Solved DVD recovery software - please

[suspect008]

hi all,

I have couple of dvd's which consists of my family and loadz of pictures and videos of me and my friends. those are realy priceless to me
today I found that these 3 disks are damaged that I cant copy them on to my hard drive. I don't know how did they got damaged because I store them really carefully and its just old like 1 year or less. all other dvds I burnt along with this are work perfectly fine.

these dvds can be read on my home theater system(its playable on the player) but not even loaded by the desktop. but in my notebook the file list appears and when I tried to open or copy, its just getting stuck and not responding.

so, guys please help me to recover them. Im really really desperate here. I tried with Bad copy but no use. can you please suggest me best and reliable dvd recovery software which suits in this case...thanks in advance.

 

[Arc]

Try DVD Decrypter to copy the good files from the DVD to the computer.

DVD's are not forever, as I also experienced . So it is better to use external hdd storage device for the valuable data.

 

[fireberd]

How were these created? Did you use RW discs and "packet writing" program such as Roxio's "drag to disc", Nero "in cd" or did you use a regular CD/DVD burning program and burn them as "data" DVD "R".

RW discs have a history of becoming corrupt and either losing data and/or format. Although they would appear to be able to be rewritten or data add to them like old floppy diskettes, its a poor choice to do it that way. If you are going to use RW discs, never have your "only copy" on one of these discs.

Packet writing programs tend to not be the most reliable either.



Since they are readable in your home theatre DVD player, possibly copying these from that player to another DVD burner will recover the data. This looks like the best chance.

 

[maxseven]

It seems likely to me that the media has degraded over time, and has become unreadable. Your best bet is to download a free program called IsoPuzzle (last version was 1.7 beta I believe) and use it to try to recover your discs, or at least it will recover as much as is possible to recover.

I will put an .iso file and .flg (i think) on your hard drive, and keep reading your disc over & over & over (forever, if you want) attempting to read bad sectors. You can pause the program at any time and restart it again, even using a different DVD-ROM drive or PC if you like (by moving the .flg and .iso files).

I know of no other (or better) tool for this. Even if your .iso never becomes complete i.e. IsoPuzzle can't recover all the bad sectors, you should be able to mount the .iso and play it with a PC player, though of course it will skip (and maybe freeze) on the missing sectors. Good luck.

 

[suspect008]

Thank you ARC, fireberd and maxseven for your concern and quick reply. Im going to try out those.

Fireberd - thanks for the quick reply and suggestion. These were made with nero essentials as it came with the dvd writer when I brought it. Written on Imation DVD+R as Data disks. Theres not even a single scratch on disks. I stored them in a cupboard very safely using DvD album too.

about your suggestion, my player doesn't have that function. I mean copy to a another media with it. its not a much new model. But also I have experienced that many damaged or disks or disks that wouldn't load with a computer, can be played decently with my player. I don't have any idea about why. As Arc and maxseven suggested, I will try on those. Do you have an any alternative.
I think I can bare if it is also a any paid version of a software. these photos are just too valuable for me to lose.

 

[Arc]

There are other things you may try .... Try "create image from a disk" option of ImgBurn .

The extract ISO option is there with paid software MagicISO.... a bit more efficient in gathering information from damaged sectors of a disk .

You may try the either as an alternative.

 

[fireberd]

My copy suggestion was to have a separate standalone DVD burner unit and connect your theatre DVD player to that burner and make a new DVD.

 

[maxseven]

My copy suggestion was to have a separate standalone DVD burner unit and connect your theatre DVD player to that burner and make a new DVD.

That might be fine if all that is on the DVD is video; i.e. the player will play it (glitches and all) and the burner can record it, including the glitches.

But unless I misunderstand what exact hardware you are suggesting for this, the ONLY way to obtain a bit-perfect copy of the OP's DVDs is to copy them with a computer. And ImgBurn will likely give-up after X errors, dunno about MagicISO.

suspect008 your DVDs were not likely "damaged" by you in any way, the writeable DVDs you used are deteriorating, plain and simple, which is why you can never count on using DVD-recordable discs for long-term storage of data. They don't last forever (though they should last for more than a couple years-or-months!). You can buy "archival grade" DVDs that are better (and more expensive) than the el-cheapo discs everyone sells, and then make sure you have a high-quality burner, the best write speed selected, etc. and they STILL can't be expected to last "forever".

