DVD "Unreadable" - Can I backup data on my comp?

[TechFool83]

I posted this question under the Newbie forum, but someone was nice enough to suggest that I post it to a computer-related one to get some suggestions on what to do, so here's the deal:

As of yesterday morning, I've experienced a very strange problem with my Parasonic DVD/VHS player/recorder that has been working fine. I was recording this programme (the time slot was conveniently moved to 4am so I figured on scheduling recordings while I snooze) and it was working fine on a DVD-RW dvd. the DVD had approx 1hr and 15 min left and I could watch all the episodes I had recorded the past few days. So it came to my surprise when I woke up this morning only to find a light on my DVD and a blank screen on the DVD deck. I tried to find out what the problem was and the dvd itself is being read as "unreadable." What made this happen when it was working fine just yesterday? I just couldn't figure out how a dvd that was working is suddenly no longer able to be read or is compatible with the dvd player. I thought about trying to somehow back-up the episodes I recorded by inserting it in my computer...Problem is, I cannot play this DVD (Or any blank DVD disc for that matter), until the disc has been finalized by my DVD player. Naturally, my plan was to record this last episode that aired this morning and then finalize it so I could watch it on any other player.

I really want to find out how I can make this dvd work so I can least backup the recorded stuff I had on there. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

P.S. I've also tried Isobuster and that didn't work. It might've worked IF I had been able to finalize the disc but I couldn't. Are there any other software programs I could try?

[Krispy Kritter]

ISObuster was likely your best bet as it copies all of the data off of the disc without needed to read the index or FAT.

As to what caused the problem, it could be many things. It could have just been a glitch, such as a brief power spike or outage which caused the recorder to stop. If the recorder isn't able to update the FAT after it records, then the disc becomes unreadable. Discs that aren't finalized should be readable in the device that created them, but unless they are finalized, they cannot be read by any other devices. It may also be a bad disc. DVD's, especially RW discs, do have a limited life span. Or the player may have died. Have you tried using it again with a different disc?

In any event, it is best to record a single show/movie per disc and rotate your recordings using several discs. That way, if an event such as this occurs again, you are only out a single show. If you decide to keep a show, you simply finalize the disc, then use your pc to extract the file, edit it, and then burn onto DVD.

[PhoneMatt]

I had a similar problem and had no luck with Isobuster. Someone on here suggested using Isopuzzle. (I don't remember where I got it from, but you can Google it.) It is free. It's definitely a sledgehammer of a program and can take some time. (Mine took 11 hours for 4.5G of data.) It worked. Got data off of a disk that Isobuster couldn't, but, since chunks of the data were corrupt, parts of it were unusable. Give it a try, it might work for you.
Matt

[TechFool83]

I tested my dvd/vhs player and it works fine with other regular dvd movies and blank DVD-R/+RW discs so it must have been something with the one disc I had.

I also tried downloading IsoPuzzle but the installation has been unsuccessful thus far. It keeps coming up with an error saying "No Drives Detected" and "Load Library: WNASDI32.DLL Not found" followed by the Application message "IsoPuzzle MFC Application has encountered a problem and needs to close...." I tried downloading it from Freeware Files and the other site (the link was found when I clicked on the link to the Isopuzzle from the previous post), but neither worked. I'm wondering if this is due to the fact that I still have Isobuster and badcopy.setup on my comp. Perhaps if I took them both out it might fix the problem.

Thanks for the advice guys!

[AlanHK]

II also tried downloading IsoPuzzle but the installation has been unsuccessful thus far. It keeps coming up with an error saying "No Drives Detected" and "Load Library: WNASDI32.DLL Not found"

If you had read the "readme.txt", or the web page of the author,. it tells you that you must also get that file, wnaspi.dll, from ftp://ftp6.nero.com/wnaspi32.dll. Just copy it into the IsoPuzzle folder.

[TechFool83]

Hmm...okay I tried that but it doesn't seem to have worked. When I download each software (the Isopuzzle and the Dll), it comes in a compressed file and I have to extract each one. I put the dll one into the Isopuzzle folder where there is the readme.txt and the Isopuzzle software and it keeps coming up with an error message. What am I doing wrong? Is the file supposed to go somewhere else or am I supposed to take the whole folder of dll and put it into the Isopuzzle?

Thanks!

[TechFool83]

Okay, I tried this procedure again on a different comp and I got it to work. All of the data was transferred to a file under "UnnamedVolume.flg and UnnamedVolume.iso . I read the read.txt of the Isopuzzle and it says that I need to use Nero Burn or Winzip to convert the file. Do you guys suggest I download the Nero burn so I can convert it back to video?

