Recovering a DVD+RW

[JGebauer]

I have a DVD+RW, recorded on a standalone recorder, which seems to have become unmountable on my Mac. Although Toast recognizes it as containing 3.x GB of Data, it also cannot read it.

Does anyone know a way to recover the film from it?

[From a Buick 8]

will the standalone recorder play it.

[JGebauer]

I am not sure, since I am traveling at the moment. I was hoping to watch the show "on tour".

[terryj]

Was it finalized on the Standalone Recorder, for use/playback?
Can you play the video in VLC?

You could try MPEG Streamclip ( w/Quicktime Pro MPEG-2
component) to see if it can open the .vobs....

[rumplestiltskin]

If it's unmountable, MPEG Streamclip, etc. will not be able to see it.

+RW does not have to be finalized; however, in order to play it back on a Mac or PC, that step might have to be taken.

[JGebauer]

The DVD doesn't mount, so neither MPEg Streamclip, VLC, nor any otrher playback application could do anything with it.

This is about rescuing the data, not about playing it back.

[terryj]

But in order to DO ANYTHING with this disc you have to get the Mac
to mount it in some WAY, hence my suggestion of the disc
being FINALIZED.

I have in front of me an Unfinalized DVD+RW a friend has
made for me, and I can't get it to mount on my Pioneer -109,
in my Mac G4 MDD Dual 1,
that he says he didn't finalize. This same friend also made me
a -RW containing the same recording, and he finalized it.

The -RW mounts, and I can extract from it.
Both were made off of an Emerson DVD Recorder, if that helps.


If you can't go back and finalize it, your only option at recovery
would see if it would mount on a PC, while your out "on the road",
and if it will let you do anything to it . For the mac, sounds like
your SOL.

[JGebauer]

Unfinalized +RW usually mount just fine, only the editing will not be present, or titles other than 1 will not play.

The case is completely different for -RWs.

However, I am pretty sure the disk is finalized.

[terryj]

Since it is not in your Profile,
what are the specs of your mac?
I assume a laptop...?

specifically the make model processor and manufacturer
of the optical drive....

[JGebauer]

It's an ibook G4, but all I really want to know is whether there is a tool which can help to rescue data of an unmountable DVD.

[rumplestiltskin]

JGebauer,

Please provide the information requested. Don't get ahead of us. Patience.

[terryj]

thanks rumple.


please believe JGebauer, we are trying to help,
and sometimes, more often than not,
just having a Different optical drive than someone else
can be the solution/problem causer....

[rumplestiltskin]

(as an example of what terryj mentions)

I have an iBook G3 with a CD/DVD reader (no burner). It absolutely will not read -any- +R or +RW media I burned on any other Mac or PC. It has no trouble with -R or commerical DVDs. This is not a totally unheard-of situation. I have a number of clients with burners that are two or three years old that simply will not boot from +R DVDs I've burned in my newer Macs. In some cases, these older drives -do- mount the media to the Desktop but some do not.

The only rule is that there are no rules when it comes to DVD.

[TugBoat]

...Toast recognizes it as containing 3.x GB of Data, it also cannot read it...

I had a problem like that once. I was able to have Toast save the Data as a Disc Image and then I was able to work with the Mounted Disc Image. It's worth a shot 8)

I was also able to see the Data under Win2000 using VPC. I elected to use the Disc Image data in OSX rather than the VPC data. I guess it should have been the same, but....

[JGebauer]

1) I did provide the information requested, it's an iBook G4. It has a CD burner (not a DVD burner).

2) It is not the generation of ibooks which cannot read +R/Ws. I can read other +RWs just fine. (It is a known fact that earlier Macs refused to read +RWs.)

3) I already tried to save the Data as Disc Image, but this didn't work either.

[rumplestiltskin]

1) I did provide the information requested, it's an iBook G4. It has a CD burner (not a DVD burner). {snip}

No, you haven't. Let's be more specific: Go into System Profiler, select and copy the information relating specifically to your optical drive (brand, model, firmware, etc.) and paste it into a posting here.

[terryj]

Ok, JG, your getting there, but YOUR NOT QUITE THERE YET.


Please post the information under your System Profiler
as to your Optical drive on your ATA chain please.

Believe it or not, we are trying to help you
and those of us who have access to/privvy to
AppleCare Repair manuals are trying to determine,
by the type of Optical drive you have, the very nature
of your problem.

All we need is the following info should be something like this:

ATA Bus:

PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-109:

Model: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-109
Revision: 1.58
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal

ok?


Please, we really are trying to help you, but you have to be
a bit more FORTHCOMING in your knowledge. Saying what you said
is only half the battle, and LOTS of Matsh!ta opticals used in
iBooks can and have experienced the same no +RW problem,
most due to laser mechanisms having a high fail rate.

And just saying what you said doesn't tell me if it is a Sony, Phillps,
or Matsh!ta drive, just what you BELIEVE to be true.

While we are waiting on this info, have you also tried to
play/access the disc in a PC? Anybody's will do..the guy sitting
beside you on the train/plane/automobile?

Can you take it to a local Computer store and try mounting it
in a machine there?

I want you to do this to rule out two things:

1. that it isn't bad media, and that the media reads fine on other opticals.
2. That since other opticals are reading/mounting the disc fine, that
the problem could simply be your laptop's combo drive
is on the fritz. The first sign of a laser going bad is that it stops reading
one or all types of media it USED to could read.

Do you also have another disc, of another make, same type
(+RW) that you can try and mount in the iBook WITH YOU?

We can't proceed in telling you HOW to recover the data,
wihout first ruling out whether or not your optical drive
isn't the stumbling block to doing so in the first place.

......ok?

[dofer]

I have a DVD+RW, recorded on a standalone recorder, which seems to have become unmountable on my Mac. Although Toast recognizes it as containing 3.x GB of Data, it also cannot read it.

Does anyone know a way to recover the film from it?

Had the same problem. Opened Dragon, select the xxxxxxdata, chose save as iso, mount the iso and recover the content. Although the dvd structure may look alike, some Vob files might be corrupted. You could cut the wrong parts with Mpegstreamclip and reauthor.
Maybe Toast could "save as iso" too.

[dofer]

Sorry TugBoats, I didn't read your (unanswered) post

[TugBoat]

s'Alright, he mentioned that he already tried the Toast Disc image thing and it didn't work. It could be the Combo drive he's using, I used a NEC-3550a to save my data. It worked fine once I copied the file from the Disc Image to the HD and changed the extension to .mpg.

Problem was, that once I saw the low quality 352x240 mpeg that was on the Disc, I resorted to having the Guy bring his Analog Camcorder over and passed the original tape thru my Digital Camcorder to FCP. The DVD I made with FCP and DVD Studio Pro was much, much better than was on the DVD-RW.

Oh, well...
8)

[JGebauer]

Just to explain again: All I want is some kind of application which can read data off the unmounted drive. I am not actually interested in trouble-shooting any problems with +RW (I have none, it is just one disc which doesn't mount), nor have I access to a PC, or a computer store.

For completeness sake:
MatshitaCD-RW CW-8123
Version CA10
But I am not really looking for any drive-specific infos.

I will try the dragon burn trick, as it just may work.

Johannes