Repair CD DVD Errors and Unfinalized DVDs

These are some quick tips and techniques to deal with unfinalized DVDs, damaged DVDs and CDs or DVDs with errors or corrupt data.

Before attacking the disc itself it is a good idea to check for other possible sources of trouble:

• Check to see your CD/DVD burner has the latest firmware by going to the manufacturers website.

• Check to see if the media (brand and type) are compatible with your CD/DVD burner/reader.

• Check to see that the DVD player you are using can play other discs successfully.

Once you are certain that the CD or DVD disc is the source of trouble you can take a look at the solutions below.

Scratched CD DVD Discs

A simple visual inspection of the surface of the disc will tell you straight away whether your problem is physical damage to the disc. You will probably need to handle any visible scratches on the surface of the disc first.

At this stage it is advisable to use quality DVD copying software to find out of the disc will simply copy rather than trying something else. Good DVD software will have the ability to read through many minor blemishes on the disc surface.

Now you could go out and buy a disc repair machine to fix the disc surface if that failed. Alternately you could check in the garage or your neighbourhood hardware shop!

All you will require is some clear or neutral car polish. Turtlewax happens to be the one I use. Get a soft lint free cloth and apply a small amount of polish to the disc surface and gently (note: you are not buffing a car!) rub the disc.

Use straight strokes from the centre of the disc to the outer edge and continue to do this until you can see the scratch either disappear or reduce noticeably. Then using the same motion and fresh cloth buff the disc back to its original shine.

Now using good DVD copying software, try to make another copy. If you are still unsuccessful repeat the process until you can be certain the problem is not coming from a damaged disc surface.

DVD Data Recovery

The best DVD recovery software is Nero 9 or Isobuster. A straight search of Yahoo or Google will find you the relevant sites.

Put the problem disc in the DVD drive of your computer then:

Open Nero SmartStart and choose Nero Express. Click the Copy an Entire Disc option. Choose the damaged disc and let it run. You will very shortly know of it is going to work.

If that doesn’t fix it then go back to Nero Express and select the Save Tracks option at the bottom of the screen. Again let it run and you will quickly find out whether or not it will work.

If that fails go back to Nero SmartStart and open Nero Recode. Choose to Recode an Entire DVD to DVD. Ensure that the size selected for the target disc is the same as for the source disc then again, let it run.

If that doesn’t work return to Nero SmartStart and select to open Nero RescueAgent and follow it’s DVD recovery software strategies.

Still no joy: Isobuster.

Try to make a disc image file and burn to another DVD. Isobuster has three alternate methods of dealing with data corruption.

• It can replace the damaged area with free space.

• It can put fake data in place of the corrupted data.

• It can place a series of zeros in the area of the corrupt data.

Isobuster will predict whether the creation of a disc image file will be successful before actually attempting the task. If Isobuster has created the file (note where it was going to put it first!) after that you will need to re-name the file extension to .iso.

With any DVD burning software use the disc image file to burn a new DVD.

Still no luck?

1. Open Isobuster and allow it to detect the disc.
2. Under the “File” menu select “Find Missing Files and Folders” after Isobuster has detected the disc.
3. You will be able to see in the left side column Files and Folders Found by Their Signature.
4. Select that, then go to File – Files Found Via Their Signature – Extract Files Found Via Their Signature.” Choose a place to save and let it start.

Now you will have all the files where you selected them to go.

Unfinalized discs.

Try to finalize the disc by using the original device involved in its creation in the first place. If the original device is unavailable or cannot now finalize the disc you may need to go straight to the Isobuster solution above.

If you have been left with an otherwise perfectly good disc, but unfinalized do the following.

You will need Nero 9 and it is specifically for unfinalized discs.

Place the unfinalized disc into the computer DVD tray. Open Nero 9 and the StartSmart window will appear. Click Create and Edit at the top of the screen. Choose Author, Edit and Capture Video.NeroVision will open. Select the Disc Tools menu and hit Finalize Disc. In the option box that appears choose No Menus and let it run. Hopefully you now have a fully finalized disc that is readable.

Hope you had luck!