Non Finalized Video Mini DVD

You might want to check out :

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download

Not sure if it handles mini-dvd but I've recovered damaged DVD files with it. Good luck.

Good question. If you get a good answer please post it here so for the rest of us.

I don't have any answers, but I'll give a few suggestions. You probably thought of most of these, but maybe I can add a new suggestion or a new twist to a suggestion you already have.

What you want to do is similar to recovering deleted files. It is a little different since the data and the directory structure were never finalized. This could be a little bad. But, you also have an advantage. The camera probably writes data to the disks in the exact same manner each and every time. Different video and audio, different numbers of recording sessions, different amounts of time, etc. all make each recorded disk very different from other disks. But, I think it is likely that the first file written has the same name from disk to disk, and so forth with the 2nd, 3rd, etc. These probably all comply with an ISO standard. Data recovery software exists out there somewhere that can deal with this.

You probably have both files that are not finalized and a directory structure that is not written. Since it was a virgin DVD the recovery software can probably walk through the expected sequence of writing data and pull it out in order. It might take some "smart software" and I'm just guessing here, but I bet it can be and has been done.

With the encoded video not being finalized there will be a little encoding magic required to create an end to the video. I don't know how to do it, but it seems to me like it would be an additional issue.

A software forum might be a better place to ask for help. There would be "white hat hackers" out there that recover data for people like you and corporations that have had crashes. There are also "black hat hackers" out there that are very good at recovering data for bad reasons. Their best tools are probably not available, but some tools are. Not long ago a Bruce Willis movie on cable had a hacker use "graver-obber" to recover data. I did a search on grave-robber and it does exist. It is a computer forensics tool in the Unix community. I don't know if it is appropriate for unfinalized DVDs, but it is worth a look.

There are also data recovery companies out there. They typically recover hard disks for companies that have valuable data on a disk that crashes. Most of them want big bucks, but your issue must happen hundreds of times a day around the world. Maybe there is a reasonably priced service for your needs.

There are several "Linux Live CDs" that have tools on them. I think one of them is Linux-STD for Linux Security Tools Disk. This allows you to boot a PC (even a Windows box) from CD without disrupting the hard disk. You then have tools available. People that know what they are doing can do a lot with these disks. Be warned, the learning curve is typically a little too steep for the average persons "one shot need".

Be warned. A lot of "free utilities" for Windows are infected with SpyWare or viruses. I have never heard of problems with LInux tools, but I wouldn't want to bet the farm on software from an unknown source. Anything that Debian or Ubuntu calls "safe" should be safe. Beyond that the Linux tools should probably be considered 99% safe.

Did you try talking to the people at the local drug store or photo shop? You are not the first person to have this problem. They might already have an answer for you. Also, Google services that transfer video from one format to another. The services that use "Bob's back bedroom" to convert VHS to DVD probably can not help you. But, the services that also convert NTSC to PAL, DVD to BluRay, etc. might be able to handle this.

I think you need to record on a new disk! A sratch in the disk, or faulty camera reader may be the problem. Check out your cd/dvd reader on the computer, or if it is a camera that requires you to transfer the file to computer directly after finalization, then you need to diagnose that issue. I did the whole google converters, and there is little out there that is not crap. So go buy Pinnacle.

Good luck.

http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/Home+Video/Studio+Family/

I do training videos for corporations all the time with field cameras and truth be told if the camera is cheap, time of procuring a decent video goes up exponentially.

:-)

It may be too late, but never ever buy a video camera with any form of DVD or CD usage built in, the tests show that quality is mostly apalling......

The only ones to buy have a hard disk and are far more robust and the video is already in the coirrect format. Mine came with software that allows a DVD or CD to be burnt automatically on a PC......if that is a reequirement, though I edit first......it also takes still pix onto the hard disk, up to 10,000 if required........

Try www.minidvdrepair.com they were able to recover lost video from mini dvd for me.

Rob G.