XP unable to read DVD-RW ??

[tonyj]

Hi,

I am embarking on consolidating some very old Holiday Videos and plan to copy them to my Hard Drive then sort, combine and reburn. However, my machine (XP SP2) does not see the contents of the DVD. I think it is more a case of not reading the DVD rather than not recognizing the format of the video? Unfortunately the original DVD player that they were recorded on has long since died. Windows Media Player or AVC do nothing either.

Any suggestions please.

[fink]

I've had success using ISObuster to retrieve files from old or uncooperative CD's and DVD's..

www.isobuster.com

It used to be free but there's still a trial version you can download and use.

Also, sometimes cleaning the disk will make a difference and even just trying them in different computers can get results.

[SpywareDr]

Are you sure the drive is capable of reading DVDs? It may be an old CD-ROM only drive.

[Platypus]

Also:

DVD-RW

Is the disc readable in another system? DVD-RW are not dependable long-term storage. I've thrown out the (fortunately few) RW discs I stored stuff on from years ago - there was no readable data remaining on them.

[tonyj]

Thanks everybody,

That got me thinking and I have tracked the problem to my drive. My new TSST SE-S084F USB DRIVE cannot read them, but my original DVD ROM TSL462C reads with no problem.

So now I can copy to my HDD then enable the writer to reburn.

Thanks for your help.

Regards,

[SpywareDr]

Good to hear the problem's been resolved. Thanks for posting back.