Files on Backup CD Have No Data - Directory Structure Intact
Tom Drake
Please accept my apologies if I am violating any etiquette rules here. I
have searched to the best of my ability and what I am about to describe I
can not find elsewhere.
I had a really old piece of hardware and backed it up a few years ago.
It was running windows 98 and the drive was partitioned in two. Both
partitions
were FAT.
I am only now opening the data from the C: drive and the directory
structure
of the original drive is present on the media (CD) but any attempt to view
the
information (like opening a .TXT file, etc...) gives the following
information
under Windows Explorer in XP Pro, SP2: "Cannot open the C:\Temp\README.TXT
file. Make sure
a disk is in the drive you specified."
Tools like ISOBuster or CDCheck are able to copy these "phantom" files but
they lose
their size information and all show up as 0 byte files. They can open but
nothing is in
them.
The second partition, drive D:, is fine.
Does anyone have any idea what could have happened at the time of backup?
Furthermore, what are my options at this time?
Thank you in advance for your help.
Cheers,
TB
tom_bertin@hotmail_REMOVETHIS_.com
smh
Mike Richter, were you born with
"Scam Artist" emblazoned on your face?
--------------------------------------
What program did the backup? Look at the underside of the cd and see if
there is a dark donut shaped area indicating something is burned.
IsoBuster has a sector viewer. Right-click a file in the right pane and
select 'Sector View'. If the content of readme.txt is burned, for
example, the sector viewer will show the content.
Tom Drake
don't remeber.
There is definitely data visible on the back of the CD. I can see the
"information ring".
ISOBuster's sector view reports "Device reported error code: 5/21/00" on all
the files I looked at. (I tried a few text files.)
The date of the backup is February 13, 2004.
Realistically, what are my options at this point and what probably happened
at the time of backup?
Thanks in advance,
TB
"smh" <nos...@nospam.org> wrote in message
news:4B2DFB2A...@nospam.org...
smh
Mike Richter, were you born with
"Scam Artist" emblazoned on your face?
--------------------------------------
Tom Drake wrote:
>
> I honestly can not remember how the backup was created. I'm sorry, I just
> don't remeber.
>
> There is definitely data visible on the back of the CD. I can see the
> "information ring".
>
> ISOBuster's sector view reports "Device reported error code: 5/21/00" on all
> the files I looked at. (I tried a few text files.)
> The date of the backup is February 13, 2004.
>
> Realistically, what are my options at this point and what probably happened
> at the time of backup?
Considering the age of the cd, think the cd went bad. Search for "cd
rot" and read the horror stories. (Do not know the error code 5/21/00.)
Search for "Speed Disc" or "DiscSpeed" and see if it can do a ScanDisc.
Since IsoBuster or CDCheck can't even read the cd content, I doubt other
cd recovery programs can recover either. Maybe expensive cd recovery
service might.
Other recovery programs:
CDRoller
http://www.cdroller.com/
CD Data Rescue
http://www.naltech.com/
Ilya Zakharevich
> I honestly can not remember how the backup was created. I'm sorry, I just
> don't remeber.
>
> There is definitely data visible on the back of the CD. I can see the
> "information ring".
>
> ISOBuster's sector view reports "Device reported error code: 5/21/00" on all
> the files I looked at. (I tried a few text files.)
> The date of the backup is February 13, 2004.
>
> Realistically, what are my options at this point and what probably happened
> at the time of backup?
Step 1: dump the CD to an .iso image. If succeeds, bad luck.
Step 2: if fails: try the same on 5-10 other computers/CD-drives.
Some drives are better readers than the others.
Step 3: if succeeds, burn .iso (or mount it virtually), and try
reading again.
[Until one knows whether the actual sectors are readable, it is hard to
diagnose the problem.]
Yours,
Ilya
Tom Drake
My attempt is documented below.
12/21/09, 11:11 - Attempted to dump a text file from the COACH dir. and the
entire
COACH dir. to a .ISO - failed with the error message "Can not read from the
file D:\...
Reason: The parameter is incorrect." Using ImgBurn 2.5.0.0 on Acer Aspire
5515 laptop.
Also tried on Dell Optiplex GX260, IBM NetVista 6792 and 2 no-name clone
machines.
ImgBurn always produces the same "parameter is incorrect" error.
Additonal suggestions are always welcomed and extremely valuable.
Cheers,
TB
*****
"Ilya Zakharevich" <nospam...@ilyaz.org> wrote in message
news:slrnhitqkq.53...@powdermilk.math.berkeley.edu...
smh
Mike Richter, were you born with
"Scam Artist" emblazoned on your face?
--------------------------------------
Ilya Zakharevich wrote:
>
> Step 2: if fails: try the same on 5-10 other computers/CD-drives.
> Some drives are better readers than the others.
Good suggestion.
Ilya Zakharevich
> Thank you for the suggestion.
>
> My attempt is documented below.
>
> 12/21/09, 11:11 - Attempted to dump a text file from the COACH dir. and the
> entire
> COACH dir. to a .ISO
This is not what I said. Try dumping the RAW cd to an .iso (not the
files on CD).
Yours,
Ilya
Tom Drake
Here is my latest attempt:
12/21/09, 19:21 - Using ISOBuster 2.6.0.0.
Extract RAW data (2352 bytes/block) shows "Unreadable Sector Sector
219415 couldn't be read Error : 05/21/00 RETRY, SELECTI an option and
proceed, or QUIT."
"Omit Sector, Replace with all zeroes and Replace with User Data All
zeroes" all yield 0 byte files but the original
directory structure is intact. "Replace with Erroneous sector" yields
files with extended AScII characters in them.
Extract Raw but convert to User Data shows "Unreadable Sector Sector
219415 couldn't be read Error : 05/21/00 RETRY, IGNORE this sector,
or QUIT. Selecting "Retry" keeps bringing you back to that error screen.
Selecting "Ignore" creates 0 byte files with an
accurate directory tree.
Dumping the above files to many .ISOs and then extracting the .ISOs
yielded the same data (or lack thereof).
Please educate me if I have proceeded incorrectly.
Cheers,
TB
*****
"Ilya Zakharevich" <nospam...@ilyaz.org> wrote in message
news:slrnhj0049.a1...@powdermilk.math.berkeley.edu...
Ilya Zakharevich
Extract RAW data (2352 bytes/block) shows "Unreadable Sector Sector
> 219415 couldn't be read Error : 05/21/00 RETRY, SELECTI an option and
> proceed, or QUIT."
You are lucky: it looks like the problems are with the physical disk,
not with software which wrote it. There is a quite substantial chance
you can find a better-reader drive which would be able to read it.
Make visits to all your friends. ;-)
Yours,
Ilya
P.S. I recommend writing ISO (which is 2048b/sector); it uses all the
error correction possibilities.
Tom Drake
TB
*****
"Ilya Zakharevich" <nospam...@ilyaz.org> wrote in message
news:slrnhj0m1g.b2...@powdermilk.math.berkeley.edu...
smh
Mike Richter, were you born with
"Scam Artist" emblazoned on your face?
--------------------------------------
Tom Drake wrote:
>
> 12/21/09, 19:21 - Using ISOBuster 2.6.0.0.
>
> Extract RAW data (2352 bytes/block) shows "Unreadable Sector Sector
> 219415 couldn't be read Error : 05/21/00 RETRY, SELECTI an option and
> proceed, or QUIT."
With IsoBuster Sector view, try to view sectors around 219415. If only
that sector is unreadable, see if there is any damage or dirty at
roughly half way on the cd.