Recovering DVD+RWs and CD-RWs

[pdavit]

Is there a software out there which can recover "damaged" rewritable DVDs and CDs? Not physically damaged. The surface is perfectly clean! I have a DVD+RW and some CD-RW that have gone bad either due to recording on multiple different recorders or packet writing was problematic and were automatically marked as read-only. Some won't even be recognised by my drive unit. Neither Nero or InCD can format them now!

Luckily I don't have data that I need to recover. What I'm just asking if for a tool (if one exists) that can be used to bring my DVD+RWs and CD-RWs magneto-optical surface back to life. Something like a low-level format for hard drives! Is there a way of saving those discs or do I have to throw them in the bin? Remark: none of the discs have passed the maximum allowed 1000 recording times. The recoding times are actually a two-digit number for my CD-RWs and a one-digit for my DVD+RW so that’s not the source of the problem!

Any help? Thanks!

[cynthia]

Could read this - but you need a certain brand of burner;

http://users.on.net/~zebra/NUTechDCErase.htm

[joegib]

You could also try DVDInfoPro available here:

http://www.dvdinfopro.com/

This has a tool that reformats/erases RWs that Nero, for instance, wouldn't recognise.

[pdavit]

I'm getting a "no media present" message. My drive (Plextor PX-708A) cannot even read the media (a TDK DVD+RW) in order to start any type of formatting. The disc was fine. I used it 4-5 times in packet writing format. One day I was using it extensively only to get that typical InCD message that due to a failure in writing the disc will now function as a read-only media. From that point on I had no luck in reading or formatting it. It's a brand new disk, perfectly clean and problem free in usage unfortunately for such a short period of time.

I'm wondering if there's a trick to instruct my Plextor not to read the media and use DVDInfoPro’s DC erase directly.

[justin_sane]

I have a similar problem. My drive is an LG GSA 4040B. I have only managed to burn 2 successful dvd+r's and 1 dvd-rw. The failed discs apparently burned successfully, but they don't work - something which happened is that it took a while for the disc to eject after Nero said the burn was successful - the drive appeared to be still doing something. Am using Nero 5.5.10.56.

Plus, the dvd-rw no longer works in that drive, but seems to work in my dvd-rom drive in another pc.

[pdavit]

Originally posted by justin_sane
I have a similar problem. My drive is an LG GSA 4040B. I have only managed to burn 2 successful dvd+r's and 1 dvd-rw. The failed discs apparently burned successfully, but they don't work - something which happened is that it took a while for the disc to eject after Nero said the burn was successful - the drive appeared to be still doing something. Am using Nero 5.5.10.56.

Plus, the dvd-rw no longer works in that drive, but seems to work in my dvd-rom drive in another pc.

Same thing here. My "destroyed" DVD+RW can be recognized without problems by my Pioneer DVD drive (read-only drive). My Plextor DVD recorder that format it and burned it cannot read it after a failed burning. So I cannot bring it back to life by re-formatting it. I hate that since, although I didn't go bankrupt, I spend 4 times the price of a regular DVD-R just to have 2-3 times of RW capabilities before failures started. And I'm more than confident that this is not a problematic manufactured disc.

[justin_sane]

The only cause I can think of is that I burned the DVD-RW at 2.4 speed rather than the recommended 1 speed - but surely that wouldn't cause the writer to not recognise it?

[cynthia]

Originally posted by justin_sane
The only cause I can think of is that I burned the DVD-RW at 2.4 speed rather than the recommended 1 speed - but surely that wouldn't cause the writer to not recognise it?

If they are only certified for 1x burning - Yes.

[justin_sane]

Hmm.. yeah I thought that would be the problem. Is there any way to recover the disc? - My PC doesn't recognise it

[pdavit]

Originally posted by justin_sane
The only cause I can think of is that I burned the DVD-RW at 2.4 speed rather than the recommended 1 speed - but surely that wouldn't cause the writer to not recognise it?

Well, I was referring to a RW media in packet writing format using InCD. So, the speed is automatically recognised and used by the InCD software and there is no way to user-define it. And anyway if there was a speed incompatibility the effects would have been shown immediately and not after the 2nd or 3rd burning access. The issue here is how to recover it by formatting it without the "no media present" drawback!