DVD Cam Disc Recovery

[lancecarr]

With the popularity of DVD cams increasing, there has also been a proportionate increase in instances of people having problems with unsuccessfully finalised discs, damaged discs, discs that have not been burned correctly by the cam or some form of corrupt data.

There are a whole range of other possible causes for difficulty with such discs such as dirt or damage to the disc, a dirty lens in the DVD reader or other software/hardware problems each with their own method of handling.

The following procedure can be tried when you are reasonably certain you have an unfinalised disc, an unsuccessfully finalised disc or a disc suffering (for whatever reason) data corruption.

The two types of software that can be used for this are:

1. Nero Recode (free)

2. Isobuster.
In the case of Isobuster the free features can be tried first but failing that the full featured version needs to be purchased.



1. Nero Recode

If you have Nero Recode on the computer try to use it first. If you don't have it then a search on the internet should result in a few download locations. Generally it is distributed as part of the Nero OEM suite bundled with various hardware devices from a range of manufacturers. Recode is very forgiving of errored discs for some reason and can read most unfinalised discs. Although it is not designed for the purpose described here it can be "tricked" into recoding the 1.4gig disc from DVD cams across to the hard drive in preparation for recoding and burning to a 4.7gig disc. Because the theoretical target disc is bigger than the source disc from the DVD cam it will automatically set itself to "recode" at 100% which basically means a lossless direct copy.

a. Put the problem disc in the DVD drive tray and wait until Windows stops asking questions about what you want to do with the disc or what action you want Windows to take. Select "Take NO Action."

b. Open Recode.

c. Select "Recode an entire DVD to DVD." Make sure the "DVD Video Files" button is selected and the "Fit to Target" button is checked and showing 4.7gig.

d. Select "Import DVD." Recode will now read the contents of the disc and, if it can, write the contents to a folder that it will automatically create in the default "My Documents" folder called "Recode."

e. If Recode completes the above task close Recode and navigate to "My Documents." You should find that Recode has created a new folder called "Recode." Inside that folder you will find the normal ifo, bup and vob files you would normally see in a DVD folder. Re-name the "Recode"
folder to VIDEO_TS exactly as I have typed it.

e. Open your Ulead editing program and use the "Import DVD/VR" function to navigate to the newly created VIDEO_TS folder and import from there.

Note: If you have been successful to this point the VIDEO_TS folder that was created can also be used to make a new back up copy of your original problem disc as well.

Failing the above:

2. Isobuster.

Isobuster can also be located easily by doing a search in the internet and is offered as a limited function freeware or, if necessary a paid full function program.

Using the free functions first, place the problem DVD in the DVD tray of your computer try to make a disc image file of the original disc. You can then use that disc image file to burn to another DVD. You can use the new DVD to import your MPEGs using the "Import DVD/VR" function of your software.
Isobuster has three alternate methods of dealing with data corruption. It can replace the corrupted area with nothing, with fake data or with a series of zeros. It will give you the choice of what method to use. Just select them in order to try each until one works. Isobuster will not create the disc image file unless it knows it will be successful. If Isobuster has
created the file (note where it was going to put it first!) you will have to re-name the extension to .iso. Use the newly created disc image file to burn a new DVD disc then import from that newly burned disc.

Failing that...

You will need to pay for the full version of Isobuster, then do as follows.

a. Start Isobuster then load the disc in the DVD tray of your computer.

b. When Isobuster has detected the files on the disc run the "Find Missing Files and Folders" option under the "File" menu. Let it run.

c. You will now have an entry on the left hand column of "files and folders found by their signature."

d. Select that, then go to "File" "Files found via their signature" then "Extract files found via their signature." Choose a location and let it run.
Now you will have all the files that were possible to be recovered where you selected them to go. The ones with the extension .VOB are the MPEG files from your disc wrapped in the VOB container. They can then be imported into your Ulead video editing program using the "Import
DVD/VR" function.

Good Luck!