Can't read old photos from CD-RW

[sagebrush]

I've been trying to read some photos (jpgs) that I saved 4-5 years ago as jpgs. The pics are saved onto a CD-RW. Back then I would reopen and drag n drop pics many times to archive using the same disc. Now my current CD burned doesn't even recognize the disc exist. I would also backup to a HD but that crashed and burned many years ago.

Does anyone know or have used a service company that can retrieve files like this in this situation?

[sageone]

Have you tried other machines? For some strange reason, it might be the drive you are trying to use. Is the disk damaged?

[robertwgross]

First of all, when the images were originally saved, did you test the CD then to see if it worked? If the sessions were not closed properly, then that would account for it.

Second, some CD drives work with some types and not with others. For example, I have one brand of CD reader/recorder that will record only with CD+RW. If I try CD-RW or similar-sounding types, it will not work at all.

I don't think this is a Canon EOS digital camera problem, so it probably does not belong in this forum section.

---Bob Gross---

[sagebrush]

No, I don't believe it's damaged at least no visual scratches. I tied two other drives but no success. I also tried to use some "recovery" program that claims to be able to recover lost data but it didn't help either.

[tim]

Like SageOne said, try it in as many machines as you can, CDs can be weird like that. I hope you've learned your lesson - everyone has to lose data once before they realise the importance of backups.

[PacAce]

I've been trying to read some photos (jpgs) that I saved 4-5 years ago as jpgs. The pics are saved onto a CD-RW. Back then I would reopen and drag n drop pics many times to archive using the same disc. Now my current CD burned doesn't even recognize the disc exist. I would also backup to a HD but that crashed and burned many years ago.

Does anyone know or have used a service company that can retrieve files like this in this situation?
I had the same problem with my files burned to CD-RW. Every time I updated my CD burning software (Roxio EZ CD creator), the software failed to read the older CD-RWs although the software never had problems reading the CD-Rs. Because of that, I only use CD-RW as temporary storage and burn all "permanent" backup to CD-Rs.

If you have access to an older machine that has an old copy of the UDF reader program that was available from Adaptec and later Roxio during the time you burned those CD-RWs of your, you may be able to recovery the data from them. If not, I'm afraid you're out of luck.

[Ballen Photo]

I've been trying to read some photos (jpgs) that I saved 4-5 years ago as jpgs.

I didn't know it until last year, but CD's DO have a shelf life. :shock:
It has been recomended that CD's should be backed up by burning a new one every couple of years. Another thing, I don't use rewritable CD's because their shelf life reportedly is even shorter, and I further heard that they get corrupted easier. :shock:
Regular writable CD's are cheap enough to use, and if I mess one up while burning, I simply chuck it and burn another.
Another point, try to buy "Archival" quality CD's for your important stuff. ;)
One of the guys on another forum was playing with the idea of using a DVD writer with writable DVD's for storage. I didn't hear any more about how the DVD's worked out for Him though. :rolleyes:
Good luck finding a way to recover your files. Let us know if you manage it.
-Bruce

[sagebrush]

Thanks everyone for your time and advise...sorry this thread is not specific to EOS but I thought it would be helpful to other EOS users like myself to hear about some things to avoid.

I don't use CD-RW or other re-writeable discs anymore. I use both an external 160Gb HD and DVD-R for backups and keep an additional in-work copy on my internal HD until ready to archive. External HD cost about 1 USD per Gb and fast access ....only way to go IMHO.

[Hellashot]

I've been trying to read some photos (jpgs) that I saved 4-5 years ago as jpgs. The pics are saved onto a CD-RW. Back then I would reopen and drag n drop pics many times to archive using the same disc. Now my current CD burned doesn't even recognize the disc exist. I would also backup to a HD but that crashed and burned many years ago.

Does anyone know or have used a service company that can retrieve files like this in this situation?

