Ways of retrieving data from unreadable CD/DVD’s

By Luke

CD’s and DVD’s can get unreadable for a number of reasons, the most common reason being getting scratched or contaminated with dust or other particles.

Data on these devices could be critical and making sure they are in good condition is vital in data backup and storage. While the storage method of these devices play a part in keeping these devices in working condition here are some ways to retrieve data from them once the damage is done:

Use water

While this does not sound like a good idea, using water on the CD/DVD can help get rid of tiny dust particles on the surface of the device.

Use Toothpaste (!)

Believe it or not applying toothpaste on the disk’s surface helps get some data out of unreadable CD’s or DVD’s

Use special cleaning agents for optical devices

There are several cleaning agents available for these disks, using a popular, reputed cleaning agent will probably help you get your disk into readable condition again.

How to retrieve partially copied files

In most cases while a file maybe unreadable on the CD or DVD itself, copying it to the hard disk and reading it off the hard disk would be possible, in some cases if you are copying a big file only a small part of the file near the end of copying it would be unreadable and thus you lose the entire file. A way to getting around this problem is to copy the file into a briefcase (right click the folder and select New > Briefcase), similar to a folder mainly used to take multiple backups on disks, copying files to a briefcase, files partially copied will remain in the briefcase.

Using these methods there is a chance of retrieving some data from the CD or DVD, but the safest method to keep your data and backups safe is to store and use them properly, I’ll let you know how you can do this some time later. Nevertheless, like everything else, these storage devices have a life span too and after some time failure is inevitable.

People who read this post also read:

How to protect your CD’s and DVD’s

How to Copy Your Files Faster

WinX DVD Ripper Review

Data Transfer in a Network

3 Causes of External HDD failures

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About The Author

Luke is a Software Developer and the main writer behind Computer Realm.

5 Comments so far

sony cdp ce375 5 cd changer March 10, 2009 11:59 am

This is a nice site you have very informative and helpfull

Reply
Harrion February 13, 2010 10:56 am

waaaa i wrongly read the step u gave. I use toothbrush instead toothpaste n realize it after 2nd reading >_>

demn…i mess up everything.

Reply
Carl van der Sterre April 15, 2011 4:57 am

i have a dvd+r that i used to back up some information before i did a full system recovery last week. i burnd it as an info disk, and i know the info is on there because i already used it once. but now when i put the disk in my laptop it reads it as a blank disk with 4.3 gigs of the space being used. and when i tried to open the dvd file to retrive the data it was showing that the dvd didnt have anything on it. i know the data is there but have no idea how to retrive it from the disk to my hard drive. any help would be greatly appreciated thank you.

Reply
Luke reply on April 16th, 2011 4:38 pm:
did you try the dvd on another computer?

Reply
How to protect your CD’s and DVD’s | Computer Realm April 24, 2011 10:09 am

[...] promised in this post, here I will describe some of the practices you should adopt to lengthen your optical disk’s [...]