DVD-RW backup corrupted?

omegax255

I recently backed up all my data on 6 or so empty DVD-RW discs, and later had to have my computer formatted.

When I started retrieving what I would need from my backups, I found that everything seemed corrupt / unreadable / missing!!

Word documents open up blank, with all the pages there, but no text, pictures or anything. Same for Notepad, Spreadsheets and Presentations.

Pictures - "Photo Gallery can't open this picture or video. The file format is not supported, or you don't have the latest updates to photo gallery." The format is simply jpg.

I play video files with VLC Media Player, and it can't seem to read them.

Most of my Zipped files (with WinRAR) show the "No archives found message".

I also had some saved webpages, which open into a blank page.

music files seem to be the only thing left intact.

I'd done the backup with Nero --> Data DVD, but unfortunately didn't bother to check if everything was fine afterwards. Same results come up when I open the files from the discs themselves. And the thing is, the file size is still there, they occupy the same space as before.

I just don't understand what's going on. I've done this before, and always managed to retrieve the data perfectly fine. Is there and solution or way to get back the data intact? And what, after all, is the problem?!?!?

Thanks.

Answer
From what I've read, DVD-RWs are not completely reliable for important backups.

If the DVDs had been used before, I've known them to just 'wear out'. No warning, just read / write errors.

As for recovery, you might have to take them to a repair shop & see if they can recover the files.

It won't help now, but in the future, consider getting a small external hard drive or two. Then use a program like Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image to create a backup on one drive, and a copy on the other.
You could also create a backup partition on your hard drive. Save one copy there, another on a portable drive.

Question about laptop's motherboard?

rachael

I was told that the only way to fix my laptop is to replace the motherboard or something like that. I don't know anything about computers and I was wondering if my information (videos and pictures especially) would still be on it or if it would be erased.

Answer
The hard disk (where your data is) is normally under a cover on the bottom, or side. This is totally independent of the motherboard. The people replacing your motherboard should be able to keep all your data for you. Even if they needed to reinstall windows they should be able to back it all up first.

If the shop doesn't want to help with that, maybe you can get a computer savvy friend to help.

You can take the hard drive out of the laptop by removing a few screws. This can then be put into a 2.5" USB drive caddy, so you can connect it up to another machine (like an external portable drive) so you can get your data off before the repair is done.

Getting a drive caddy is even better if you decide to not have the repair done, but instead get a new laptop. With a drive caddy, all your old data is kept, and you have a place to do backups on in the future.

You will need a 2.5" USB drive caddy, but will need to see if your drive is IDE, or SATA which will determine which you buy.

I highly recommend getting a friend to have a look at it.... if you have no geeky friends... now is the time to make some!

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