There are 2 ways to use a CD-RW disc. One way is the "burn" it normally as you would a CD-R. This way will make it readable by anything that can read a CD-R. Which has you select the files to burn, name the disc, then goes through the burning process.

The second way is the use it as a "big floppy" where you don't select which files to put to it, you access the CD-RW disc as you would one of your hard drives or your floppy drives. If you used this method you need to have the same software on the computer now as you did when you were using the CD-RW as a "drag and drop" disc. Where you can delete just one file if you want. I think this may be why you cannot access your files. Once I found out the difference I stopped using CD-RW discs as "drag and drop".

[Mildot]

I have burnt CD-R's that would work fine in one player but not another [work in my new Chevy truck and my Denon home stereo but not in the Sony system at work]. I have also had several CD-RW's that could not be read on the machine that made them after they have set for a few months. I bought a 160 Gb HD and put it in a desktop enclosure and use it for my primary backup now. I still burn CD's but I just don't count on them working. The external HD's are the way to go. I have $100 in mine after rebates, Western Digital 160Gb & Venus DS3 USB enclosure. It works great and is lightning fast.

[drisley]

Are there any archival quality DVDs out there?

[joeseph]

Think Hellashot has hit the nail on the head, your CD and it's contents is probably fine, but you'll have to come up with the software that allowed you to "drag 'n drop" to the CD in the first place as using this method results in a CD that isn't readable in the normal sense on other machines. I remember seeing HP software that did this a few years ago and commenting at the time that I'd avoid it like the plague as inter-machine compatability is what makes CD's great. Have you got the original install CD that came with your writer?

[robertwgross]

Sagebrush, can I assume from your response that you did test the original CD disks after they were created? Or not?

I've seen people who created CD backups on one machine, and then they decided to migrate to a better/faster machine. They dragged their old backups over to the new machine and discovered that they were unreadable there, so they dragged them back to the old machine, transferred them to other media (like a hard disk), and then moved that over to the new machine. Once the moved hard disk was there, it could be off-loaded onto the new machine's primary disk.

As we say, "There's always more than one way to skin a cat."

---Bob Gross---

[tim]

Are there any archival quality DVDs out there?

I don't trust any optical media, and they haven't been around long enough for anyone to know how long they'll really last. It's fine as an extra backup, but I want my data on a hard drive or three.

[Marshall]

If you write using ISO9660 it should be readable across multi platforms.A bug can eat through the inner layers of a CD & migrate to other CD's touching it,therefore make sure CD's are stored away from the light in a wallet that separates each one.Try not to use -RW use -R & for more security & longevity write to DVD.Do not use the cheapest media you can buy use a well known branded name.Following these steps will help to alleviate storage & replay problems.

[drisley]

A bug!? Like a termite!

[Andy_T]

OMG! I kept my Norton antivirus CD together with all the other CD'S.

From what I know it has to be full of bugs, so what happens if they somehow get loose:shock:

Best regards,
Andy

[malum]

Bad Copy Pro will retrieve sessions written and not closed or written by different burning apps, or indeed corrupt sessions (any or all of which sound like what you have)
http://www.jufsoft.com/badcopy/

I use it frequently. It also rescues the contents of corrupt memory cards

[kevin_c]

I must admit that I always make two back-ups of my important data, whether it's pictures or anything else. I also NEVER use RW disks - they are known not to have such a long lifespan and not be read by some drives as easily. Normal 'branded' CD's are so cheap these days so this should not be an issue. (as mentioned previously, don't buy the cheepo unbranded ones.)

I have also copied some older disks back onto the hard drive and burnt them to new disks to ensure the disks do not deteriorate with age. I now also use DVD rather than CD, I just hope they don't 'age' quicker :( .

It has been mentioned before in this thread that you may have used 'packet' writing to make this disk rather than a 'normal' ISO disk structure.
If this is the case, with a bit of luck you can get hold of the UDF reader from either Adaptec or Nero etc.

