partial re-reading for damaged discs

[Pestam]

Hey LUK, nice that you've (re-)added a read mode to ImgBurn.

 

And now I already have a suggestion for this mode: there are some tools out there, which allow me to re-read damaged sectors in order to try to recover more of the data. Usually in addition to the image file a seperate meta file will be created. It stores which sectors were read successfully and which were not. Sectors that failed to be read will be filled up with a specific byte in the image (I guess 0x00 is problematic).

 

After a first extraction the user can try to re-read the failed disc and this time only the failed sectors will be re-read. Either the user or preferable the program itself will try this a few times until there are no missing sectors left or reading the remaining sectors makes no sense anymore since it turned out they're far too damaged.

 

Combining this technique with different drives can improve the results, because as we know, no two optical drive models are really the same, even a firmware update can give better (or worse) results when it comes to reading/correcting damaged sectors.

 

I think dvdisaster can do this (although I've never actually tried it) and then there's h2cdimage a command line tool (but it's in german only ).

 

What do you think about this feature? Well, IMHO it's something every data disc authoring tool should have...

Edited February 21, 2007 by Pestam

[lfcrule1972]

I think ISOPuzzle does this already..... It's had a few mentions in the forum already by one of the members:

 

http://www.softpedia.com/get/CD-DVD-Tools/...IsoPuzzle.shtml

 

Note: It's still in development too so you could help them out with it !

[Pestam]

Nice, I didn't knew about this one (there are quite a few of these tools).

 

I like this feature:

To avoid dealing with very large files You can use the "Import" function:

Assuming that You started on machine "A" and no more data comes from Your DVD.

Copy ONLY (!) the *.FLG file (e.g. via USB stick) to machine "B".

On "B" select "Destination" folder, where the *.FLG is located.

"Start" will create an "import file" *.IMP in the same folder. All readable sectors are now stored here.

After completion on "B" transfer the *.IMP to a location where it is accessible from machine "A".

On "A" it can be merged into the existing *.ISO image with "Import File"

[lfcrule1972]

No worries

[blutach]

ISOPuzzle is an excellent product. Many people wonder at it. Works just as you have suggested.

 

Regards