Something terrible has happened involving my program “DirectCD.”
I went to their web page, but it was no help, and there is no free support, so I want to ask here before I try to go through the rigamarole… (sp?)
So, anyway, DirectCD is the program with which I write to CDs in my CD drive.
I am using Windows ME on my PC.
I had a CD with many many extremely very important files on it. It was almost full. (almost up to the 700 MB limit.) I was writing a last few files to it - and my computer froze. I restarted, and it froze harder. So I switched it off and back on again and let it go through the disk scan.
Then I went back to my CD, and almost all of my files were gone. But it wasn’t just that files were missing. The CD had gone back to its state from July of this year. Files I had renamed were no longer renamed. Folder trees I had rearranged were no longer rearranged. The disk was now just like it was five or six months ago. Every file I had added since then was, of course, gone.
This is really a nightmare. This is really terrible.
And what’s odd is, now under “properties,” the disk is reading as having a capacity of only 142 MB, rather than the 700 it is supposed to have. And I don’t seem to be able to write to this CD anymore, though I haven’t tried all possible ways of doing that yet. I am scared to touch anything.
So, I am really in a pickle here. My question is, do you think there is any way to get my files back, and if you do think so, do you have any idea what that way would be?
Hmmm… someone will probably shortly be along to name some program for the PC that will read the binary data off of your CD and be able to extract it. It’s still there, after all, it’s just that the last session wasn’t closed.
In the meantime, do you have a friend with a Mac? One of the neat things about multi-session disks on a Mac is that each session mounts (is visible) as a separate partition! Trying it in a Mac MAY be able to rescue you.
If that doesn’t work, a data-recovery service may be worth the effort if the files are TRULY important. Whenever you add sessions to a disk, you don’t overwrite old data, you merely add new data and change the directory. However, because I’m not versed on PC software (other than the Office stuff), I can’t recommend a binary disk editor. This type of program would let you look at the disk on a logical block level, without involving the FAT (Windows directory system), and you could track down the BOF/EOF (beginning/end of file) for everything, and copy it. Granted, it’s a lot of work, which is why data recovery companies charge a lot of money. But, the point is, it IS possible.
I had MASSIVE problems using DirectCD and EasyCD on my work computer with WindowsME. They came free with my LaCie burner. The Mac software (which I use on my home ibook) works absolutely fine.
I never managed to get the PC programs to work. Not once. I couldn’t turn off DirectCD once it was installed, and EasyCD refused to work with DirectCD running.
So I downloaded the free demo of something called Nero, and that worked a treat.
Sounds like you already got your answers, but for the record, I meant to use the Mac only to RECOVER your data from the CD, not to repair it. Sorry for the confusion.
(and moderns Macs do come with CD-burning software included).