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Topic: CDROM recovery (Read 4119 times) previous topic - next topic
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CDROM recovery

Does anyone know a way, a program or a technique, to do this on a Win98se system? Everything I've found is for WinXP, as though CDROM recovery did not exist before XP came along. Since I have only one disk to do, freeware would be nice, but I suspect there isn't such a thing for this type of project.

I used Nero (5.5) for several years. It did everything I want to do, as I wanted it done. When I got a newer CD writer, Nero 5.5 did not recognize it. I reluctantly installed the version of Easy CD Creator that came with the new drive. It serves for data CDs while I use Burrrn for audio CDs.

The difficulty comes from some difference in how Nero and this other one handle multi-session CDs. I do multi-session CDs almost exclusively.

Nero does two types of multi-session, depending on options selected. One is an incremental back-up that writes changed files to the next session and marks the older version of the changed files so they seems to disappear. The other kind, the only kind I ever used, treats each session as new data, and leaves the older sessions alone. Everything ever written on the disk is always completely available. In Windows Explorer the disks look like any other data disk, with no indications of separate sessions. I don't think Nero calls the two types anything special or different.

Easy CD Creator writes two types of data disks. Mode 1 is just "CDROM" and mode 2 is "CD ROM XA." I don't recall just what the sketchy documentation says, but mode 2 is clearly what I want and is what I use. It works fine -- by itself. However, the fly in the ointment is that the program considers everything created in Nero as mode 1.  I found out the first time I tried to add to one of the Nero created disks that Easy CD Creator does something to the CD's control information to hide the earlier sessions, even though they contain totally different files. This means I had to give up the remaining space on all the Nero created disks to avoid losing what is already written on them.

Unfortunately for me, when I needed to back up something recently, I inadvertently selected a CD with adequate space reported, but without noticing it was one on which Nero had written the first two sessions.

On the first data disk I did after first installing Easy CD Creator, about two years or more ago, the time I became aware of the problem, I though I recovered the earlier data by installing Nero 5.5 on an older computer with an older CD drive and getting access there. That installation still exist, but I can't figure out any way to get it to give me the files in the two earlier sessions.

Both programs have a "CD information" dialogue that correctly shows three sessions on the disk. Nero will even list all three sessions in its file browser. Nero will also let me look at the data of the first two sessions -- in hex mode -- but it won't let me copy off the files.

This whole thing of making earlier files unavailable, even in an incremental back-up, seems like an exceedingly stupid approach. Who can say they won't ever need an earlier version? It is on the disk, but the system won't allow you to access it. Brilliant.

Anyway, I want that data. I know there are recovery programs that can get it but, as stated above, they all seem to be for XP (or something else not Win98). Any useful suggestions?

Moderation: Moved to CD Hardware/Software.

CDROM recovery

Reply #1 –
Try IsoBuster.

CDROM recovery

Reply #2 –
First off, you need to upgrade your OS to something from the current millennium.

I haven't had to deal with the issues you describe, but if I was in your situation, I'd try using IsoBuster to take a closer look at your disc.

Edit: Beaten, like a red headed step child.

CDROM recovery

Reply #3 –
Hi, you can try Multimounter, a free utility to access different sessions of a multisession CD, it is available for Win 9x:
http://www.nero.com/nero6/eng/Multimounter.html

Also, try Nero Burning ROM's feature "Save track...". It may be possible to save the tracks you see in Disc contents viewer to your HDD, and then open these .ISO files with an appropriate application (e.g. free-to-try WinRAR).

An important notice: for data backup you should use "Mode 1 / CDROM", not "Mode 2 / CDROM XA". Mode 2 is used for video files (reduced error detection and correction).

Finally, try the latest Nero 5.5 and see if it supports your currently unsupported drive. The latest (and the last) Nero 5.5 version is 5.5.10.56, which is still available for download as a free update:
http://www.nero.com/nero6/eng/nero-up_vor.php

Good luck!

