You slide a disc into the drive to grab a family video or an old project folder. Then the copy stalls, the file won't open, or Windows tells you the disc is unreadable. CD/DVD Data Recovery is built for that situation. It reads the disc sector by sector and copies whatever is still readable to your hard disk.
Quick facts
- Version: 1.1
- Platforms: Windows 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 7 and 8
- Price: $39.99
- Trial: the trial copies only 99% of a corrupted file, but it can scan and diagnose the whole file. Registering unlocks full function.
Key features
Copy the readable parts of a damaged disc to your hard disk
The program scans disk sectors quickly, rescues damaged files and copies the good data to your hard disk as far as it can.
Get media and documents back, not just raw data
It works best on corrupted multimedia such as MPEG, AVI, RM, MP3 and JPEG files. It also handles damaged document and text files.
Use it on most optical disc types
It supports CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-R and DVD-RW. It also supports the ISO9660 and UDF file systems.
Choose between speed and quality, and keep a log
You pick the destination folder and set the speed and quality of copying. Normal is recommended, and Fast (lowest quality) speeds things up. When copying finishes, the status is saved to a log file you can open from the View log button.
How it works
- Add a folder or the whole drive with Add Folder. If the disc's directory structure is damaged, use Add Files instead. You can also drag and drop.
- Set the destination with Browse and pick the copy quality.
- Click Start. Use Clear afterward to begin another job.
Who it's for
It suits anyone with a scratched or aging data disc holding photos, home videos, music files or documents. It is a simple copy-and-rescue tool, so you don't need technical skills.
Pros and cons
- Pro: a short workflow with drag and drop.
- Pro: covers CD and DVD formats, including ISO9660 and UDF.
- Pro: the trial scans and diagnoses a whole file before you buy.
- Con: the trial copies only 99% of a corrupted file.
- Con: encrypted audio CDs can't be read in full.
- Con: recovered .zip, .rar, .exe and .com files may still fail if even one byte is corrupt.
- Con: badly damaged discs can take hours to copy.
FAQs
Why does the trial copy only 99% of my file?
The trial is limited to 99% of a corrupted file. It can still scan and diagnose the whole file, and registering gives you full function.
Can it rescue a scratched music CD?
Not reliably. Music CD files are normally encrypted, so the program can't read the whole contents.
Why won't my recovered zip file extract?
Rescuing the file doesn't guarantee it works. Archives and executables can fail with a single bad byte. Video, audio, image and document files usually survive the loss of a few kilobytes.
Why is copying so slow?
Reading the corrupt area of a disc is slow, while clean areas are fast. Choose Fast (lowest quality) in the speed control to shorten the job.
System requirements
Windows 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 7 or 8, plus a CD or DVD drive.