Short version:
Get CDRoller (http://www.cdroller.com/) and read the included help file. This great software makes it that easy!!!
Slighter Longer Version (may be worth a read...):
A relative (who shall remain unnamed!) accidentally erased a couple of our family DVDs among them was footage taken around the time I got married. Sentimentally, important to me and my wife, understandably I was instructed to recover the data - me being a software engineer, of course it was assumed i knew exactly how all technical things in the world worked, and should be a doddle. (for the non-British, doddle is the equivalent of 'piece of cake').
I soon discovered, a doddle it wasn't!
Problem was that (after much googling) recovering data from DVDs was not exactly easy, partly due to the type of disc (in this case DVD-RW, the most difficult removable media to recover from, just my luck!!!), and partly due to all the variables that could be involved:
- the type of DVD disc, as just mentioned
- the type of data to be recovered
- the type of file system used on the disc
- the type of device that originally wrote the disc
- the type of device that erased the data on the disc
- and, finally, the type of erasure method employed
...and that is the 'in a nutshell version'
Most info I found pointed me to the IsoBuster website where the software maker said they could recover from some removable media types, but not from DVD-RW. uh-oh! But...
Googling around I came across much information from people who had been in similar scenarios but had been unable to recover their data successfully. This initially disheartened me and I immediately thought of the lazy option - getting a specialist lab or company to do it. Looking into this, the cost was high (175 GBP or thereabouts), which in my mind, was paying someone to do something that I could probably do myself, if it involved only the use of software to recover the data form the DVD.
So I persevered, and eventually came across a forum post where someone had successfully retrieved the DVD data from a DVD-RW from the comfort of their own home. So I bought the software and hey presto!
Now it wasn't that easy, I had to do some reading of the help file (well I hate reading stuff about software as that's what I deal with daily, so I skimmed...) but after less than 5 min's of reading the great help file that is included, I had found my step-by step illustrated instructions, which seemed relatively straightforward to me.
Now, this clever software has a menu option to run a wizard to specifically recover video data from DVD's, so if you are like me please resist the temptation to immediately start investigating the myriad of options and settings and pretty clickable icons in the user interface. A quick search and read of the help file will save you lots of time.
I kicked off the 'Recover Video Data' option from the file menu and four clicks later my data was being recovered. All of it!!! Yey! It got recovered as a VOB file, which I can pretty much do whatever I want with, but it did get back the data which most of the info on the net suggested wasn't possible.
So, if you are in a pickle like I was, then give this software a go, it is downloadble on a try before buy basis, although I am not sure what the limitations might be there.
If anyone at CDRoller ever reads this, then a big thanks to you guys, you helped us keep some of our most cherished memories to review on DVD whenever we want. Priceless, and the fact my sister in law now owes me one;)
