Recommended Currently Available DVD Players/Writers For Recovering DVD Data

[brispuss]

I have a commercial pressed DVD disc that appears to have failing layer(s). There are no scratches nor smudges nor anything else that I can see on the surface of the disc. What I can see is a substantial amount of discoloration of the dyes/materials used on a good part of the disc.

This particular disc can not be replaced as this disc is part of a set purchased many years ago and this DVD set is no longer available for purchase/replacement.

Presently I am attempting to copy this disc using AnyDVD and IsoPuzzle. IsoPuzzle initially reported on first scan that there were over 3,000,000 sectors on the disc with over 600,000 sectors initially unreadable!

Using an Asus DVD writer model ASUS DRW-24D5MT in conjunction with AnyDVD and IsoPuzzle in an attempt to recover DVD data.

At this writing, IsoPuzzle has been running for about 53 hours so far with still over 300,000 sectors still to be further processed.

What is concerning is the number of "errors" reported by IsoPuzzle is steadily increasing to about 17,000 and still going! Whether IsoPuzzle will eventually get around to reprocessing these error sectors (successfully or not) is a bit concerning.

I'm aware that (in the past at least) some DVD players/writers seem to be better at recovering data from faulty/damaged DVD discs than others.

For currently available DVD players and writers, which are the most recommended for recovering data from DVD's that have failing layers (disc not scratched and not smudged)?

Screenshot of IsoPuzzle -


[Attachment 82355 - Click to enlarge]

[cholla]

I do not have a recommendation but I have used IsoPuzzle on several DVDs.
If you currently have more than one optical drive you need to let those drives work on the .iso created.(also the .flg file)
One of the IsoPuzzle features I like is the same .iso can be worked on by several drives.
I have used all of mine to get a 100% copy.I have 9 on 4 computers.
The one I use last in my laptop optical drive. It will usually finish a damaged DVD but has more artifacts when finished.
You will get some artifact from a damaged DVD no matter what drive does the read.
Maybe you already know that.
To sum it up use all the drives you have access to if necessary even if you need to move the .iso & .flg to a different computer.
Even doing this some DVDs are too far gone to recover .

[Subtitles]

I have recently purchased IsoBuster Pro and it retrieved numerous DVD disks that I gave up on them for a long time. Even unfinalized disks that I forgot to finalize in the original DVD recorder. I am very pleased with it.
You can download the trial version and see if it shows any video files but you will not be able to extract the video files unless you purchase a license for about $60.
It should do this in a relatively short time certainly not 53 hours.
If the disk is physically damaged even if not visible, then I wouldn't expect a miracle.
Is this DVD part of a well known boxset or privately purchased?

[cholla]

@ Subtitles,
I have an older version of IsoBuster Pro (registered) I was offered an upgrade if I paid for it.
So far the older version has done what I need.
I do not remember when I had the trial version so maybe it woud not extract video files.

The reason I prefer IsoPuzzle is the ability to move the DVD to a different optical drive or even a different PC & work on the same .iso .

Can the newer version of IsoBuster do this?

BTW the reason IsoPuzzle is working on the DVD after 53 hours is it is set to "Never give up".

[Subtitles]

@cholla,
If the version of IsoBuster that you have is doing what you need, there is no need to upgrade.
The trial version doesn't extract video files for sure, but at least it will give a report of the files that it has discovered and can be extracted if one buys the license.
As I have only one DVD drive I can't answer with regards to moving the DVD to another drive but if you generate an *.iso file I think there shouldn't be a problem.
You can ask the developer Mr. Peter Van Hove any question and he will give you an answer within a short time.

[cholla]

@Subtitles,
No extra blu ray drives either ?

I remember way back when I only had 1 optical drive.
It was not even a writer but read only.

I have contacted Mr. Peter Van Hove way in the past.
I may do this but I do not believe that IsoBuster allows the .iso to be moved & the same .iso worked on & added to be anoter drive.

[brispuss]

Comments noted.

I'm aware that you can use other optical drives to further process the DVD disc and if necessary by copying the iso and flg files generated by IsoPuzzle to other computers.

The DVD in question is part of a retail set of a TV series which was not widely distributed. The retail set is no longer available as the set was released quite a few years ago.

I'm aware that in some cases, processing faulty DVD's can take many hours/days to complete depending on how extensive and how bad the fault is.

So, any suggestions for good DVD players/writers to read faulty discs, please?

Thank you.

[Subtitles]

If your DVD player can play other DVD discs from the same boxset, then I see no point in looking for other DVD players.
Try installing IsoBuster trial version and if it doesn't show any videos in the report then you disc is damaged.
You can try contacting the company that made the boxset perhaps they can help you out if they are still in business. Also search for the title surely you are not the only one who bought this boxset. If you are lucky then you might find it for sale as a used boxset somewhere in the world.

[ProWo]

You could also try H2cdimage.
This is a command line program that works similar to Isopuzzle.
I have used it successfully several times.

https://www.heise.de/download/product/h2cdimage-39056

[brispuss]

Yes, I was recently aware of h2cdimage program similar to IsoPuzzle.

