Recover data from corrupt DVD

[ski2moro]

A friend has a video of his wedding and honeymoon on DVD. (nothing copy protected, just from his camera) Last evening, Valentine's Day, it played on his PC half way through before freezing. Then, it wouldn't play past the intro/menu screen. The computer can read the DVD to find the video TS files, but won't play. The DVD has a paper label on it. It appears to be well-adhered to the disk with no loose edges.

First question, can I put a DVD with a paper label in my one year old MacBook Pro (266 GHz Intel core i7)?

Second, is there any good way to try to recover the data? I have Toast, Handbrake, and MacTheRipper. If I can get the data using my Mac, he will save it on his hard drive and burn a copy. Live and learn.

Can you help me save him?

 

[Mal]

DVD's don't corrupt the same way that hard drives do. More likely, it's scratched or has been left in the heat, unless of course it's a problem with the drive. I would think you'd be ok putting it in your laptop, but I am also always wary of those paper labels. If it doesn't play in another drive, there's not likely much you can do, in my experience.

jW

 

[ski2moro]

DVD's don't corrupt the same way that hard drives do. More likely, it's scratched or has been left in the heat, unless of course it's a problem with the drive. I would think you'd be ok putting it in your laptop, but I am also always wary of those paper labels. If it doesn't play in another drive, there's not likely much you can do, in my experience.

jW

It has no visible scratches. And the strange thing is that it played for about 30 minutes and pixelated just before it quit.

He tried it in a DVD player and then on his computer.

I'm wondering about heat and the difference between the expansion rate of paper vs the disk. It didn't seem hot to the touch, but you never know.

 

[kpgh554]

toast has a disc recovery in it .copy disc >disc

 

[hafr]

I went through an old collection of home made DVD's a few months ago, and a lot of the discs that were four-five old acted like they'd been wiped clean. The RW's more than the normal ones. I then read something about cheaper discs just not being made for long time storage, could this be the issue here? A cheap DVD that's more than four or five years old?

 

[ski2moro]

I went through an old collection of home made DVD's a few months ago, and a lot of the discs that were four-five old acted like they'd been wiped clean. The RW's more than the normal ones. I then read something about cheaper discs just not being made for long time storage, could this be the issue here? A cheap DVD that's more than four or five years old?

Ya, the DVD is 4 years old. He's a PC guy who really doesn't know much about computers. I'm trying to educate him.

I'll try Toast. Thanks.