I don't even know how to ask this question, but I'll give it a try.
Sometime ago, I was looking for information on how to retrieve data from some disks I had stored a LOT of stuff on.
Hubby took about 10 of them to their techies at work, and they salvaged some of the stuff but not all. It was rather pricey.
(OK....now here's the stupid question part)
Is there some kind of program or some way to do this myself ?
I have about another couple dozen. Yipes $$$$
Dunno, PC but I just wanted to lend my support to you. Hope you get all that data off your disks safely and cheaply. Think maybe you need some kinda data extractor program.
We usually store them in our computer and 'Ghost' it... whatever the hell that means. I don't know. My husband usually do all that stuff.
Thanks Lise
It's very frustrating. A lot of the stuff is just images that I've collected for various projects, but the one that I'm missing that is upsetting is a portfolio of photos of all the things I've made. [img style="CURSOR: pointer" onclick=url(this.src); src="vny!://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/more/bigs/c020.gif" border=0]
There are some disk-saver or data recovery programs out there. They work with varying degrees of effectiveness, so be forewarned...
[a href="vny!://www.freebyte.com/filediskutils/#datarecovery"]vny!://www.freebyte.com/filediskutils/#datarecovery[/a]
[a href="vny!://www.pcworld.com/downloads/collection/collid,1295-order,1-c,downloads/files.html"]vny!://www.pcworld.com/downloads/collection/collid,1295-order,1-c,downloads/files.html[/a]
[a href="vny!://www.lifehacker.com/software/disk%20recovery/"]vny!://www.lifehacker.com/software/disk%20recovery/[/a]
Often times just trying a disk in another computer's drive will make a difference, but that's iffy.
Thanks TehBorken.
We've tried them in several. Properties say they are all full, but when you try to open them, it says they are 'unaccessable'
P.C. wrote:
We've tried them in several. Properties say they are all full, but when you try to open them, it says they are 'unaccessable'
Hmmm, if it wasn't so impractical, I'd say mail 'em to me and I'll take a crack at them.
Well, the uncertainty of what's on some of them is a little unsettling....lol
teborken sounds like a pretty discreet guy to me, but that's just my take on him.
I was actually saying that in favour of TehBorken, over some guy that works for my hubby.
There's nothing of THAT nature on them....lol [FONT]*[FONT color=#ff80bf]well, maybe one[/FONT]*.[/FONT]
P.C. wrote:[div style="font-style: italic;"]There's nothing of THAT nature on them....lol [font]*[font color="#ff80bf"]well, maybe one[/font]*.[/font][/div]
Lol, in that case I'll do 'em for free. lol (//forums/richedit/smileys/Happy/14.gif)
You're so funny, PC. *letting imagination run with the wind* (//vny!://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Happy/21.gif)
What do you mean by "disks"? Are these hard disks, floppies, or something else?
Sorry....CD's. (I didn't know people still used floppys)
I remember reading an article in the paper quite a while back, saying not to trust your photos to CD's. That the 'life span' of the quality of the data can be as little as 2 years. That's when I dug them out, and discovered they were reading blank.
Oh, you're kidding me.... you mean to tell me whatever saved onto a CD disc is no good especially for photos? Argh!! Then you're forever backing them up on your computer.
*sigh* Dang digital photos. My life was much simpler back then when I didn't have digital. You shoot, you print, you save in your photo album.
I was a little shocked myself Lise. I thought it was THE answer. It said the best way to preserve your photos, is the old fashioned way. Considering there are photos from the 1800's, I'm thinking they're onto something.
It's not a given, that they will fade or (horrors) disappear.....but it's the uncertaintly that scares me. (Not to mention....it's FINAL) I was also a shocked that I had never heard this before. It's one of those things, that should be common knowledge.
I saved the article. I'll try to find it.
Digital photos are the least of my problems, nor are the things on my portfolio. I spent months scanning old family photos, that I have no way of getting back unless some of this stuff can be retrieved.
I did an inventory of every thing in my home, and saved that on a CD also. THAT was a lot of work.
is it possible that your cd rom is busted and not the cd's
I wish it were that simple, kingy. Unfortunately it's not the case. I've been transferring what I have left onto DVD's and many of them work fine.
If the corrupt media is a CD, then you might be out of luck.
I have a similar problem and haven't found a solution yet. (My CD-ROM drive works perfectly well with other CDs... )
Even a funnier thing is, my floppies from 10 years back and all the backups of small utilities etc on them are still perfectly readable.
My Excel CD, only 2-3 years old, became unreadable 8-9 months ago and I have no other backup of it.
Tried all sorts of "recovery" programs that made endless claims. They were totally useless. I thought they were like bloated file managers. Haven't been able to access the CD since then... [A onclick="addImg('icon/icon_smile_shy.gif')" href="jvascript:void(0)"](//vny!://www.discovervancouver.com/forum/icon_smile_shy.gif)[/A]
Well, the guy that hubby sent the last batch to, did manage to recover a good portion of the files, but the photos weren't among them.
I have CD's from years back, that are just fine. The funny thing is, the ones that are still readable, have those 'CD Stomper' labels on them. Back when I did them, the computer whiz guy told me I was crazy for using them, as they would damage the disks.
Sorry to hear about the loss of your family history. I too have heard about cd's being bad for storing data longterm, especially pictures. I would suggest if you havent already done so get a portable hardrive. I got two of those now and use one for pictures and one for information/ important document scans.
Where are you taking the disc's to get this done? Im curious for I have heard about this but know nothing about it.
I'm not sure, Russ. It's the guy that does all the tech support at my hubby's business. I'll ask him, but I don't know it'll do much for you......I'm on the island.