Difficult to read disks...HW or SW change more helpful?

[Golem]

When you come upon a disk (DVD-R) that will not read after some time in storage I'm assuming the dye or structure in the disk is failing. In an attempt to recover the data would there be any software or drives more capable of this task or is it not worth the effort. Would rather not have to resort to trying data recovery software, the info is not all that valuable and imperative it be recovered.

Thanks!

ND-3500AG
ND-3550A
Generic out of 2-3 year old DELL (Sony?)


*EDIT* - Oops, probably should have placed this query in the "Media" section.

[MysticE]

Well when I first started Princo was the only reasonably priced blank. Needless to say it was false economy as within a couple of years they became unreadable. The same with CMC (I don't know if this has changed).

That said it's best to have burner/readers of various brands as sometimes one will work. I can choose from Lite-on, Pioneer and Benq. Most times, with slightly damaged discs at least, one of them will read it.

You can ask some friends to try to read the disc.

[redwudz]

You could try ISOBuster or dvdisaster (Freeware). Depending on the condition of the disc, you may be able to recover some of the data.

PS. This forum is OK as your problem also concerns software, hardware and media.

[Golem]

Thanks for the replies, all usable info!

I'll give those apps a shot. Will also look for a few different brand drives at friends to try them with.

[biviray]

Fortunately for me I have access to many dvd players. I have experinced the same problem. Many of my OLD library will not copy unless I use my older drives (Pioneer 108-109 and Lite-On 1633s. Using file mode on certain software, some drives will read some files and my NEWER drives will read the rest. Or a combination therof.