Update: IsoPuzzle 1.6 - Recovery program for scratched damaged DVD Data-CD

[setarip_old]

@mgpc

Hi!

I don't LABEL discs until I've verified I can read the content

Are you referring to adhesive labels? If so, be advised that they may contract with time, causing your discs to warp and make them (temporarily) unreadable.

Removing such labels usually makes them once again readable...

[snn47]

Some feedback from my test, in short I was unlucky in recovering a badly scratched DVD (dull surface ) and got a variety of error messages.

I tried several drives drive brand No interface,
LG 4167 IDE,
Plextor 740 FW ??,
TEAC DV-W50 FW Prolific,
Pio KV14 USB2 ??, and
an older PIO 116 ROM FW Prolific.
System ASUS A7V266E, KT266A/xx33 SB, AMD XP1800, PCI TI FW controller.
XP-Pro, Nero 6.6 & InCD (turned on/off made no difference when errors were received)

Isopuzzle didn't start with the ROM, only with DVD-Burners.

I made 2 ISO-files one with the LG (in under an hour), the Plextor took about 1 1/2 days for the second ISO-file.

Both didn't recover the data, so I tried the other drives, using the flag-file or ammending the ISO.

Isopuzzle started
Continue 4167.iso
Loop 1 read 2006176 Errors 0
and stoped with the error message
Exit 0x5c: Disk full

When I deleted the iso-files and tried to create a new one I had
create .iso
Exit 0x0: 0k
Exit 0x0: Disk is Empty

trying an old flagfile
Disksize changed to "Existing Flagfile" (2253343 Sectors)
Continue .iso
Exit 0x2: FOpen *.iso

Does this make any sence to you?
I tried every combination I could think of just short of a new XP installation.

Does ISOpuzzle use the registry?

[marsoupilami]

Hi there!
I didn't understand everything - but I'll try...

Originally Posted by snn47

Isopuzzle started
Continue 4167.iso
Loop 1 read 2006176 Errors 0
and stoped with the error message
Exit 0x5c: Disk full

Maybe You tried to write to a non-NTFS partition?
(The warning is often supressed because of the unreliable media identifier returned by the system)
Writing more than 4GB to a non-NTFS disk will produce a write error and the 'disk full' message!

Originally Posted by snn47

When I deleted the iso-files and tried to create a new one I had
create .iso
Exit 0x0: 0k
Exit 0x0: Disk is Empty

Although a DVD is readable some drives return 'zero size' (= empty disk) - that was one reason for 'force size' dialog

Originally Posted by snn47

trying an old flagfile
Disksize changed to "Existing Flagfile" (2253343 Sectors)
Continue .iso
Exit 0x2: FOpen *.iso

On my XP (both 'home' and 'pro') I have a file locking problem very often - especially (but not only) if I terminate a program via the taskmanager the accessed file remaines locked (deny write) until the system is rebooted - this might cause the 'file open error'.... i guess this could be a reason
Another possibility could be 4GB-problem on an non-NTFS (as above) ??

Originally Posted by snn47

Does ISOpuzzle use the registry?

No! The 'destination path' etc. is stored in the *.ini

[snn47]

Thank you for the fast reply.

Since I do own such "nice" very badly scratched DVD I can't wait to try again next weekend.

You are correct that I terminated isopuzzle via the taskmanager and did not reboot.
However while my HDD has mix of NTFS and FAT32, I am pretty shure that I had the problem with the NTFS partition.

When I changed DVD-drives I use a second folder on the same partition. However when I copyied the flag-file from one folder to the other and started Isopuzzle new it still asked for the isofile.

[rookandpawn]

Lets see, Ive tried DvdDecrypter in iso mode, ive tried Cd/DVD data Recovery, ive tried CD Check, ....

None are as fast and do what i want more than IsoPuzzle.

Way to go man!

