Are there any recovery tools for optical media?

wwgfd · 2012-12-14 12:38:28

I've had a couple of DVD's turned in to coasters recently and I was hoping that Linux could come to my rescue with some awesome 'raw-read' / recovery tools for optical media?

I burnt the discs in Windows 7 using InfraRecorder on a brand new Plextor drive (a 'PX-891SA') and these are my first attempts to burn discs with it so I'm a bit worried it could be a hardware fault!

I started off trying to back up some files to clear some space on my hard-drive, burning them to a dual-layer dvd, but the software kept failing to even start the burn process -- that was until I realised that I needed to run the program "as Administrator" (in Windows). It did then manage to burn the disc (I was using "Session-at-Once" mode) however when it came to the end of the burn process / the start of the 'verify data' phase it threw an error saying the write process had failed! Windows couldn't access the disc / data and (I think) still thought the disk was empty. So I restarted the burning application and used a function to just 'close' the whole disc. This seemed to work because Windows was then able to recognise the disc and read the data, although accessing the disc was slow and sounded 'stutter' ish.

I then tried to write a single layer dvd to finish off the last couple of gig I had to back up, but again the software completed the burn phase only to report a 'fail' error right at the end (I'm assuming) before finalising the disc. Although this time I'd tried to create a multi-session disc by using the '2XXA' (or something) 'Multi-Session' iso9660 format. The result was that Windows couldn't read the disc and still thought it was empty, even after trying a forced 'close disc' operation! -- Linux however could read the disc and see that the data had in fact been burnt to the disc (although I've not yet tried copying it in Linux!).

Finally I needed to burn a load of archives to a couple of discs (totaling ~9GiB) -- starting with a dual-layer dvd first everything seemed to be working fine, the burn process started okay and the write buffer was full etc., until at what I assume was the layer change-over it all came to a grinding halt and threw another 'write operation failed' error, only this time I can't even mount the disk in Linux....see 'dmesg | tail' output below:

[ 5758.353005] ISO 9660 Extensions: Microsoft Joliet Level 3
[ 5758.353015] ISOFS: Interleaved files not (yet) supported.
[ 5758.353016] ISOFS: File unit size != 0 for ISO file (1472).
[ 5758.353019] ISOFS: changing to secondary root
[ 5758.353035] ISOFS: Interleaved files not (yet) supported.
[ 5758.353036] ISOFS: File unit size != 0 for ISO file (1536).
[ 5758.353037] isofs_fill_super: root inode is not a directory. Corrupted media?

Does anyone have any thought or suggestions that might help?
- Is it likely to be a hardware fault? (I bought a Plextor because I thought they were one of the best!)

Maybe even if I could just close the session all would not be lost?

-- Thanks in advance --

>>>> UPDATE >>>>

I tried to use ddrescue....it was fine until it got to the end of the disk and then it sounded like the drive was chewing on a bag of pork scratchings

$ sudo ddrescue -v /dev/sr0 /mnt/odd/ddr.file ~/ddr.log


GNU ddrescue 1.16
About to copy 4029 MBytes from /dev/sr0 to /mnt/odd/ddr.file
    Starting positions: infile = 0 B,  outfile = 0 B
    Copy block size: 128 sectors       Initial skip size: 128 sectors
Sector size: 512 Bytes

Press Ctrl-C to interrupt
rescued:     4028 MB,  errsize:    983 kB,  current rate:        0 B/s
   ipos:     4028 MB,   errors:       1,    average rate:    3310 kB/s
   opos:     4028 MB,     time since last successful read:    10.8 m
Splitting failed blocks... 
Interrupted by user

...it was taking forever and getting nowhere so I just pressed 'ctrl+c'.....here's the log file:

# Rescue Logfile. Created by GNU ddrescue version 1.16
# Command line: ddrescue -v /dev/sr0 /mnt/odd/ddr.file /home/shodan/ddr.log
# current_pos  current_status
0xF0213000     /
#      pos        size  status
0x00000000  0xF0208000  +
0xF0208000  0x0000B000  -
0xF0213000  0x0000D000  /
0xF0220000  0x00000400  -
0xF0220400  0x0001FE00  /
0xF0240200  0x00000400  -
0xF0240600  0x0003FE00  /
0xF0280400  0x00000400  -
0xF0280800  0x00077600  /
0xF02F7E00  0x00000200  -

When I tried to mount the output file using $ sudo mount -ro loop /mnt/odd/ddr.file /mnt/vodd I got the same error as with the actual disc (natch)...

mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/loop0,
       missing codepage or helper program, or other error
       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail or so

Last edited by wwgfd (2012-12-14 13:18:41)

chris_l · 2012-12-14 16:57:59

I have seen that kind of problems. In my case the lenses had a problem and the laser was "weak"; it burned the discs, but so weakly that it had a hard time trying to read them.
Buy a new burner.

