How to recover data from scratched CDs/DVDs

Posted on July 14, 2008 at 5:15 am

Scratched a DVD with some important files on it recently? One of my favorite TV shows ever is Lost. I find it to be interesting, but unfortunately, it also sucks up a lot of my hard drive space, with each episode at over 350mbs. I lose quite a bit of hard drive space due to this show, and that’s just that one show, not including other shows like Heroes or House.

So, just like every other guy in this world, I burn the shows onto DVDs, as it’s a cheap and easily accessible way to store data.

But the only problem with this is the fact that CDs or DVDs aren’t invulnerable to all types of damage, and in fact, even a small finger print or scratch can make a DVD/CD player not able to read the disk.

The main reason why the players can’t read the disk is because the damaged part of the disk doesn’t contain any data. If you try to copy-and-paste the file on the damaged disk onto a computer, you usually get an error saying the file is corrupted, or damaged.

So, after losing many disks, and spending many hours of re-burning, and re-burning, I finally put my foot down and looked for some methods to recover data from damaged CDs or DVDs. I found some totally weird methods involving toothpaste, banana skins, even candle wax, but I also found some really handy programs, which I thought I’d share with you all today.

The way these programs work is by copying out the entire file, just skipping out on the damaged part, so it allows you to salvage the majority of the file.

Method 1: Roadkil’s Unstoppable Copier

Roadkil’s Unstoppable Cleaner recovers files from any kind of damaged disk. It allows you to copy files from disks that give ‘corruption‘ errors, and those that are scratched. The program attempts to recover all the parts of the file that are still readable, and ignore the damaged parts. The program is tiny, and it needs no installation, so you can just jump straight in.

Method 2: CD Recovery Toolbox

CD Recovery Toolbox supports a vast range of disks - CD, DVD, HD DVD, Blu Ray and so on. Basically, it recovers data off disks with physical damage (chipping, scratches) or some some sort of incorrect recording.

So there you have it, a few good ways of recovering data that seemed forever lost on a damaged disk. Just remember that you’ll have a part of you file that will be missing, the part that was originally damaged, as these programs don’t repair the disk, but instead recover all other parts of the file.

So, for example, if you’re watching a film, 2 minutes of the film might be skipped, due to the fact that the part skipped was damaged. Enjoy!

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6 Responses to “How to recover data from scratched CDs/DVDs”

AB said on : July 14th, 2008 at 9:52 am

I read your blog via RSS all the time, great tips! I only miss that sometimes that you don’t add links to the applications you review, like today. Could you please add links to their websites?
Thanks, and keep up the good work!

Alek Davis said on : July 14th, 2008 at 6:45 pm

I agree with AB: links would be really helpful.

bart said on : July 17th, 2008 at 4:32 pm

Are we getting a bit lazy? Use google and you get a ton of results! Do you want me to chew your food for you too?
@ Akishore > Love the articles.

check Mater said on : July 23rd, 2008 at 3:30 am

Hey Guyzz…

this is funny… coz the links to the apps is hyperlinked
in the name of the app…don’t you see ?? LOOL

Method 1: Roadkil’s Unstoppable Copier
Method 2: CD Recovery Toolbox

click on the blue name of the app in the above article and you will be flying to it …LLOOLLL

david jenkins said on : August 13th, 2008 at 7:32 am

i used T-cut used to restore paintwork on cars and it worked atreat.I got all my data back as it removed all scratches successfully

Copy files without any hassle using Unstoppable Copier Says:

[...] check out my post on how to recover data from scratched CDs/DVDs using free software programs like Unstoppable [...]
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:52 am