As I said the best tool to extract every last good/readable bit from your discs is IsoPuzzle, and if anyone knows a better tool at any price I too would like to know about it.

 

[fireberd]

Since the DVD's play OK on the home theatre DVD player, and they are home burned DVD's so they are not copy protected, connecting the output of the theatre DVD player to a standalone DVD burner, he should be able to burn new copies and finalize them so they can be played anywhere.

I've done that myself (not on ones that wouldn't work on a PC) to copy some home burned DVD's.

 

[suspect008]

Since the DVD's play OK on the home theatre DVD player, and they are home burned DVD's so they are not copy protected, connecting the output of the theatre DVD player to a standalone DVD burner, he should be able to burn new copies and finalize them so they can be played anywhere.

I've done that myself (not on ones that wouldn't work on a PC) to copy some home burned DVD's.

thanks guys, fireberd's sugestion maybe good but actually I have never done this before but I had known that this way is possible. but don't have a clue about how-to. with all do respect to your idea fireberd, thank you very much, but first I will try out some software solutions. If all fails, I will go for this method too. beside I got nothing to lose here. thanks again.

 

[suspect008]

My copy suggestion was to have a separate standalone DVD burner unit and connect your theatre DVD player to that burner and make a new DVD.

That might be fine if all that is on the DVD is video; i.e. the player will play it (glitches and all) and the burner can record it, including the glitches.


suspect008 your DVDs were not likely "damaged" by you in any way, the writeable DVDs you used are deteriorating, plain and simple, which is why you can never count on using DVD-recordable discs for long-term storage of data. They don't last forever (though they should last for more than a couple years-or-months!). You can buy "archival grade" DVDs that are better (and more expensive) than the el-cheapo discs everyone sells, and then make sure you have a high-quality burner, the best write speed selected, etc. and they STILL can't be expected to last "forever".

yes, I am completely agreeing with you Maxseven...no doubt of that...I never expected to last them for ever. Its just about a year of time. every other dvd burnt along with them are working just fine. because to be caution I have checked them and copied each of them to the HDD to be caution. I will try out with imgbrn and report back. thanks in advance guys.

 

[jimbo45]

hi all,

I have couple of dvd's which consists of my family and loadz of pictures and videos of me and my friends. those are realy priceless to me
today I found that these 3 disks are damaged that I cant copy them on to my hard drive. I don't know how did they got damaged because I store them really carefully and its just old like 1 year or less. all other dvds I burnt along with this are work perfectly fine.

these dvds can be read on my home theater system(its playable on the player) but not even loaded by the desktop. but in my notebook the file list appears and when I tried to open or copy, its just getting stuck and not responding.

so, guys please help me to recover them. Im really really desperate here. I tried with Bad copy but no use. can you please suggest me best and reliable dvd recovery software which suits in this case...thanks in advance.

Hi there
some modern TV systems / home theater systems allow you to copy a DVD to SD or even a USB HDD device.

See if your DVD can be copied to an SD card or a USB device -- if it does work save again via the computer to HDD and TAKE BACKUPS.

If it doesn't try cleaning the DVD and also clean the DVD in the computer with one of those"DVD cleaners". These can sometimes make DVD's re-readable again too.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[jumanji]

Since the DVD is playable on Home DVD Players, it can definitely be copied as suggested by others.

If you want to recover the data on your PC then try the award-winning CD/DVD/BD recovery software IsoBuster CD Recovery | CD DVD Data Rescue software, featuring BD HD DVD

"IsoBuster is an award winning , highly specialized and easy to use CD, DVD and blu-ray (BD, HD DVD) data recovery tool.
It supports all CD / DVD / BD / HD DVD formats and all common file-systems ... Rescue lost files from a bad or trashed CD or DVD disc, save important documents, precious pictures, video from the family, your only system backup, ... IsoBuster can do it all ! "



For recovery from CD/DVD the free version will do. ( The pro paid version is only required if one want's to recover from BDs)

Guides and tutorials are there on the site to help you.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
Another method would be quite simply to output the video / sound from the Home cinema system back into your computer and record the signal -- OK would be an analog copy so some (usually fairly minimal on good recordings) degradation but still probably very good quality if the original signal quality was good.