Currently trying h2cdimage program to extract data from my faulty DVD disc. But at present it's progress is very slow, much slower than IsoPuzzle.

I have tried searching online for replacement DVD (box set) for my faulty DVD, but as of now, I haven't found any. As mentioned previously, this DVD set was not widely distributed so replacement is unlikely an option at this time, unfortunately.

Different (make and model) DVD drives (readers/writers) are more likely to be able to extract data from faulty discs due to the differences in laser types, laser alignments, and firmware. This is why I prefer to use multiple DVD drives to extract data from (faulty) discs.

Some faulty discs can take a week or more (apparently) to recover data from them, depending on the nature of the fault and the degree of fault.

Again, any recommended DVD readers/writers to extract data from faulty DVD's, please?

[steptoe]

If you're really desperate, you could try IMGBurn and under the Tools/READ settings select "Ignore Read Errors" under the Read Errors options area


It will rip the disc but ignore all read errors




You could also try changing the read error options and see if can recover something if the read errors are that bad rather than waiting hours and getting nothing

[dannyboy48888]

The full version of isobuster does allow making a managed image that can be retried on different drives and then exported to a iso or simply extracted. Been using that particular function since at least 2007. It's called a ipb/ipq file. It is segments though so you will have several files for the recovery image

[cholla]

@ dannyboy48888,
Good to know this about IsoBuster.
IsoPuzzle has worked well for me but another tool is good to have.

The slim drive in my laptop reads well I guess as it has finished several damaged DVDs when other drives quit.
Model TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-L633C

[brispuss]

Comments noted.

I "borrowed" a registered version of IsoBuster for testing. I found the layout displayed by IsoBuster to be a bit . . "unusual". Anyway I attempted to extract faulty data from my faulty DVD disc. IsoBuster seemed to work on extracting the (faulty) data, but was very slow at doing so. But as IsoBuster is a slightly expensive product to purchase (in order to extract data from discs), I most likely will not be purchasing this product, at least not in the near future.

ImgBurn comments noted. ImgBurn is an excellent image burning utility, I use it for ALL image burning processes. Regarding ImgBurn reading faulty data, I'll look into this feature a bit later on.

As of this writing, I've temporarily stopped IsoPuzzle which had managed to reduce initial unreadable disc sectors from over 600,000 down to around 250,000 sectors after three days of processing. h2cdimage is still currently running, and has reduced the number of unreadable sectors from over 600,000+ down to around 450,000 sectors after about two days so far.

TSST is a Toshiba based drive which, I understand, is one of the better/best drives for recovering data from faulty discs.

[cholla]

@ brispuss,
If you believe it is worth the investment.
An external enclosure for a slim optical drive is inexpensive.
At Amazon around 12 dollars.
Newegg has a refurbished TS-L633C for $9.99
https://www.newegg.com/p/1B1-001T-001C1?srsltid=AfmBOorZ_CvrACQhQ2Ft3EMWLWglvzffqyQ8tr...RZFGwdqm4x3dad

Of course it might not do the same as mine.Sometimes there is an extra good drive.
I believe these drives are Toshiba/Samsung.

I can't say for sure but I believe IsoPuzzle is a GUI for h2cdimage.

[brispuss]

Thanks for the additional comments and suggestion.

As implied by my initial post, I'm after currently available (new) DVD drives that can read data from bad/faulty DVD discs. I'm not keen on purchasing used drives as it is unknown how functional they are and how much life is still left in them. So I prefer to purchase new drives where I should (hopefully) have many years of use. I'll only consider purchasing used drives as an absolute last resort.

Yes, it is understood that Samsung drives are manufactured by Toshiba, or, at the very least use Toshiba components.

Yes, it is also my understanding that IsoPuzzle is basically a GUI version of h2cdimage CLI, but with some added functionality.

It seems there are relatively few new optical drives available now from - Asus, LG, Lite-On, Pioneer, Plextor, Samsung, and a couple of other odd models. So there is not much to choose from as far as purchasing new drives is concerned, unfortunately.

I was considering purchasing a Plextor drive, as in the past these drives were supposedly fairly good in data recovery from faulty discs. But based on user comments online, it seems that the standard/quality of Plextor drives has basically dropped for the latest drives in that they are no longer good at data recovery from faulty discs(?)

[markdwalden]

Dependability and data retrieval being the primary concern, you should opt for a DVD player or writer. The LG External DVD Writer (Model GP65NB60) is highly recommended because it is precise, suitable for multiple formats, and decent in reading speed. You may also consider the Asus ZenDrive U7M because it supports M-DISC and keeps data for a longer time on DVDs. Also, another compact Blu-ray/DVD writer that can offer superior performance is the Pioneer BDR-XD07B. This will support features of data recovery and yet remains widely available. Such are capable of providing solid performance for data recovery requirements.

[brispuss]

Thank you very much for the drive suggestions!

I'll certainly look into these drives now.

