File Recovery from Unreadable CD

[jazz4cash]

My tax files are stored on a CD but it has become unreadable. The problem seems to be with the disc, not the files. When I select the drive with the CD I just get the spinning ball that never times out. No error message. I tried two computers and cleaned the disc with a dry cloth. What else can I try?

 

[GrayHare]

That the disc is unreadable by two CD drives is not a good sign. It might be time to pay a data recovery service unless you have a backup.

 

[MRG]

There's a two year old post on Reddit r/computerforensics that discusses options.

https://www.reddit.com/r/computerforensics/s/mDJqxC2OaS

 

[target2019]

The session may be open, and you only have CD-ROM drive?

 

[HFWR]

Never had much luck writing to either a CD or DVD, so I have two older hard drives, some usb drives, and a RAID array.

No clue how to recover one…

 

[jazz4cash]

The session may be open, and you only have CD-ROM drive?

Huh?

 

[Al18]

A CD drive typically cannot read a CDRW disc unless the session has been closed. Were you using a CD drive, CDRW drive, DVD drive, DVD-RW drive?

 

[HFWR]

The “closing “ seemed to be the issue I ran into, but thankfully other forms of backup have emerged.

 

[statsman]

What OS on the computers? Sometimes, a different drive with a different OS will work. If the disc is damaged in any way, data recovery is your only real option.

I had an older TV show DVD that my Windows PC couldn't read completely. Neither could my laptop running Linux Mint. But I was successful on my old PC that I had Linux installed on. Not sure if it was Linux and/or the DVD drive itself that made the difference.

Many years ago, I used Plextor CD writing drives. I made the comment to friends many times that those drives could extract blood from a stone. There were a couple of occasions where they had a "bad" disc that my Plextor drives could read.

I should have kept some around and installed them into external cases for such a reason. Then again, I think they used the older IDE interface, so that's probably why I recycled them.

 

[jim584672]

Writable CDs have a short readable lifespan. They dyes decay with time.

 

[easysurfer]

Is the CD in question read only or read/write?

I like the idea of trying a different OS. But if read/write, make sure to not do any erasing/formatting by mistake.

 

[jollystomper]

Looks like, as other have mentioned, data recovery time.

A few times, after repeated cleanings and attempts, I have gotten a written CD read by one of my 1/2 dozen CD or DVD RW drives across my Linux and Windows systems... but the vast majority it was the end of the CD.

 

[jazz4cash]

A CD drive typically cannot read a CDRW disc unless the session has been closed. Were you using a CD drive, CDRW drive, DVD drive, DVD-RW drive?

I assume it was CDRW drive. The disc is CDRW. It’s not my pc so I don’t know about the drive. Windows OS.

 

[GenXguy]

If a few different computers all can't read it, that's a sign it's a bad disc. I always keep multiple backups of my data files.

 

[Al18]

I have seen a few CDRW discs go bad - I think they were over 10 years old.

As others have said, it’s a good idea to have multiple backups on different media.

 

[Exchme]

Sounds like the disk is a goner. We didn't have anything on media as old as a CD, but had been keeping things on computers, USB drives and external hard drives. Last year it finally occurred to us that this was vulnerable to media degradation, fire, weather, theft, etc. Everything is now on the cloud.

 

[target2019]

Huh?

I think by now that others explained the different types of drives and things that can go wrong.

When the CD or DVD is written to, it is necessary that the session be closed if you hope to open the media on a different machine and configuration.

 

[folivier]

Can you see any scratches or smudges on the disc? If so possibly this area can be polished with toothpaste or a plastic polish compound.

 

[Bugman]

Try washing the surface gently with soap and water. Rinse thoroughly and then wipe in a circular motion (following the grooves in the disc) with a lens cleaning cloth. If that doesn't work you're toast. Yeah, recordable media degrade over time. USB sticks and hard drive backups (multiple). I have my tax files on at least 3 different drives, with one a server using snapraid.

 

[Sojourner]

A good data recovery service will almost certainly be able to extract most of the files on the CD-R. Not cheap, but they'll get it done if the files are important enough to warrant the expenditure.

Also want to echo what others have said about not using CD-Rs (or anything of that ilk) to store important backups over the long term. Portable USB flash drives (or SSDs) are best for this kind of thing, in terms of both durability and cost-per-gigabtye. But even with those, it's always best to have duplicates and to "refresh" the data every so often, to keep the drive healthy. A 256GB USB flash drive can be had for as little as $15, so for $30 you'd have a high capacity, virtually fail-safe backup kit.

 

[jazz4cash]

Thanks for all the constructive suggestions. I will try a few things but I managed to complete this year’s taxes so there’s no rush.