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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[–] data1701d@startrek.website 3 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Rubbing alcohol and a microfiber cloth.

Also, I feel like I’ve had good luck with k3b, though mainly for CDs.

As for drives, as others have said, USB ones tend to be janky; go for an internal. I like my LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray drive.

If it’s a desktop, it should be easy to hook up with SATA, though if you have a newer case, you might need to dangle a cable out the side like I do.

If you have a laptop, though, you’ll probably need a USB adapter, though there might be a hack using an M.2 slot to hook up an SATA PCI-E card.

[–] rarsamx@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 hours ago

And the rub should be radial, not circular.