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General discussion

Pictures gone on DVD-R

Aug 14, 2007 7:17AM PDT

On a DVD-R I had about 100 pictures that I had burned from my digital camera. The other day I burned 17 more from my camera. This time they came up in the middle of some of the previous pictures I burned and those are gone. I thought maybe the space had run out on the DVD-R and this was what happened. But when I went to check the space left on the DVD-R there was plenty left. What could've happened to the deleted pictures?

Discussion is locked

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Ouch!
Aug 15, 2007 7:12AM PDT

One problem is that you cannot have two files with the same filename in any one directory. The burning software should catch this and either refuse to burn or prompt you to rename the files in question, but I have seen a few cases where a burning application attempted to overwrite the files by deleting the reference to them and then burning the new ones. It sounds like that's what may have happened here. My suggestion would be to give ISOBuster a shot at recovering the files. There are plenty of alternatives, but it should give you a good idea of what to expect.

Best of luck.
John

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Ouch
Aug 16, 2007 2:44AM PDT

Thanx John. I'll try that.

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Ouch
Aug 18, 2007 6:14AM PDT

Well I downloaded ISO Buster but I didn't get anything when I typed in the file name.

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Wait a second...
Aug 18, 2007 1:12AM PDT

Once a DVD-R is already recorded on, doesn't that mean something else cannot be added after the fact?

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Not necessarily...
Aug 18, 2007 3:54AM PDT

Unless the DVD is 'finalized' or 'closed' you can continue to add content to the disc until the capacity is reached. (Finalization increases the ability of the disc to be read on other computers.) However, there are some burning applications that can still burn files to a disc after finalization. In addition, there are a few programs which can "erase" files burned to a CD/DVD. While the files, once burned, will forever be on the disc they can be 'hidden,' so while the space remains used it takes a recovery program to find and extract the data.

John

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I see.
Aug 18, 2007 5:41AM PDT

Thanks so much for the clarification.

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Did you find a solution?
Sep 12, 2007 3:42AM PDT

I have a similar problem. Using Windows Vista, burned photos to a DVD-R, went back to add more files and can't find the original burned photos (although on the back of the DVD-R, it shows that there is something on the disc). Any suggestions? I will see if IsoBuster works.

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My Fix...Don't Do Multisession Burns..
Sep 12, 2007 7:21AM PDT

Fill up the disc with data, then finalize/close the disc. It's much more reliable.

And if you've only got small amounts of data, burn them to a DVD-RW or CD-RW and finalize/close that disc as well.. When you want to add more, erase the disc, then rewrite to it again with all of the combined data.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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ISO Buster?
Sep 12, 2007 4:33PM PDT

Thanks for the advice. I downloaded ISO Buster and it did "find" my lost files in "Session 1." I now have two sessions on the DVD and can only see the files in "Session 2". However, I did not purchase the license so I can't say for sure if the program will actually recover my files from session 1.

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Now it's pure economics.
Sep 13, 2007 4:07AM PDT

When those files are worth that much then you can get them back.

Bob