Recovering CD data

I know this is a shot in the dark but...

I have a CD-R that I was backing data up to that had previous data on it, but during the process the program hung and the cd seemed to be corrupted. I used to see files and folders on the CD but now it only shows two files: Track01.cda & Track02.cda

Seems to think it's an audio/music CD when it used to contain data.

Is there any method to get data back from this CD or is it truly trashed (I've read about establishments that claim to be able to restore data from media that might otherwise be considered lost).

Thx for any info.

 

You probably recorded audio to a multi-session disk without acknowledging it was a multi-session so now you are stuck with just being able to read the last session. Try reading it in Windows Explorer - if no go, I'm not sure how to advise you..... you may be SOL.

 

I use both of these as scandisk-equivalents for CD's, and they both offer some data recovery options:

CDRoller
http://www.cdroller.com/

CDCheck
http://www.elpros.si/CDCheck/

 

No, I know for a fact that I didn't. It was strictly data, as I don't record any audio.

It was the crash that corrupted it, I'm pretty sure. Just don't know why the audio type files. Although I have seen that before. Windows can get confused looking at the data cd. I've seen it do that (see audio files where there are none) and after rebooting then it would see the data files fine. Not in this case though <sigh>.

Btw, I WAS looking at it in explorer. Only shows the two files now which I never recorded <shrug>.

 

Ok, will check them out, Abraxas.

Thanks all.

 

Okie.. here's an update based on my ventures:

Synopsis:
I tried out both:

-CDRoller:
-Checked the correct CD drive and found certain files. Prompted me when it said a dir could not be read properly and allowed me to bypass/continue. Only fault: the demo does not allow recovery, only viewing. Have to pay to recover. In my case want to see if recovered files are correct. If so, I would have bought it in a heartbeat. Since they don't even allow me to recover even a limited number of files, I wasn't sold.

-CDCheck
-Tried using it but gave me a popup box asking for which logical drive I want to check. I chose the drive but the program gave NO option to continue.. clicking OK only kept me in the dialog box. Not sure WHAT it is expecting but gave up: wouldn't accept the default drive it gave which was the correct CD drive to check. Couldn't get past the 'choose' option window.

===

SO, I continued looking for other CD recovery SWs. Found a few. Some would only find these 2 'audio' files... again, they weren't smart enough to see what's actually on the CD... being fooled by window's inaccuracies to think that it's an audio CD not a data CD which it is (other recovery SW found the correct data so..)


FOUND a s/w that does what CDRoller did AND allows recovery so you can see whether it actually works properly.
BUT, as is Fate's wont, of 12 dirs that were on the corrupted CD, the 6 I needed had problem directory FATs. BUT at least I could recover SOME files from the CD.

SO, of what I found ISOBuster wins, and would be my purchase. Couldn't recover everything I wanted, but that may be a loss I have to accept at this point.
To check it out:
http://www.smart-projects.net/isobuster/

I will bring the CD into a professional recovery provider to see if I can get anything else back, but from what I found Smart-Projects offered the best. Only downside is it automatically checks the CD in the drive by default, would prefer to choose the drive once I'm ready to check. This can be changed after the first run to choose yourself (disable auto-check). Workaround is to make sure the CD drives are empty before running it the first time and then setup your first check.

That's it for my experiences. If anyone has any other SW to suggest to try, please let me know.