RECOVER CDS AND DVDS
Hard drives aren’t the only storage devices that corrupt. Flash drives, multimedia cards, and good old optical discs are also susceptible to data loss. The data recovery tools we cover in the main portion of this feature claim to work with flash media as well as regular hard drives.
Optical discs are a different matter. Errors can be caused by physical damage as well as discs that have been subject to program or user error, for example, disc sessions on writable or re-writable discs not having been closed properly. This kind of recovery requires specialist tools, and two stand out from the crowd.
The first is Recovery Toolbox for CD Free ( https:// recoverytoolbox.com/ cd.html), which works across CD, DVD, and Blu-ray. After installation, insert your corrupted disc and launch the program. You’ll be prompted to select the optical drive to attempt recovery from. If you’ve only got a single drive, click Next.
You’ll be prompted to select a folder on your hard drive, into which all recovered files will be placed—once selected, click Next and Recovery Toolbox will scan the drive and reveal which directories and files it’s identified.
You can attempt to recover everything from the disc or select individual files and folders before clicking Save, and see what Recovery Toolbox is able to retrieve.
If it’s unable to identify recoverable files or retrieve your files, try ISObuster ( www.isobuster.com). Download the free version and it’ll show you what it can recover. The free version can recover files from ISO, Joliet, and Rock Ridge file systems, but other file systems—including UDF, which is commonly found on re-writable media—require you to purchase a Personal license for $40.
Visit www.isobuster.com/ license-models.php for an exhaustive comparison list between free and paid-for versions.