[poprock]

I have tried Stellar Phoenix CD Data Recovery Software It Provides recovery of data and file, lost due to unreadable, scratched, corrupt or defective CD media. Phoenix CD Data Recovery Software supports ISO9660 and Joliet file system.

[Politiken]

Hi - The concept of marking good/bad sectors using the flag file together with the import function is a great idea !!!

I tested a scrathed dvd - it fullfilled 98 % and then I exited the application (using the exit button). I later restarted the job but IsoPuzzle fails with these messages:

regards Pol

[marsoupilami]

Hi Politiken!

Sorry about the very late answer ... I have been on holidays.

Obviously your *.flg has been corrupted (don't know the reason...)
The drive reports 3847037 sectors - multiplied by 2k => 7.8 GB (this looks plausible for a DVD-DL)

Besides ... do you have more than 8 drives connected? (physical + virtual)

regards

[saulob]

Originally Posted by marsoupilami

A few bugfixes ...
NEW VERSION - ALSO AVAILABLE HERE
http://www.geocities.com/marsoupilamis/

Please visit the homepage of NERO AG to get the WNASPI.DLL and read the terms of use
http://www.nero.com/nero6/eng/WNASPI32.DLL.html

marsoupilami, thanks for the program, but... the WNASPI32.DLL download link from Nero.com is gone....

Any mirror ?

thanks

[marsoupilami]

The page with the link has been removed but the file is still there - it is fixed now!

[saulob]

Originally Posted by marsoupilami

The page with the link has been removed but the file is still there - it is fixed now!

marsoupilami, thanks for the mirror on your site.

the program is working fine with it

[imatasion]

Great program and much needed! Unfortunately, I may have stumbled upon a serious bug (1). Also, here's a feature request (2).

(1)
My old WinXP reinstall disc (CD - 448MB), aside from the usual light surface scuffs, had gone really bad (don't ask me how). I used IsoPuzzle v.1.4 on it, starting on one computer, and continuing through 3 others until it was completely read (the last computer's drive was the best; it zoomed through those remaining tough-to-read sectors).

I burned the resulting .ISO to a CD-RW and attempted a test reinstall. At one point, I received a fatal-install message about an error from some file line-number. I looked into that file and discovered it was full of hex-zeroes. The same file from the original disc (easy to read, so it was not in a bad sector area) had all the proper data. Somehow, IsoPuzzle read the original disc sector, which contained this file, but didn't write the retrieved data into the restored image area.

Retrying the restore exclusively on that last computer produced the same results on the very same file. Finding and using your latest version 1.6 and trying the restore on that same last computer, again, produced the same no-data error in that same file.

Could you look into IsoPuzzle and see if you can find such a bug? As yet, I have not manually searched through my .ISO (on my test, rewritable CD) to find other missing-data files.

(2)
Is there any way for IsoPuzzle to temporarily disable Window's autorun of the source disc while "Cycle Tray" is active (and, of course, return it to it's normal state when Cycle Tray is unchecked or IsoPuzzle exits)? As you might guess, everytime the tray is cycled, Windows will run an autorun disc (which happened to me during this restore attempt).

Thanks for any help!

[imatasion]

After doing some experimenting while waiting for the author's reply, it looks like IsoPuzzle definitely has a problem. A little Internet searching brought up IsoBuster as good software for disc recovery. Running it on the system that most easily read my damaged disc, I was able to recover it with only a few "retries" for the difficult areas.

Reading and comparing information on the 2 recoveries showed IsoPuzzle clearly lacking in size of total blocks recovered.

<strike>IsoBuster v.2.3</strike> IsoPuzzle v.1.6 recovered .ISO file
file size - 474857472
blocks - 231864
block size - 2048

<strike>IsoPuzzle v.1.6</strike> IsoBuster v.2.3 recovered .ISO file
file size - 474859520
blocks - 231865
block size - 2048

And, at least in one instance (described in my previous post), IsoPuzzle didn't write into the recovery file what it had read from the disc. The final proof was using the recoveries -- IsoBuster's recovered disc worked, IsoPuzzle's didn't.

