybe it is a CD written with the format of a DVD which Wikipedia calls a cDVD (Compact DVD) or a mini-DVD. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDVD These, apparently, are different than Video CD and Super Video CD.

All this is to suggest you might not have a hardware problem, but a software problem.

[Kirben]

It is a DVD boxset set of Jacques Cousteau's Ocean Tales from Citel Video in France, and stated as DVDs on the back covers.
The disc itself is really unusual though, I have never seen this mix of disc before.

[dcoke22]

That looks like a 8 cm DVD that would fit into the smaller circle of a tray loading optical drive or onto the spindle of a mobile optical drive. But you said it won't fit?

Being from France it'll be Region 2.

[Kirben]

The full size section is clear on the back, which can be confusing, a photo of the other side:

[Ezatoka]

What kind of files are shown in any file manager?

[flojo]

It's a regular disc so if it doesn't play it's either the disc or your hardware.

Back in circa 2000 these were common in children's software and public libraries hated them because they were confusing to remove from their cases and several would go as "unreturned" as the librarian would think the case was empty. However, I've never seen them as anything other than CD.

[Kirben]

What kind of files are shown in any file manager?

No idea, as I can't access the contents.

It's a regular disc so if it doesn't play it's either the disc or your hardware.

Yes, I'm trying to find hardware still capable of reading this disc type.

All my internal Pioneer Blu-ray drives (Pioneer BDR-212BK, Pioneer BDR-213JBK, Pioneer BDR-S13J-X) fail to recognise the disc, since it doesn't fit the lower part of the tray.
My external Verbatim 43888 (Pioneer UD04) fails too, which is why I'm trying to find a specific model known to work.

[flojo]

?? Are you saying that the disc isn't physically grabbed by the pickup? If so pop the lid off any internal 5.25 drive and push it in, remove the tray if you have to. There's also plenty of USB top loaders.

If it does grab it and spin but the filesystem isn't recognized then it's the hardware or disc.

There is nothing special about this disc, it should be UDF 1.02 or the disc is defective.

[Kirben]

The disc fits in regular slot (internal), or on the spindle (external), but the drives don't even seem to recognise a disc is in there, the detection cycle runs, but disc doesn't spin up at all.
In the case of modern internal drives, it seems like are only designed to read a miniDVD, if it fits in the lower part of the tray.

EDIT: The discs actually seem to look more like the oval DVD Card described at wikipedia, which I have never heard of before.