(You could also route this via a Video sender as well).

Most TV cards (even USB ones) have a facility for A/V input so you can record an A/V stream.

If you don't have a tv card there's loads of cheap A/V recording stuff -- people make their own video a lot these days --just think of Youtube. Data must get created and uploaded on to that somehow too.

The main trouble with these so called DVD fixing programs is that the DVD must be readable by the hardware in the first place. Sometimes the computer won't even READ the DVD in the first place so no recovery is possible. Using the A/V method will always work.

I've had DVD's where the computer just hunts and hunts with the DVD light (read indicator) solid on -- and have eventually to eject the DVD to stop the computer hanging.

Never use consumer grade DVD's for archive --HDD's are cheap enough and always TAKE MULTIPLE COPIES AND BACKUPS.


The only DVD's which are suitable for long term archive are the increasingly hard to find DVD-RAM ones that were encased in a casette type of package. It's unlikely you'll find any consumer grade DVD player / recorder out there which will accept the cassettes -- and if you open the DVD-RAM it will get greasy very quickly and also become unplayable.

I try not to use DVD's at all any more.

Even if I buy a film I transfer to HDD --nearly all modern TV's accept HDMI from a computer --even tiny netbooks and I have my W7 recovery and other recovery tools on bootable USB sticks now.

I would imagine the DVD will also go the way of the DODO very quickly indeed --why buy a 25GB Blur ray recordable DVD for around 20 EUR when for about 45 EUR I can get at least a 500GB small self (or usb) powered pocket size external usb hdd.


Cheers
jimbo

 

[fireberd]

If what others suggest does not work, my method will apparently work with your statement that they are readable with your theatre DVD player. If they are as important to you as you say then buying a DVD recorder so you can make new (readable) ones is not an issue.

Good luck in your quest to recover them.

 

[suspect008]

hey guys,
thanks all for your suggestions. yesterday night, I tried DVD decryptor, Imgburn. Bad copy pro, Disk recovery 2.0 and ISOPuzzle too. had them running all night. first dvddecryptor and then trough all the night I let ISOpuzzle run. But not even a single file recovered.

And to everyone, these are not just cinema or videos. Huge number of pics and lot of mp4 videos recorded with phone or camera.

first thank you again to you all for suggestions.

jumanji - i will try and report back with ISOBustor.

jimbo45 - how come I miss that idea of using the hometheatres copying facility to get them on a usb or to a another disk. actually even though My player lacks that facility I already have a friend near home whose having that kinda player. And A/V trick is also good but too much of work attached. I will go for it after trying ISObuster and then Copying via a player, then Attaching another burner. and your last idea will go along with this. thank you.

fireberd - thank you again, yes I will definitly try it out if else fails.

thanks all for suggestions.

 

[maxseven]

trough all the night I let ISOpuzzle run. But not even a single file recovered.

IsoPuzzle is not a file recovery program, so your statement is confusing--it makes .iso files from the original DVD(s), and you should see a graphic display when it is running that shows red bars for sectors that won't copy, and has a numerical count of errors it's encountered.

 

[suspect008]

trough all the night I let ISOpuzzle run. But not even a single file recovered.

IsoPuzzle is not a file recovery program, so your statement is confusing--it makes .iso files from the original DVD(s), and you should see a graphic display when it is running that shows red bars for sectors that won't copy, and has a numerical count of errors it's encountered.

yes indeed, I just used that word because in this thread there is a suggestion to use it that it may copy and make a iso from any good sector that can be read. I let it run whole night because it is said that it may try and try unless i stop copying ang I ran this bout 2a.m. in the morning then went to sleep. in the morning bout 6a.m. red bar was completely full and number of tries were over 650 as I could remember. none of data were in the iso file made.

 

[maxseven]

...red bar was completely full and number of tries were over 650 as I could remember. none of data were in the iso file made.

Sorry to hear it--sounds like the disc has really deteriorated. I hope you can recover some of the files off'n it anyway.

 

[SIW2]

CD repair tool - Recovery Toolbox for CD