That's all I have for now. Until the author checks through these findings, I caution IsoPuzzle users not to rely on it exclusively for bad disc recovery.

[marsoupilami]

@imatasion
Thanks for your detailed description....
...but please keep in mind, that im working on this program in my free time!
I try to answer any question but there is no need sending pm, email and a two postings simultaneously - I am definitely not anyones hotline!

If you are satisfied with Isobuster feel free to use it and don't forget to pay for it!

If you are still interested in my answers to your previous questions let me know.
kind regards

[imatasion]

@marsoupilami

Hi. I reported what appears to be a serious recovery software error (glad to help!). A pm and later an e-mail were just to get your attention to the forum (I did notice how your postings tended to be months apart). I'm sure the posters here, who have relied on your software to recover their important data, wouldn't think that excessive. (Also, I should point out that my postings weren't simultaneous nor duplicated. Rather, a week apart, and as I discovered and reported additional findings. Nothing improper there, either.)

Don't get this wrong, but I hope there IS a bug and that you can fix it. Time permitting, of course.

[blutach]

@imatasion

Please remember that ISOPuzzle is freeware and marsoupilami owes you (and everyone else), absolutely nothing. Whether people rely on ISOPuzzle to "recover their important data" or not, nowhere has marsoupilami indicated that he is there to provide support free of charge. In fact, explicitly, the readme states:

! YOU ARE USING THIS PROGRAM ON YOUR OWN RISK !
===============================================
By using this program you accept that no warranty of any kind can be given.
Neither functionality nor data integrity can be guaranteed.
The author cannot guarantee that this program is free of viruses, trojans,
spyware or any other harmful software.
The author cannot held responsible for malfunctions, data loss of any kind,
corruption of any other software installed on your computer, permanent
hardware damage or profit loss.

While I agree that you have not peppered the forum with multiple posts, it really is up to marsoupilami to respond or not. He has now indicated that he will reply when he gets round to it.

Regards

[marsoupilami]

Hi there - Don't worry!
This is my 1st day back in the office (after x-mas) where I have fast internet access and more than one pc for testing something.
I agree, that it is really frustrating downloading a couple of programs only for discovering that they don't work properly.

I have tested all error conditions which I could imagine very carefully and I didn't touch the part of code which writes to the iso file since the earliest versions - thatfore I doubt hopefully that the described behaviour could be an Isopuzzle error.
The only bug I know currently is:
If you have more than 8 drives connected (both physical and virtual CD/DVD drives) the behaviour is unpredictable.
I never tested what happens but I guess it will crash - this will be fixed in 1.7.

As I understand all the erroneous 'zero-data' had been produced by the same (the last) CD drive.
Generally Isopuzzle relies on informations returned by the ASPI driver: drive status, read data, read errors etc.
Since wnaspi32.dll came along with Neros 'Burning Rom' (as long as W98 was supported) - I treat it as an 'error free' part of a well tested commercial product!
The most suspect part in my opinion could be the 'fast reading' drive itself (especially its fimware).
I remember an old combo drive which could 'read' everything errorfree - even a test CD with a black marked area!
I'll try to get it back for testing - but I expect random data instead of all zeroes.

What I think what could had happened is:
Is it possible that you accidentially didn't transfer both the *.iso an the *.flg file to your 3rd computer?
If you tranfered only the *.flg this would create an *.imp file which has to be 'imported' to your iso image. This would explain the 'zero data'.
Please search your disk for such an *.imp and let me know!

I cannot believe, that such an error - which I had never heard about - occurs twice...

Regarding your feature request I'm very sorry to disappoint you:
First of all I think all 'auto-whatever' are (really boring) Windows 'features' - Please understand, that I don't like to grab into registries and so on.
Last but not least I'm trying to keep IsoPuzze as much as possible independent to Windows versions - I cannot (and don't like to) buy and install a lot of different ones for testing purpose.
Thatfore I recommend to disable either the 'autoplay' function or the 'cycle tray' checkbox.

kind regards

[imatasion]

@blutach

I know all that, thanks anyway.

