HELP!! ... How do I get into corrupt DVD-R??

[A4000_Mad]

Hi Guys n Gals,

Sorry but I have absolutely no idea where to start this unusual thread.

Anyway, I recorded the Federer V Roddick semi at the Australian Open using a Sony DVD Recorder / VCR Combi. The DVD-R was fully playable in its *unfinalised* condition as I watched the great match again to be sure it was recorded OK.

I then chose to finalise it so that it could be watched on other DVD players too (as you do)

The problem is that the finalising went wrong and the disc was ejected with the report "Cannot play or record to this disc" :boohoo:  :boohoo:  :boohoo:


The DVD Writer in my wifes laptop cannot recognise it and neither can the DVDrom/CD-RW Combi in my A4000.

Any way to get into it please?  :-?


(If I can somehow get the VOB files out I can recreate another DVD using a program that I have.)


A4000 Mad

[countzero]

you can try data retrieval programs like this, maybe there's also a free one, but I don't know ...

[NoFastMem]

Also, try it in different drives/computers, etc. I have had a few recordable DVDs that one of my drives just spits out like it was a cardboard insert, but that played fine in my external writer.

They're even more temperamental than CDRs in my experience.

[A4000_Mad]

@ countzero

Thanks, I downloaded and tried that but it wasn't able to help.

@ NoFastMem

Cheers, but I've tried it in all 3 of my DVD readers but they can't read it.

I have today returned the Sony RDR-VX420 that did this and exchanged it for a Sony RDR-HXD860. Anyone got an opinion of this one? I've lost a VCR as it was a Combi, but gained a 160GB HDD. At least from now on I'll be able to have another go at writing to a DVD-R if there should be such an error again  :-)

I'd still like to get this match back if at all possible though.

Thanks,

A4000 Mad

[InTheSand]

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

[CannonFodder]

Hi A4000_Mad,

On a *nix box try this.

Code: [Select]


dd if=/dev/dvd of=~/brokendvd.iso bs=1k
mkdir ~/iso
sudo mount -o loop brokendvd.iso ~/iso


If all goes to plan the image will be mounted in the ¨iso¨ folder your home directory.

Just grab the VOBs from within that folder.

[InTheSand]

Won't dd stop if it gets an I/O error? Or does it attempt to carry on reading regardless?

 - Ali

[CannonFodder]

InTheSand wrote:
Won't dd stop if it gets an I/O error? Or does it attempt to carry on reading regardless?

 - Ali

AFAIK only if there is a physical error on the disk.

It sounds to me like there is just a filesystem level error on this disc so dd should be ok ripping it.

Cross fingers. :-)

[A4000_Mad]

CannonFodder wrote:
Hi A4000_Mad,

On a *nix box try this.

Code: [Select]


dd if=/dev/dvd of=~/brokendvd.iso bs=1k
mkdir ~/iso
sudo mount -o loop brokendvd.iso ~/iso


@ CannonFodder

Thanks, i've made it a bit bigger as my eyes could just about see it and my brain registered nothing.

dd if=/dev/dvd of=~/brokendvd.iso bs=1k
mkdir ~/iso
sudo mount -o loop brokendvd.iso ~/iso

I'm gonna kick myself but what is a "*nix box"?  :-?


@ InTheSand

I'm downloading ISOBuster now to give that a go thanks.


A4000 Mad

[InTheSand]

A4000_Mad wrote:
I'm gonna kick myself but what is a "*nix box"?  :-?

Anything running a UNIX-like operating system, such as Linux, OpenBSD, etc.

"dd" is a basic UNIX command that does direct dumps (e.g. direct copies) between devices and/or files.

 - Ali

[A4000_Mad]

Ok thanks,

I've only ever used AmigaOS and Windows 98 to XP, so I won't be able to do any Linux or UNIX commands  :-)

A4000 Mad

[mel_zoom]

CannonFodder:

Doesnt that assume the user has sudo access? I happen to know about it because some of the developers like to complain that it isnt set up on some of the test environments and that they dont have permission to fiddle with stuff.

Of course they shouldnt - otherwise the test environment is basically not an exact replica of the live system. Or so I like to remind them ;-)

Then when they complain even more I can slope off and get on with technical writing having remided them Im nothing to do with server admin :-P

[CannonFodder]

Doesnt that assume the user has sudo access?

Of course, but if one doesn´t have sudo access on the machine they are using it is for a very good reason! ;-)

[mel_zoom]

Yes - it isnt theirs!

[CannonFodder]

mel_zoom wrote:
Yes - it isnt theirs!

PM me if you want to know how to get round such restrictions. ;-)

Or just ask Karlos. :-)