this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2025
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How to automatically read DVDs that have I/O errors? (lemmy.zip)
submitted 1 day ago by hodgepodgin@lemmy.zip to c/linux@programming.dev
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I have a collection of DVDs and CDs that I’ve been meaning to archive. However, most of them must be scratched because whenever I try to read them, they get an I/O error in a random spot of one of the 1gb files. I heard that you can do some magic with ddrescue and possibly even read them in reverse, but don’t know the limitations of that when it comes to USB DVD readers. How can I copy these reliably?

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[–] hodgepodgin@lemmy.zip 1 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

that was something I tried, to no avail. I used a clean lens cleaner with a dab of distilled water. I am only assuming at this point that the drive is scratched, but to my eyes there is nothing wrong with the CD. They are just maybe a decade old at this point and my cousins want a copy of the data which I intend to send them by ripping the existing CDs.

[–] elucubra@piefed.social 1 points 2 hours ago

Quick question, are these burned blank disks, or purchased commercial disks?