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I have so far tried the following software solutions without success.

  • Windows Explorer Copy (default)
  • TeraCopy
  • Roadkil's Unstoppable Copier

Unstoppable Copier stops copying as a whole, it keeps continuing the same file after 20 minutes, despite any settings. I have spent much time Googling, but the one program ("Unstoppable Copier") that people recommended, did not to the trick as it keeps choking on the same file despite a setting of "Fasteset Data Recovery", "Maximum Retries 0" and "Undamaged Files First".

The back side of the DVD has some scratches. What options do I have? I have access to both Ubuntu and Windows 7.

Karan
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ujjain
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5 Answers5

13

I've had good results with IsoBuster when nothing else worked on an important disc (Roadkil worked with an HDD but not for this disc unfortunately):

1

The Pro version's not free but you can click the "Free Functionality" button when prompted during install and see if it suffices.

I also highly recommend you try accessing the disc with multiple drives, especially from different manufacturers (but the drives should have similar capabilities, i.e. don't use DVD+RW and DVD-RW drives since they might see different track layouts on the same disc). The reason for this is that some drives will often be better than others at reading all or different parts of the same damaged disc. The age of a drive and the amount of usage it has seen obviously also matters in how well the read laser can perform, especially with R/RW discs burnt using a writer (as compared to commercially stamped discs).

IsoBuster allows you to create so-called managed image files (.IBP + .IBQs) and "fill in the blanks" if a different drive can read sections of the disc that yours could not. Once all the blanks are filled, the user or audio/video or raw data can be extracted from the managed image in various formats, including plain files/folders (when relevant), ISO/BIN+CUE images etc.

As a last resort after you've attempted filling in the blanks using multiple drives, follow the various tutorials on the net and polish your discs carefully (and never in a circular manner!) using toothpaste or Brasso, or get them "resurfaced" at a shop that offers this service. Once you've done this, you can try filling in the blanks once more and hope the final missing bits can be retrieved successfully.

Karan
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9

I've had success with a Windows program called Copy It Anyway.

I was given a CD with a single video of ~500MBs that was very important to the owner. The CD had 5-6 holes in it ranging in diameter from 0.4mm to 2mm (chipped away from the backside). When I saw it I didn't think there was any chance, but after 30 minutes, this program had copied the entire video. It did report lots of errors and parts of the video were missing (stuck picture, no sound). I had to re-edit the video to remove the empty minutes, but I managed to salvage about 80% of the material.

I've also used Copy It Anyway with near dead hard disk drives and it worked well.

Don't expect any software to magically recreate lost data. If your CD has holes, that data is gone, and nothing will bring it back. But you might be able to recover parts of your files with this software.

adrock20
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guest234
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1

I have used the SkipDr in the past. It uses an abrasive to wear the surface of the disk down so that the scratches arent as deep. It then polishes the surface so the laser can focus on the pits more easily.

Keltari
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1

TECHNIQUES ARE FOR THE BOTTOM (clear side or side that is not labeled) OF YOUR DISC ONLY. What you will need:

  • CD/DVD Cleaner Disc.
  • Alcohol and/or Window Cleaner.
  • Soft Tissue AND Paper Towel.
  • Brasso brand metal polish.
  • More than 1 very good disc recovery (not hard disk--media) program downloaded on your PC. If you require audio .cda file recovery (can be different from any other type of recovery), make sure that your program can do that.

With those:

  1. First, clean your drive with a cd/dvd cleaner.
  2. Clean your disc with alcohol and/or window cleaner and SOFT tissue to make sure the disc is clean and free of removable dirt, marks, and grime. It is PARAMOUNT that you clean the disc before you proceed. Make sure the disc is dry and clean.
  3. Now, pour a dime-sized amount of Brasso brand metal polish onto your disc and LIGHTLY massage/cover (using paper towel this time) until your disc looks like the bottom of your disc is evenly covered in tan grease.
  4. Now, with the paper towel, firmly wipe your disc from the center outward (never in a circular motion!) until there is no residue remaining.
  5. Once you have read and done everything above, then try to run your disc in a recovery program again. Don't give up on Roadkil just yet.
  6. If one doesn't work, try another program. Repeat steps 3 - 6 up to twice more if needed.

Using Brasso, I have taken a very, very bad DVD that was so scratched that it was not completely playable and whole scenes were lost in a standalone DVD player (it plays DVDs better than Drives). It played in a standalone DVD player almost perfectly without any other aid or need of recovery. Imagine the potential of Brasso and a recovery program being used together. I have used an entire can of Brasso on discs.

ssvarc
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bamminer
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0

I find that robocopy has pretty good error handling so you could try:

robocopy DVD_Drive:\ LOCAL_Drive:\SOMEPATH /E /W:5 /R:1

This translates to

Copy all files from DVD_Drive:\ to LOCAL_Drive:\SOMEPATH including subdirectories even when empty (/E), Wait 5 seconds (/W:5) and Retry once (/R:1).

But it might be an issue that the DVD can't be read at all after a certain track is read.

You might have to try the toothpaste trick to remove some of the scratches. Scratches from the center out are less problematic than scratches that cover the DVD tracks.

http://www.wikihow.com/Repair-a-CD-With-Toothpaste

Good luck.

John K. N.
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