Good Luck!

[drisley]

malum, that product looks promising

[griff2]

CD-RW uses phase-change coatings to store the data, which is unreliable at the best of times. I would never use a CD-RW as a permanent storage solution, preferring good archival quality CD-R - Kodak gold, for instance. A good CD reader, such as a Plextor, might be able to retrieve your data, but you may be out of luck. As has been suggested, try as many different CD readers as you can, and you may be lucky.

[Marshall]

A bug!? Like a termite!

Yes, sounds incredible but it's true !

[sagebrush]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I still have the original Nero installation disk that can bundled with my Creative CD burner some 5-6 years ago. I think the problem was not properly closing a muti-session plus all the other negative factors as suggested. I'll try that recovery program first since it has a trial version and looks easy enough. Also still have the burner so I could try to re-install it along with the SW but I may have problems finding XP drivers. Anyway it's worth a try.

Thanks,
Sagebrush

[drisley]

If you install an old drive in XP, it will find the drivers for you.
Usually only problems arise when the hardware is newer than the operating system.

[Roach711]

I can also recommend Bad Copy Pro. It's recovered many of my network user's files and made me look like a computer guru.

It's well worth the small registration fee.

Da Roach

[Roach711]

As far as backups go, paranoia is a good thing. My current strategy is to keep one copy of my picture files on my main hard drive, a second copy on another HD, a third on DVD-R, and a fourth DVD-R copy in a bank safe-deposit box.

It's also good practice to keep generations of backup media. That means don't overwrite your CD/DVD's (if you're using rewritable discs) but burn new ones and keep several "generations" of backups. It would also be a good idea to make backup copies on different media (one on CD and one on DVD) just in case.

Da Roach

[Jon]

OMG! I kept my Norton antivirus CD together with all the other CD'S.

From what I know it has to be full of bugs, so what happens if they somehow get loose:shock:

Best regards,
Andy

. . . still another reason not to use Norton!

[Ballen Photo]

OMG! I kept my Norton antivirus CD together with all the other CD'S.

From what I know it has to be full of bugs, so what happens if they somehow get loose:shock:

Best regards,
Andy

A liberal dose of RAID should do it.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: ;)
-Bruce

[Mark Kemp]

If you wrote the CD using multisession (drag and drop) it will probably only read back using the software (Nero or Roxio or something) that originally wrote it as the formats are not always the same, especially a few years ago.

Try to find the software it was written with, this may be able to read it still.

[_dreamer]

Try this software:
http://www.infinadyne.com/cddvd_diagnostic.html

[islandtime]

I was browseing and noticed this. If you used a drag and drop approach that could be the main problem. Most drag and drop software works great for you on your pc. If you take the disk elsewhere or get a new pc with different D&D software then you will probably find that you can't read the disk. Adaptec and roxio are notorious for leaving people with unreadable disk. Adaptec used to burn a "reader" file that could be installed on another pc so that you could view the disk but it usually just locked up the other pc when you tried to install it. The Sonic DLA (drive letter access) program that ships with most DVD burners is just as bad.

[PhotoManMike]

Back then I would reopen and drag n drop pics many times to archive using the same disc.

Sagebrush, were you by any chance using a Mac to make this CD? When you insert a blank CD into a Mac and its icon appears on the desktop, dragging and dropping files onto it doesn't actually burn them to it. It just sets up an "image" of the CD to be burned in a scratch area somewhere else on your hard disk. The CD isn't actually burned until you specifically select "Burn Disc" from one of the Finder menus.

I've known a couple of people who didn't realize this and ejected or shut down before they had really burned the CD, thinking that they had done so by dragging the files to it.

Mike

[martincollett]

There's an article from the Guardian UK describing the problems with 'drag to disc' software here http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/askjack/story/0,12196,1471385,00.html
Suggests a couple of ways to recover the files, and recommends using ISO9660 onto CD-R for archives.
Martin