Hi,
I've had quite a bit of success with
ISOBuster - and have quite happily registered it too (the free version provides more limited functionality).
I've recovered stuff from previously unreadable CD-Rs, DVD-Rs, etc, including a friend's photos that were previously thought lost forever, and also some backups that hadn't been tested until it was too late.
As mentioned above, it's definitely worth trying with different equipment. My LG drives seem better able to read from flaky discs than my NEC ones, for instance.
As with any media, avoid cheap and nasty stuff! Verbatim DVDs seem to always score highly - and I now always use those for anything I wish to keep. Unfortunately, no optical or magnetic media is 100% reliable...
- Ali