About your mount command, specify the filesystem (add -t iso9660 to your mount)

Last edited by chris_l (2012-12-14 16:58:22)

alphaniner · 2012-12-14 17:21:54

It's not going to help with discs already burned (and it probably wouldn't have helped if chris_l is right about the cause), but I suggest looking into dvdisaster for future discs.

Though I'll be honest, the main reason I like it so much is because it's a plausibly rational outlet for my compulsive need to fill the entire disc.

wwgfd · 2012-12-14 17:59:45

@chris_l -- yeah I was worried that might be the case, still I'm not sure if that explains why it keeps failing the burn process part way through?

I've tried this and that in Linux but without much luck. I'm still quite a noob with a lot of Linux things and this is the first time I'm trying anything to do with optical disks/drives etc. so I'm learning as I go...

The disk that failed in Windows but was 'readable' in Linux did just pass a run through ddrescue -- i.e. it created an output file okay and did not report any errors in the process.
However when I mounted the resulting image and tried to copy the files across the first folder reported an "input/ouput error" (just using gui copy+paste in Thunar file manager)
...the other folders did copy okay though!

It seems as though it's the lead-in / lead-out and disc finalizing process that are the main fail points with the burn operation. I don't know if InfraRecorder is any good or likely to be the problem? Anyway the drive cam with Nero (inc. Linux version) so might give either or both of these a go too, if they don't work either then at least I wont be short of something to rest a mug o' tea on

@ chris_l (again) -- the Plextor drives do have a "Vari-Rec" feature which allows a user to 'tweak' the laser power / output level so I might try this too.

@alphaniner -- thanks I've not seen this package before, I'm guessing it's a bit like cdparanoia but for dvds?!

Thanks for the help!

(pre-post) UPDATE >>> I've just mounted my Windows partition in Linux so I'll have a crack at burning the files using cdrtools before I resort to throwing the dvd drive out of the window and chasing it around the yard with a lump hammer

alphaniner · 2012-12-14 18:03:19

No, I don't think it's similar to cdparanoia. It's basically used to fill unused space on any disc with parity information that can be read directly (raw-read, not part of the disc filesystem).

wwgfd · 2012-12-14 19:10:41

@alpaniner -- Okay, cool, a thought occurs to me though....what tool I can use to "raw-read" as you say? -- (I'm guessing dd)

I was hoping a 'raw-read' of my failed discs might at least allow me to recover some data.
When I used 'ddrescue' before on the totally fubar'd disc the program basically crashed when it hit the bad sectors because it just kept trying to access them over and over, saying something about "splitting bad sectors" (?), only this was getting me nowhere so I canceled the operation. -- Is there a way to tell it to skip or omit bad sectors and/or give up trying to read them after x attempts and move on? -- obviously without it then screwing up the whole output image too.

Sorry, as I said I'm learning as I go so although I'm discovering some useful tools and learning more about them I just don't know what all the options are and how/when to use them effectively yet.

Thanks again for all the help.

Last edited by wwgfd (2012-12-14 19:11:21)

alphaniner · 2012-12-14 19:31:24

Is there a way to tell it to skip or omit bad sectors

In fact I think dvdisaster can be instructed to do this, regardless of whether the disc was 'disaster-proofed'.

Arch Linux

#1 2012-12-14 12:38:28

Are there any recovery tools for optical media?

#2 2012-12-14 16:57:59

Re: Are there any recovery tools for optical media?

#3 2012-12-14 17:21:54

Re: Are there any recovery tools for optical media?

#4 2012-12-14 17:59:45

Re: Are there any recovery tools for optical media?

#5 2012-12-14 18:03:19

Re: Are there any recovery tools for optical media?

#6 2012-12-14 19:10:41

Re: Are there any recovery tools for optical media?

#7 2012-12-14 19:31:24

Re: Are there any recovery tools for optical media?

Board footer