Salvaging damage video DVD-R?

[netdog]

Hi,

I have several DVD-R discs that are saved in the standard DVD format to be played on a DVD player. Of the 28 discs I have, three repeatedly give me errors when trying to copy them using iRip.

The files are visible via Finder but some will not copy using Finder either. I have cleaned the discs, but they seem neither dirty nor scratched.

What is the best way to get salvageable video off of these discs? Are the .VOB files the only really essential ones or are some of the other files essential too? Is there any way to retrieve the damaged .VOB files so that they will play?

Thanks for your help!

 

[aarond12]

Unfortunately, old recordable CDs and DVDs tend to "fade away" after a while. Certain (read: cheap) brands are worse than others. The worst time I had with DVDs were the ones that were nearly see-through before recording.

All you can do is try with different readers. The original drive the discs were written on usually has the best success rate for reading the discs. I have good luck with Pioneer and LG drives for reading marginal discs.

Good luck!

 

[boch82]

Hi,

I have several DVD-R discs that are saved in the standard DVD format to be played on a DVD player. Of the 28 discs I have, three repeatedly give me errors when trying to copy them using iRip.

The files are visible via Finder but some will not copy using Finder either. I have cleaned the discs, but they seem neither dirty nor scratched.

What is the best way to get salvageable video off of these discs? Are the .VOB files the only really essential ones or are some of the other files essential too? Is there any way to retrieve the damaged .VOB files so that they will play?

Thanks for your help!

Try ripping the disk with MPEG StreamClip (free download). I've had better luck using that than other ripping programs.

 

[biziclop]

You might want to look into ddrescue or dd_rescue (command-line utilities).

 

[MisterMe]

Hi,

I have several DVD-R discs that are saved in the standard DVD format to be played on a DVD player. Of the 28 discs I have, three repeatedly give me errors when trying to copy them using iRip.

The files are visible via Finder but some will not copy using Finder either. I have cleaned the discs, but they seem neither dirty nor scratched.

What is the best way to get salvageable video off of these discs? Are the .VOB files the only really essential ones or are some of the other files essential too? Is there any way to retrieve the damaged .VOB files so that they will play?

...

aarond12 is correct. What you are experiencing is the nature of recordable optical media. Unfortunately, recordable DVDs are much worse than recordable CDs in this regard. What is recorded by light can be bleached by light. It is not a question "if" they will revert to coasters; it is only a question of "when." Not to hit you when you are down, but your attempts to clean your discs may have only hastened their demise.

For those discs that you can read using the Finder, it may be possible to copy them to .cdr or .iso files. If this is the case, then you can burn them to new DVDs. However, you should never dispose of your .cdr files because the discs have a finite life span. In fact, you should make .cdr copies of your other DVDs now while they still have integrity. You don't need to come back begging for help after your other discs have faded out.