Data disappears from CD-R

I recently found some old data diskettes and bought a USB diskette drive so I could copy them to a CD-R. Then I found an old CD-R that I had used a few years ago; it had data files on it from some other diskettes. It had a lot of space left so I started to copy my current set of diskettes to it. This started out well. I had two diskettes copied and was working on the third. I closed the Explorer windows last night and left the disks in the drives.

When I tried to resume copying today, the computer could find no data at all on the CD. I tried the disk in another computer with the same result. RescuePRO also could not find any data on the disk. It says 'cannot read media'. WinExplorer says '0 free space, 0 used space.'

Is there anything that can be done to retrieve data from the CD?

 

Check that there is no dirt or scratches on the disk. Clean with a soft wetted tissue with a spot of dishwashing detergent. Wipe from the centre to the circumfrence (not round and round). Dry with a soft tissue (gently).

If you have access to Vista or Windows 7, try reading it on one of those.

I would not be sure a packet-writing program would be involved, but try here:
http://www.cdrinfo.com/forum/tm.asp?m=134374&mpage=1&key=

 

Thank you for the ideas. I cleaned the disk with no change; most programs still either say ''0 free space, 0 used space ", or do not think there is a disk in the drive at all. The only program that could find data was IsoBuster. It gave a list of folders and files, but of course will not recover them unless I pay for the Pro version. Frankly, these are old files and are not worth the cost.

Still, it is a challenge. It sounds like Finalizing the disk is something I could do. Could this destroy any data or make it harder to recover in the future? Or is it worth trying?

Thanks again!

 

Here are some links
http://www.recoverytoolbox.com/cd.html
Free, until you get to the last line that says most of it is free.
http://majorgeeks.com/downloads38.html
Read the freeware ones.
Try Unstoppable Copier.

Try whatever you can. If you are out of luck and about to give up, then do the finalising of the disk.

Matt