RAW IMAGE RECOVERY FROM DVD..please help, I'm desperate!

[rachel_sale]

I have just returned from traveling overseas and burned, very simply with a good computer, about 5 cards

of RAW images to a DVD while I was there on location. I have certainly formatted and re-used the cards

again and again. Once I got home, only the RAW icons will pull up...! Computer reads: Unrecognizable

format or file may be corrupt. Immediately after burning the DVD, I double-checked to make sure that

they had burned. Obviously the actual image icon wasn't going to pull up, considering internet cafes don't

have RAW software, but the icons were there. I underwent this process of burning images to CD

throughout my trip, and of all 12 cds I have, 3 cds are only displaying the RAW icons and not reading.

 

I am DESPERATELY trying to find some way for my computer to read these RAW icons, as this DVD in

particular has the best shots I got while I was away and were taken behind the scenes in a very off-limits

area. I am inclined to think that there must be some way of reading them, considering every single image

is there on the DVD, listed consecutively according to shot number...! i have seen recovery software to

recover images directly from the cards (that is, if you haven't re-used them), but nothing for recovering

images on disk.

 

If there is anyone out there that could lend me ANY advice on this, I will be forever indebted to you! i'm

trying really hard not to cry here (!)

 

So very very much appreciated

[jack_landry]

You can try the following (just download the trial and see if it works):

http://www.jufsoft.com/badcopy/cd_recovery.asp?rid=google&kid=gdr0101

[emre]

Try every computer (DVD reader) you can find.

[charles_m1]

Emre's suggestion is a good one. I had a CD go bad and I put the same CD into different computers and finally, one of the computers was able to read it. That computer had a Sony drive (if that makes any difference). Also, your drive may not support the speeds which you used to copy the disc. For example, you may have a drive that only supports 4x speed DVD reading and writing. At the internet cafe, if they had a newer drive that supports 16x speed, then you would not be able to read it either.

 

If the above doesn't work, you can try to clean the DVD with a "Disc Doctor" cleaner. I haven't tried it, but I have heard that they work very well for recovering bad CDs and DVDs.

[ronald_moravec1]

For that reason my portable computer has the same software as my desk iMac at home. Burn the disk and check to see I can get pics back.

 

Furthermaore I almost never shoot raw only, raw+jpeg being the norm.

 

I don`t erase, make that reformat, never erase, cards until they are in two other places.

[blumesan]

If I understand correctly you are trying to open the files on disc directly into a raw converter program. Try this: Copy all of the files on disc to a folder on your hard drive. Assuming the copy operation works, open the files from the hard disk with your raw software.

[cjtj50]

Hi... Im not by any means a expert here, but like Mike says load them to a folder on your hard drive...but first you can get Picasa.com free and it open's raw files. Hope that works for you! Sorry about your dilemma.

[bernardwest]

Do what Mike says and check that the file extensions are correct (ie. .CR2, .CRW, .NEF or whatever).

[marc_rochkind]

You have a variety of answers here, and they are addressing two completely separate problems:

 

1. The DVD is unreadable, or

2. The files can't be interpreted by whatever software you're using.

 

From your description ("not reading") I can't tell which it is.

 

Anyway, the suggestion to copy everything to the hard drive is a good one, since there's no point is handling the DVDs more than necessary.

[colinsouthern]

It's possible that you haven't closed the session - in which case the disks will only be readable in a DVD writer.

 

If all else fails, there's always ...

 

www.drivesavers.com

[iwmac]

There are, around the world, different "Zones" for DVDs. Is it possible that, as you recorded your DVD in Europe or Asia, it won't play back in North America, (if that is now where you are.) You may be able to change the Zone of your DVD to the area where you were, and then back again. I think you get 5 changes, then game over.

 

Just a wild guess.

[emre]

That is only true of region-encoded DVD videos, not data stored on writable DVDs.

[shots worth sharing]

Ok, most of this is a bit beyond my range of competence but what interested me was , "of all 12 cds I have, 3 cds are only displaying the RAW icons and not reading." My question is what's different between the ones that are reading and the ones that aren't--different country or system?

 

Also, check out the file properties of the files that won't open. If the file sizes are more or less equivalent to the ones that do you can provably relax a bit: the data is probably ok and it's just a matter of finding the software that can open them (and the answer to the first question may prove helpful in that regard.)

[mendel_leisk]

"Immediately after burning the DVD, I double-checked to make sure that they had burned"

 

By checking that the file names exist on the burned disc, and seeing if the file sizes looked about right?

 

The file names may be present, and the file content may have more-or-less copied, but you may still have problems: the files were copied to the disc, they have names, the size looks ok, but there can be errors/corruption, due to disc imperfections, burn speed, the burner, multitasking during the burn, etc, etc.

 

Burning is not purely yes/no. One tactic to verify a good burn is to set the burn software to "verify" the burn. Most burn software has this option. With Nero it is a box you tick after the begin of burn, in the burning progress window.

 

This takes an extra 5 minutes or so per burn, at the end of the process. The software compares bit-by-bit the source and the output. I understand even this is not infallable, but helps.

[don_e]

Rachel, if you want a good answer you will have to come back to this discussion and answer some questions. The way you've phrased your post indicates you either do not know how to describe the issue or you were too distraught to do so.