[AlanHK]

is the file supposed to go somewhere

This is what's In my Isopuzzle folder:

Directory of P:\ISOpuzzle

IsoPuzzle.exe
ReadMe.txt
IsoPuzzle.ini
wnaspi32.dll

 4 File(s)  347,263 bytes

[AlanHK]

Okay, I tried this procedure again on a different comp and I got it to work. All of the data was transferred to a file under "UnnamedVolume.flg and UnnamedVolume.iso . I read the read.txt of the Isopuzzle and it says that I need to use Nero Burn or Winzip to convert the file. Do you guys suggest I download the Nero burn so I can convert it back to video?

You can use the ISO with almost any burning app to duplicate the original DVD.
I use ImgBurn.

If you want to extract files from it, you can use IsoBuster, or see https://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/iso-image for other tools. You can mount the ISO, so it appears as a DVD disk, using DaemonTools.

VLC can "play" an ISO file as if it were a disc in your drive.

[TechFool83]

Okay, the good news is that I was able to extract what I had on the bad dvd disc and I could get it to play on the VLC so it plays like a video (so I've got most of it back! ). The problem is, I tried the ImgBurn to transfer the original (iso) file that I stored on my computer so I could get it on a new disc (DVD+R format) so that I could play it on a dvd player and it did not work. The disc could not be read by either the dvd player or the Cyberlink DVD I have on my computer. Should I try a different software?

[AlanHK]

I tried the ImgBurn to transfer the original (iso) file that I stored on my computer so I could get it on a new disc (DVD+R format) so that I could play it on a dvd player and it did not work.?

Perhaps you wrote the ISO as a file?

ImgBurn needs to be in "Write" mode (not "Build" mode, as when you are burning a collection of files). Then choose the ISO file as your "Source" and burn.

Of course, there can always be problems with crap media.

Get a couple of DVD-RWs. Invaluable for experimenting with and one-time use.

[redwudz]

Check the disc in the computer and see if you have a DVD compatible VIDEO_TS folder. The ISO will just be a image of the data, correct or not. The DVD structure may have been damaged. VLC can play damaged discs. But the VOBs may be fine, just the rest of the disc has a problem.

You could try extracting the MPEGs from the disc with VOB2MPG and re-author it. Or a shortcut that might work is to run it through DVD Shrink in reauthor mode.

[TechFool83]

I believe I wrote the ISO as a file...because I was using the Isopuzzle to extract whatever I could get from the bad DVD to store on the computer. I felt it was safer this way to get the file on the comp and then transfer it to a new dvd and put the bad disc aside (for now). So far, I have tried CD-R , DVD-RW, and DVD+R (all blank and new) and none of these have worked. I don't know why, but when I try using Nero, it ejects the blank disc and says "Please insert a writeable disc." ImgBurn cannot read any of the blank discs every time I try to load it into the hp/dvd writer / cd-writer combo drive. When I play the file on the VLC it plays like a real video without any glitches or shows those weird digital errors on the screen until I get to the very end of the entire video. I'm certain I can get this file to work and burn it onto a playable dvd disc but it has to be something I'm doing wrong.

Anyhow, just wanted to say I appreciate all the help and advice you guys have given me. I'm gonna keep trying, but if it doesn't work, then hey, at least I can view the video on my comp!

[AlanHK]

I believe I wrote the ISO as a file...because I was using the Isopuzzle to extract whatever I could get from the bad DVD to store on the computer. I felt it was safer this way to get the file on the comp

There are various tools that will let you open an ISO (see https://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/iso-image)-- especially DaemonTools which lets you see it as a disc drive.

But be sure not to have any of these open if you go back to ISOPuzzle and try to get more blocks. It doesn't like to share and may crash.

[ahhaa]

Going back to your original problem- RW discs can get fragmented just like hard drives, as well as having write errors after several uses. Had you used that disc a lot? Have you cleaned your laser lens lately?

[TechFool83]

The DVD I used to record the show before it became corrupted was never used. It came with a stack of blank DVD-RW disc that I make sure each have a one-time use for recording. I've also checked my laser disc and it's very clean.

I'm afraid I'm still having problems and I'm beginning to wonder what exactly the problem is--the alternate DVD-RW's / CD-R / DVD+RW's I've tried or if it's the file itself that I stored on my computer that plays well on the VLC Media Player. Because I've tried all these kinds of CD/DVD's and ImgBurn and Nero both have rejected them either saying that the iso file exeeds the disc capacity or is saying that the dvd cannot be used. I'm also afraid the Daemon software isn't very user friendly. I have downloaded it and all I see is the Daemon control panel and I select "Mount Image" which is the Iso file and it doesn't have the option of doing anything else. I downloaded Astroburn because it says it needs that software to mount it to a cd drive and when I click "Burn to Astroburn" it doesn't do anything..it just lets you select the file and the disc to burn it to and then that's it.