@marsoupilami

To eliminate some debugging complexity, I'll ignore my initial results with multi and single drive recovery, on the now obsolete version 1.4. (BTW, I did correctly follow instructions on using multiple drives; you made it easy & convenient to do -- good design.)

I used the links from the first page of your thread to get the required software: IsoPuzzle-16.zip & wnaspi32.dll. These were expanded (as needed) and placed in an IsoPlay1.6 directory.

So, for repeatability testing, I again set up a "new install" of IsoPuzzle 1.6. It was run without changing the default settings, except to un-check "Allow Cooldown" and to set "Destination". The recovery ran quick with only a few retries.

Resulting IsoPuzzle 1.6 recovered ISO was 452 MB (474,857,472 bytes).

Again, the IsoBuster 3.32 recovered ISO was 452 MB (474,859,520 bytes).

Now, if I try to view the "empty file" (that bad-recover file) in 7-Zip, the file comes up empty. In IsoBuster, the file is "x" marked and it shows no data.

Here is something interesting!

The IsoPuzzle recovered ISO has the empty file is at sector 231864. In IsoBuster's viewer, that sector comes up as a "device error". Why? If I navigate backward, sector data shows normally. So the actual recovered sectors are 0 thru 231863 (or 231864 sectors). A full sector is 800h or 2048 bytes. 231864 x 2048 = 474,857,472 bytes. This is the recovered amount from IsoPuzzle's ISO. The missing file data comes from a sector outside the ISO!

However, the IsoBuster recovered ISO also has that file at sector 231864, but with it's data intact. Navigating forward, there are no more sectors -- it's the end of the ISO. So the actual recovered sectors are 0 thru 231864 (or 231865 sectors). 231865 x 2048 = 474,859,520 bytes. This is the recovered amount from IsoBuster's ISO. The file data exists because the ISO is big enough to contain it!

Conclusion? IsoPuzzle is not writing the final recovered sector into it's ISO. This is where you should start your code checking. These kind of "boundary errors" often show up in programming and it looks like it bit you, too.

Hope this helps.

BTW, when you come out with v.1.7, I recommend you include a critical warning not to use any previous version, because of this bug.

[marsoupilami]

@imatasion - thank you very much for giving such a detailed description and spending that much time!

First I was a little confused because of your previous post (where the IsoPuzzle recovered file should be the larger one...).

I grabbed into the code and - No! I didn't make the beginners mistake of forgetting the last loop.
Obviously the Aspi driver reported disk size is a little sloppy - this is both disk and drive dependent!
The value in the progress field prints out the reported sectornumber 'as is' - also the greyed out field in 'force disksize' shows this value.
Besides - my 'force size' -> 'estimated' function has really an error: it detemines the last readable sectornumber which is size-1 - so I trusted both.

I could now simply add one to this number - I found out that some drives have the capability to read ahead beyond the reported size without an error but some do not!
The good news:
It seems that most images have at least one 'zero sector' at the end of the image - maybe that's the reason why!
E.g. Nero 6 (which I use) appends a lot of - I burned an image and 'isupuzzled' it and burned it again: it was growing and growing!

I'll try a workaround in the final 1.7 like reading ahead beyond the end of the disk with a few retries... what else should I do? (Oh how I hate things like this!)
For the next version I will look into the SPTI interface hoping that it is more reliable - but I expect this would require a little more time.

Btw I could fix the problem which was reported by Politken in beginning of September:
It can occur on a ripping attempt into a locked image file.

Thank's again and I'll keep your disable autoplay suggestion in mind - maybe someone can tell me a moretheless simple solution
Nice weekend!

[setarip_old]

I'll keep your disable autoplay suggestion in mind - maybe someone can tell me a moretheless simple solution

Just hold down the "Shift" key while the tray recycles...