CDROM recovery

Reply #4 –
It does indeed appear that I can go back to using mode 1. Looking into ECDC help files, one almost immediately runs into a recommendation for using mode 2, with no discussion of when one might want mode 1 instead. I guess I did not pay enough attention to the qualifications on that statement, but just tried it. Mode 2 has work without problem for many disks, but I do like the fact of more error correction for mode 1. I suspect I will now have to be careful not to write any mode 1 sessions on disks started with mode 2 sessions.

The multimounter install changed nothing that I can see. There isn't any executable, so it must be supposed to change the way either Nero or the OS functions vis a vis multi-session disks. Since both worked fine before, as long as the session types are not mixed, I suspect there was nothing to update.

Nero's Save Track feature seems to be exclusive to CD audio tracks. It pretends it is going to do something for a few seconds, then quits without a peep.

Thanks for the heads up about Nero 5.5 updates. I did attempt to update something when I got the new drive, but I don't recall whether it was the entire program or just a search for CD drive support. Whatever updates I ever installed are not on the machine now running Nero because that was just from the original CD-ROM as it came in the box. I will have to work up the proper state of mind to allow me to dedicate this machine to some hours of download time if I am to get the latest 5.5 version.

I don't have any real hopes that it will be able to recognize this latest drive, however. I don't suppose there is any hope of being able to find out without actually installing it? I do recall dire warnings about not putting ECDC and Nero on the same computer. Some conflicts makes a lot of other things go screwy, as I've read it some years ago.

I haven't installed Isobuster yet. I don't expect any surprises; I know what is on the disk, I know the data is good. Isobuster may let me copy off what I want, if I pay enough for it, but I much doubt it will reveal anything I don't already know. At least I know there is indeed a program that is supposed to work in Win98.

CDROM recovery

Reply #5 –
Quote from: AndyH-ha on
I haven't installed Isobuster yet. I don't expect any surprises; I know what is on the disk, I know the data is good. Isobuster may let me copy off what I want, if I pay enough for it, but I much doubt it will reveal anything I don't already know. At least I know there is indeed a program that is supposed to work in Win98.


Probably you don't need to pay, as usually it's possible to recover the files using the features available in the unregistered version.

CDROM recovery

Reply #6 –
That was unexpected, but it did indeed copy the files off to hard disk, as installed from the basic download. Clearly I should buy it, I just have to consider how many years it may be before I need it again.

CDROM recovery

Reply #7 –
Quote from: AndyH-ha on
The multimounter install changed nothing that I can see. There isn't any executable, so it must be supposed to change the way either Nero or the OS functions vis a vis multi-session disks. Since both worked fine before, as long as the session types are not mixed, I suspect there was nothing to update.

As far as I remember, Multimounter adds an additional tab to the "My computer -> CD-ROM drive -> Properties" interface, which allows session selection. By default, Windows will only read the last data session on a disc, but with Multimounter you can select 1st, 2nd etc. sessions; it is not a Windows update.

CDROM recovery

Reply #8 –
I've been doing multi-session disks for more than five years with no special OS additions. While the sessions are listed as such in programs such as Nero and ECDC, their total folders/files are simply displayed in Windows Explorer, and most program Open File dialogues, as though everything had been written at the same time, or as if it were a hard drive. This works in Win98, WinXp and, I'm pretty sure, Win95. I've used such disks to transfer data to other people's computers and they work the same there.

The only two exceptions I've run into are these inadvertently mixed mode 1 and 2 disks, and those where I write audio to session 1 (red book audio CD except that the disk isn't closed, only the session), then one, or several, data sessions. For these latter, Windows Explorer, and many programs, including players such as foobar2000 and Winamp, will not display any indication of the first session, the audio. The contents of several different data sessions are still all listed as one, however. Kprobe2 gets lost at the end of the audio unless I first tell it where to stop its test. These disks work fine in audio CD players, where the data sessions are ignored.

EAC does display both the audio and the other session(s), but here each data session is simply listed as a track, files and folders not displayed. The track icon is similar to that used for a text file by the OS. I've never asked EAC to copy one of these "tracks" to hard drive, so I don't know what might happen there.

Perhaps this multimounter thing is intended for disks written as incremental backup, where the same files might go into each session, or rather only those files that have been changed since the last backup. I’ve never had any interest in that arrangement, so I’m not familiar with its finer details.