I have a CD that should conatin pictures on it. A friend of mine had her unlce burn some pics onto this CD. However, when I load the CD the PC recognizes it because the little CD pops up like the hour glass and then eventually goes away. When I try to access the drive it says to insert a CD and the drive never recognizes it. It seems as though it's a corrupt CD possibly. Does anyone know of any software that could possibly salvage the data off the CD, or anything else I can try?

Hi Jim NNNNNNnnnnnnnnnn: Does the info show as icons in My Computer, if it does then maybe pictures are a different type than jpg, bmp, & so on. I think Kodak uses a different type of file, you might need to view through a program that can read the correct picture file. You could try the CD-R (if your drive can't read CD-RW disks that might be a problem if that's what pictures are burned on), on a different PC to see if problem is in your PC. Good luck, Z

I've tried it on a different PC. It won't read it at all in My Computer. I see there is some data recovery software on the net like http://www.ibo-business.com/ibo-cd-recovery-report.htm http://www.naltech.com/ Have you heard of these or others like these and do they work at all?

Try the CD in as many readers as possible. This is rarely a software problem so I would not recommend paying money for recovery software. CR-R/W's use a photosenstive dye that can be discolored in spots to store data. The quality of dye, substrate, acrylic, and reflective layer all make a high quality CD. Typically, cheap dye is the main culprit of problems if the disk was once readable. Smuding a disk before writing can scatter the laser and corrupt data - especially if the laser is burning at a fast or unoptimized rate (hard to find). CD-ROM drives are not all equal and many cannot read poor quality disks (hard to determine, but there is a reason people pay $200 for Plextor drives). This is why CD buring software has the verify option at the end of writes. Also exposing the dye to sunlight can discolor it, before and after burning. A lot of CD-R/W's will actually have the dye fade in about 2 years. Most cheap CD-R/W's have a shelf life anywhere from 2 years to 100. Fuji, Mitsubishi, and TDK usually have good CD-R's. For best results, get a pack rated for a certain lifetime or scratch resistant (like Verbatim Crystal surface CD-R's).

CD-RW's do not have a photosensitive dye. CD-R's do. CD-RW's use an anamorphic material that changes from a smooth surface to a crystaline one depending on how the laser was used on it. This is how you can re-write to them. The disc was probably burned using packet writing software (drag & drop). Install a UDF reader and see if that helps.

My mistake. Thank you for the correction.

Thank you both very much!! Very educational info that is much appreciated!!