Freeware to recover files from corrupted DVD-R?

Does anyone know a good free software that will recover data from a corrupt dvd-r? I backed stuff up from a compact flash full of images onto a dvd-r and everything was fine. I could access the disc no problem. After I restart the computer, it was empty and disc space was full. The sharewares were able to read it and find it, but will not let me back them up

Stay away from Memorex at all costs! After I googled for reviews and ratings on this particular brand, it was abysmal. I can't believe my dad bought such a horrible product without researching it.

 

I must have use 100+ memorex dvd-r and have not had one coaster and i verify all my burns, also they play perfect for me in all my dvd players.

 

photorec, part of testdisk will do it

 

Thanks. I'll see it if works.

 

I had a harddrive with close to 50 percent bad sectors this week--photorec recovered 13gb of photos and documents--the drawback is it does not retain names or directories.

Truly damaged photos were restored, but only the undamaged parts (so if half the photo was in a damaged sector, i got half the photo back...for some photos, it was simply a matter of cropping off the bad part--for others, it was a total loss.

Good luck

 

I got nothing... This is strange. It only saw it as 8388KB. The DVD capacity is 4.7GB. The dvd must really be screwed up. Any other free software?

 

Just a thought, have you tried reading the disc in another computer on the off chance that another optical drive might make a difference?

 

In terms of reading it? I did. Samething. But I'll try running photorec on a different computer/dvd drive.

 

Another thought. What is the status of the compact flash which had the original images on it?

I would suppose you deleted the images or you would not be concerned about the DVD, but, have you considered trying to recover (undelete) the original images deleted from the flash device? I am assuming of course that the flash hasn't been completely overwritten. You might also try a free program such as Recuva on the flash. http://www.piriform.com/recuva

 

If PhotoRec didn't pull anything off of the disc, then nothing will (assuming that it was set up properly). PhotoRec is my "last ditch" piece of recovery software. Like gerryf19 said, it will grab absolutely everything that it can; even half-corrupted photos. The drawback of it not pulling filenames and directories is what regulates it to my "last ditch" category, but it is an excellent piece of software.

I agree with deeastman, running PhotoRec or Recuva on the original compact flash may be your best bet at recovering those pictures.

 

Isobuster was able to locate the files, photorec couldn't. Isobuster however is not free so it does not allow saving and exporting. As long as the data on the dvd is still intact, which it is, I can recover them. I just need something that's free, and better than photorec.

 

Do you know how to use the command line? And/or German?
If you're desperate enough you could try H2cdimage and Dares. Both command line applications, first one requires admin rights, and only available in German. H2cdimage is used to create an image file of the disc, Dares tries to extract files from it.

First you'll need to figure out the adress (adapter, target/ID, and LUN) of your optical drive, this will be three digits separated by colons (e.g. 0:1:0). Some burning apps like ImgBurn show this adress in their device selection dropdown menu if you don't know how to come up with it.

Next create the image file with

Code:

h2cdimage 0:1:0 image -i

if 0:1:0 is your drive's adress. It should start doing its job, take ages, and spit out two files (.iso and .h2i).

Then point Dares at the iso file like so:

Code:

dares -i image.iso -s c:\output_dir -a -l c:\logfile.txt

Adjust output directory and logfile location as needed (permissions etc.).

Good luck.