I recently purchased a Samsung SH-224DB, which unfortunately failed to read any DVD's. A faulty new drive! Very surprised and disappointed that this somewhat expensive drive, and supposedly fairly good quality drive, was faulty!? This drive is being returned for a refund. EDIT: I noticed this drive was apparently manufactured in January 2015(!!) according to the label on the drive!!

I'm certain on a forum somewhere in the past (maybe club.myce ? and maybe 7~8 years ago), on enquiring about suitable drives for reading bad/faulty DVD's, it was brought to my attention that some LG drives had some sort of DVD disc error skipping feature. This feature allowed faulty DVD's to be played back but skipping any bad areas on DVD discs during the process of playback. The downside to this feature is that these LG drives with this error skipping function are/(were) useless at recovering bad/faulty data from bad/faulty DVD discs as these drives would automatically skip DVD disc errors and therefore fail to recover (all) data from bad/faulty discs.

For this reason I am wary of purchasing any LG DVD drive unless the drive does NOT have this error skipping feature.

EDIT: I think this error skipping feature of (some) LG drives is called "Jamless Play". And, unfortunately, the LG drive model GP65NB60 has the Jamless Play feature. So I will not be purchasing this particular LG model, sorry.

[cholla]

I have two LG drives.
The WH14NS40 is a good but not exceptional reader.
The WH16NS40 had been DosFlashed to read & write UHD blu ray disks.
It is a better reader but still fails on some damaged DVDs.
The specs on neither state "Jamless Play"

I have some older drives also but you would only find those used.
One made by Panasonic & sold as Hammer storage.
Two Sony's that are rebadged Benq.The are also good but still fail on some damaged DVDs.
I also have a Samsung (not the laptop drive) & much like the others.

[Moody_Blues]

Pioneer drives are the best readers. If you have a LG drive with "Jamless play" that will skip sectors, just flash it to ASUS firmware that is lacking that "feature".

[brispuss]

Additional comments noted, thanks.

A reminder that I'm looking at drives that are capable of reading bad/faulty data from DVD's. Drives that otherwise read good data from DVD's may not necessarily be good at reading bad/faulty data.

EDIT: Another consideration is how reliable the drives are. For this I usually look at user reviews. If there are too many negative reviews, then it is unlikely I'll purchase the drive.

I note that for the LG drives WH14NS40 and WH16NS40, there are around 50+% bad reviews for these two drives, which is not really good. So it is doubtful that I would purchase either of these drives.

I can't really afford to risk getting bad drives as the shipping cost for me to return the faulty drives is horrendous, for where I live!! The cost for me to return the faulty Samsung SH-224DB drive will be around $60 !!!! I'm making a big loss on purchasing this drive even after receiving a refund.

[cholla]

@ brispuss,
I gave my review of the WH14NS40 and WH16NS40.
With the exception of my laptop drive the LGs are very close to the same as my other drives.
All sometimes fail to rip a damaged DVD no matter what software I use.

I believe the main problems were where someone did not like that the WH16NS40 drive needed to be flashed to work with UHD.
Or "Bricked the drive because it had the "SVC Code NS40" & not "SVC Code NS50" or above.
Or tried to flash the WH14NS40 with any flash for the WH16NS40.

One reason for going to a blu ray drive is the lasers are supposed to be stronger.
In theory this should read a damaged disk better.
The Pioneers are the most recommended now but I do not have one so I can't say either way.

If you live in the US this is the best rate I have found & used:
https://postcalc.usps.com/Calculator/MailServices?country=0&ccode=US&oz=79103&omil=Fal...2&hscode=False
The small box is a bit small if you are going to pad the drive well enough.

[brispuss]

Thanks for the detailed reply!

A bit busy now, so can't do a full response just now.

I'm outside of the US, and there are only three shipping options available for me to ship a small parcel to the US. But as the seller of the Samsung drive wants the parcel to be tracked (seller doesn't cover return shipping costs unfortunately!?), there are only two options available to me. The cheapest is by courier and it costs around $60 as mentioned above. The other option is Express shipping, which is basically courier again but with expedited process, that options costs around $95!!! Even worse.

[cholla]

@ brispuss,
Those are high shipping costs.
No wonder the seller does not cover the return shipping costs.
I do not know your location but wanted to let you know the best way I found to ship a drive if you did live in the US.
Tracking is included & so is $100.00 insurance.
I have bought items from outside the US but I have never shipped anything out of the US.

[brispuss]

I've done a quick research online regarding blu-ray, dvd, and cd lasers in optical drives. There are differences in lasers and laser wavelengths for the three types of media.

For blu-ray, laser wavelength is 405 nm, for DVD, laser wavelength is 650 nm, and for CD, laser wavelength is 750 nm. There is a separate laser for each media.

So a blu-ray optical drive that also reads/writes DVD and CD media, should have three different lasers.

For DVD's, the blu-ray drive has to use the DVD laser in order to read and write data. The other two lasers (blu-ray and CD) are not used to read and write DVD data as their laser frequencies are different.

Still doing online searches for possible drives to read bad DVD data, but with consideration also to drive reliability. So far, the results don't look promising, especially with regard to drive reliability.