I have had three issues with camcorders do far. One on my daughter's 1st birthday (mini DV - sensor issues), one last Christmas my new Sony 105 was out for repair and one this Christmas.

Anyway, I have a disk the camcorder will not finalize, in fact the menu option is grayed out and not selectable. Right now, the disk I have in is not complete, but the finalize option is available. I tried ISO buster and it could pull the files off the disk into an image but just like the disk, the image does not have a file system. I also tried photorec and it filled up 60gb on my harddisk and quit due to lack of space.

It seems ISObuster did its job, I just do not know what to do next. How can I put a file system on the disk, or what are my options?

Thank you,

Anthony

You know you really should read the list of "stickies" at the top of the forum. You would be surprised at what you may find there. For example, quoting myself......

The following procedure can be tried in the event of an unsuccessfully finalised disc, a damaged disc or a disc that has not been burned correctly by the cam and has some corrupt data.

It is advisable to also consider other possible causes such as a dirty/damaged disc, dirty lens in the DVD reader or other software/hardware problems as well.

The two types of software that can be used for this are Nero Recode (free) and Isobuster. In the case of Isobuster the free features can be tried first but failing that the full featured version needs to be purchased.

Put the problem disc in the DVD drive then:

1. Nero Recode.
If you have Nero Recode on the computer try to use it first. If you don't have it then a search on the internet should result in a few download locations. Generally it is distributed as part of the Nero OEM suite bundled with various hardware devices from a range of manufacturers. Recode is very forgiving of errored discs and can read most unfinalised discs. Although it is not designed for the purpose described here it can be "tricked" into recoding the 1.4gig disc from the DVD cams across to the hard drive in preparation for burning to a 4.7gig disc. Because the target disc is bigger than the source disc it will "recode" at 100% which basically means a lossless direct copy.

a. Open Recode.

b. Select "Recode an entire DVD to DVD." Make sure the "DVD Video Files" button is selected and the "Fit to Target' button is checked and showing 4.7gig.

c. Select "Import DVD." Recode will now read the contents of the disc and, if it can, write the contents to a folder it will automatically create in My Documents called "Recode."

d. If Recode completes the above task navigate to "My Documents" and you will find that Recode has created a new folder called "Recode." Inside that folder you will find the normal ifo, bup and vob files you would normally see in a DVD folder. Re-name the "Recode" folder to VIDEO_TS exactly as I have typed it.

e. Open your editing program and use the "Import DVD/VR" function to navigate to the newly created VIDEO_TS folder and import.

If have been successful the VIDEO_TS folder can also be used to make a new copy of your problem disc as well.

Failing the above:

2. Isobuster.
Using the free functions try to make a disc image file and burn to another DVD. Isobuster has three alternate methods of dealing with data corruption. It can replace the corrupted area with nothing, with fake data or with a series of zeros. It will give you the choice and just select them in order to try each until one works. Isobuster will not create the disc image file unless it knows it will be successful. If Isobuster has created the file (note where it was going to put it first!) you will have to re-name the extension to .iso. Use the disc image file to burn a new DVD disc then import from that newly burned disc.

Failing that...

You will need to pay for the full version of Isobuster, then do as follows.
a. Start Isobuster then load the disc.

b. When Isobuster has detected the files on the disc run the "Find Missing Files and Folders option under the "File" menu. Let it run.

c. You will now have an entry on the left hand column of "files and folders found by their signature."

d. Select that, then go to "File" "Files found via their signature" then "Extract files found via their signature." Choose a location and let it run.

Now you will have all the files where you selected them to go. The ones with the extension .VOB are the MPEG files from your disc wrapped in the VOB container. They can then be imported into your video editing program using the "Import DVD/VR" function.

Good Luck!

Actually I did read your post. That is how I found ISObuster. I do not have Nero. I tried changing the extention to .iso but image burn did not recognize it.

Anthony

Do you have any other image burning software?
The problem may be that isobuster has created a disc image file of an unfinalised disc! Perfect!
To be honest the only solution I know of to this dilemma is to either Google to see if you can find a copy of the Nero program...not likely, or to bite the bullet and pay for the isobuster licence and access the advanced features.

I was out of town over the holidays and finally got back.

I downloaded the trial version of Nero 8. I tried to create a movie, recode the disk and just copy the disk and none worked. I then saw an option for finalize disk. I thought this was for a data disk but decided to try it. It worked. Very simple and fast. I can now play the disk and make copies.

Anthony

Anthony, that's great!
Can you please confirm your exact steps as this may be very useful to others.
1. You had a disc that the cam refused to finalise.
2. Place the unfinalised disc into the computer DVD tray.
3. Open Nero 8 (just the trial version?) and did what to get the "Finalise disc" option showing.
I would like to add it to the sticky at the top of the forum.
Thanks.

1. Had a disc that the cam refused to finalise.
2. Placed the unfinalised disc into the computer DVD tray. Nothing would read it.
3. Open Nero 8 StartSmart (just the trial version.)
4. Clicked "create and edit" at the top
5. clicked "author, edit and cature video"
6. nero vision 5 started
7. under disk tools drop down menu clicked "finalize disk"
8. option box appeared to give menu options - i chose "no menus"
9. played disk with no problem

I them tryied to copy with image burn and it read errors. not sure, maybe the disk was scratched or dirty or was a problem with the process above. I then ran isopuzzle and made a new image and burned it to a new 12cm disk with image burn. I can see where the image broke up a little when playing it back.

Anthony