Is it a safe bet to conclude that all the discs I have are "bad" and should just go to the store and get a new stack? I wonder if I would have better luck with a DVD-RAM?

[TechFool83]

I went back to Isobuster and got the full version...I was able to extract the ISO file stored in my comp and it's listed five recovery files ("RecoveryFile1.VOB, RecoveryFile2.VOB" etc.) but when I checked the index/search help it said this:

There are currently no special settings foreseen for this pseudo file system.

For more information on finding this file-system during a scan for lost files and folders, read this. (The link provides a list of information about Joilett and ISO9960's).

The VOB file can play on NERO but I still have the same problem with burning. I did notice that when I tried the CD-R / DVD-RW discs using IsoBuster it said it couldn't burn because they were write protected even though they are blank. If it's a write-protected issue should I just go ahead and buy another blank DVD-RW or try a DVD-RAM to see if this will work? I'm not sure how to remove the write protect on the cd.

Am I getting any closer to solving this problem? Ugh, this is so frustrating. I have the file but can't get it to a DVD to play it on a DVD recorder...

[TechFool83]

I figured out the problem....apparently my comp cannot format DVD-RW or DVD-R discs because they aren't able to read them. I did try a new DVD+RW disc and I was successfully able to write the Iso file onto the DVD using ImgBurn. Problem is, I tried inserting this into a dvd player and it came up as "No Play." I was told that in order to get an Iso file to play as if it were a movie on my player was to select "Write" mode on ImgBurn and burn it. I guess it must be I have to somehow convert the Iso file to some kind of DVD format so it can be read by a dvd player. Is there some way I can do this without the Daemon? That app was too confusing for me and the features weren't user friendly at all.

Suggestions anyone?

[Krispy Kritter]

This could be many different issues. To start with, no covnersion is necessary for an iso file. An iso is just a copy or image of a dvd. You just open the iso with any burning software and burn. It could be that your dvd player doesn't support DVD+R discs or it will only support DVD+R discs that have been bitset. It could also be that you are burning a DVD movie that is PAL format and your player doesn't support PAL. It could just be a bad burn or the original disc was corrupted in such a way that is no longer in a valid format.

Does the new DVD work in the PC? If not, is the ISO image able to be mounted and played on the PC? If not, then the ISO is likely corrupt and unusable.

[TechFool83]

I'm beginning to think it is a file problem (the ISO itself, not the dvd discs I use, or even the new mult-format burner I just bought). The Iso file can play perfectly with VLC Media Player, but even when I tried Astroburn / ImgBurn the file did not show up in the burned dvd disc I used with the multi-format burner. The disc itself comes up blank without a file or anything and shows up as "no play" on the dvd recorder. I did try it with Nero and the file was burned to the dvd but it was still ISO format and couldn't be played by any dvd recorder or anything. I doubt the original was in PAL format because my dvd recorder itself can only read NTSC format discs and my laptop is the same.

[Krispy Kritter]

If you open the disc in Windows using Windows Explorer or My Computer, do you see folders/files or do you just see a single .iso file? If you are seeing the iso file on the DVD, you are burning the disc incorrectly. You should see the same file structure as you do on any other movie DVD.

[AlanHK]

I did try it with Nero and the file was burned to the dvd but it was still ISO format.

You should not be burning the ISO as a file.

In my version of Nero, it's:
Copy and Backup/Burn image to disc
Then select the ISO and burn.

If you use ImgBurn:
Mode: Write
select the ISO and burn.

[GottaRun]

I've a similar problem in trying to copy off a bad VOB file from my DVD to my PC.
I did try to use isopuzzle.
It starts but it never finishes
My two questions:
1) as I know that 90 of the file is fine, how can I quickly extract that portion?
That is I don't care about the bad part.

2) How do I stopped Isopuzzle without losing the work its done? Just give
me what you have so far. When I stopped it I couldn't find any .iso files on my PC.

thanks for any pointers,

[AlanHK]

2) How do I stopped Isopuzzle without losing the work its done? Just give
me what you have so far. When I stopped it I couldn't find any .iso files on my PC.

Just "PAUSE" then EXIT". It won't delete the partial file.
You can continue ISOpuzzle later, it will add to the previous ISO. Useful if you want to try using another reader drive, or take out the DVD and clean/polish.

In ISOpuzzle main screen, below "Source" is "Destination", the name and folder where it creates the ISO.

1) as I know that 90 of the file is fine, how can I quickly extract that portion?
That is I don't care about the bad part.

See if you can open the ISO with ISObuster and extract the VOBs etc.
then demux.
Make sure that you have closed ISOpuzzle first, things get messy if it's writing to the file at the same time.

[GottaRun]

thanks ISObuster did the job I needed, namely it extracted most of the VOB file.
i will revisit ISOpuzzle

wishing everyone here a joy-filled Christmas and a new year rich in blessings!