Cyclic Redundancy Check: what is it, and how do I get rid of it on my newly burnt CDs and DVDs?

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I am getting a CRC error on a DVD with .NEF (Nikon RAW) photo files. For at least some of the troubled photos the thumbnail shows up, and Adobe can open a larger version as well so there must be enough data for that at least. Only it won't let me COPY what I DO have. Some of them don't display thumbnails; I assume these are lost causes - there may have been some dust exposure to the burner that wrote the DVD which could have corrupted the totally lost files.

Try JFileRecovery (free on the net), it wouldn't correct the problem but you'll be able to still copy the files, even bad. In some bad files of jpeg format, you can still see the image and even correct it manually (photoshop or something) if you want it badly. This is better than nothing in case you can't get the original drive that copied the file. Good luck.

ps: i did get this error from my dvdcam recorder, and i understand the 'centering' issue about the disck been writen, and then trying to reread on a computer drive...:S

JFileRecovery pretty much does for data files what EAC does for scratched Music CDs. No messing.
I just recovered an old PST file from CD, that had 8 bad 512kb sectors on the end. Took about 5 minutes.
Why MS don't have this built into Windows is beyond me.

THANK YOU LEO! I used condensed air to clean my CD drive AND my disk and ... boom ... my files came back! I have a Toshiba Satellite with a very sensitive Matshusita CD/RW drive. I can't thank you enough. Another tip is to download ParetolLogic's data recovery tool (its free) and try to find the copied files on your hard drive. It's amazing what remains on your hard drive even after you think you've copied and deleted stuff. Even if you don't need to recover files, its worth running just to see what is "out there!" Amazing.

Hi LEO,
m having problems installing games from rar files,while unraring them it always shows CRC error(CRC mismatch....)....it even shows error on games which i have installed succesfully earlier,but they too are giving the same eroor now,i have formated my pc too,still it ain't working.
What should i do???plz help me LEO.

hello Leo.. wow superb explanation.. right to what i really wanted to know.. thank you for the added information on my coconut shell..

Regret, my Brand New SONY DVD Writer which was writting the CDs and DVDs perfectlly for around 2 monts now suddenly started to give trouble while writting the date on any media.

It writes complete data on the CD/DVD but while at the final stage of writing the TOC it gets crashed (error log message is appended below.

Some time, instead of writing teh data to the Media even without writting 1% of data it suddenly starts to write TOC by finalising the CD/DVD so wastage of Mrdia.

Any suggestion please.

Best Regards,

------------------------------------------------
Burning Error Log :

Windows XP 5.1
IA32
WinAspi: -

NT-SPTI used
Nero Version: 9.0.9.100
Internal Version: 9, 0, 9, 100

Recorder: Version: 1.70 - HA 1 TA 0 - 9.0.9.100
Adapter driver: HA 1
Drive buffer : 2048kB
Bus Type : default
CD-ROM: Version: 1.70 - HA 1 TA 0 - 9.0.9.100
Adapter driver: HA 1

=== Scsi-Device-Map ===
CdRomPeripheral : SONY DVD RW AW-Q170A atapi Port 0 ID 0 DMA: On
DiskPeripheral : ST380211AS atapi Port 1 ID 0 DMA: On

=== CDRom-Device-Map ===
SONY DVD RW AW-Q170A F: CdRom0
=======================

AutoRun : 1
Excluded drive IDs:
WriteBufferSize: 83886080 (0) Byte
BUFE : 0
Physical memory : 1013MB (1037824kB)
Free physical memory: 509MB (521332kB)
Memory in use : 49 %
Uncached PFiles: 0x0
Use Inquiry : 1
Global Bus Type: default (0)
Check supported media : Disabled (0)

2.10.2009
CD-ROM (ISO)
2:29:04 PM #1 Text 0 File SCSIPTICommands.cpp, Line 450
LockMCN - completed sucessfully for IOCTL_STORAGE_MCN_CONTROL

2:29:05 PM #2 Text 0 File Isodoc.cpp, Line 6789
Iso document burn settings
------------------------------------------
Determine maximum speed : FALSE
Simulate : FALSE
Write : TRUE
Finalize CD : FALSE
Multisession : TRUE
Multisession type: : Start multisession
Burning mode : TAO
Mode : 1
ISO Level : 1 (Max. of 11 = 8 + 3 char)
Character set : ISO 9660
Joliet : TRUE
Allow pathdepth more than 8 directories : TRUE
Allow more than 255 characters in path : TRUE
Write ISO9660 ;1 file extensions : TRUE

2:29:05 PM #3 Text 0 File Burncd.cpp, Line 3233
SONY DVD RW AW-Q170A
Super Link activated

2:29:05 PM #4 ISO9660GEN -11 File Geniso.cpp, Line 3349
First writeable address = 0 (0x00000000)

2:29:05 PM #5 Text 0 File ThreadedTransferInterface.cpp, Line 1029
Removed 2 run-out blocks from end of track 0. Length: 355986 -> 355984.

2:29:05 PM #6 Text 0 File Burncd.cpp, Line 3563
Turn on Track-At-Once, using CD-R/RW media

2:29:05 PM #7 Text 0 File ThreadedTransferInterface.cpp, Line 1029
Removed 2 run-out blocks from end of track 1. Length: 355986 -> 355984.

2:29:05 PM #8 Text 0 File FilesystemSettingsValidator.cpp, Line 142
FS Settings: using validator 'CUDFSettingsValidatorCD'
ParamMode = 'automatic', changing UDF partition type from 'physical' to 'physical'
Changing UDF revision from '1.02' to '1.02'

2:29:05 PM #9 Text 0 File ThreadedTransferInterface.cpp, Line 1029
Removed 2 run-out blocks from end of track 1. Length: 355986 -> 355984.

2:29:05 PM #10 Text 0 File DlgWaitCD.cpp, Line 312
Last possible write address on media: 359848 ( 79:59.73)
Last address to be written: 355985 ( 79:08.35)

2:29:05 PM #11 Text 0 File DlgWaitCD.cpp, Line 324
Write in overburning mode: NO (enabled: CD)

2:29:05 PM #12 Text 0 File DlgWaitCD.cpp, Line 2951
Recorder: SONY DVD RW AW-Q170A;
CDR code: 00 97 17 06; OSJ entry from: Moser Baer India Limited
ATIP Data:
Special Info [hex] 1: D0 00 A0, 2: 61 11 06 (LI 97:17.06), 3: 4F 3B 4A (LO 79:59.74)
Additional Info [hex] 1: 00 00 80 (invalid), 2: 00 00 00 (invalid), 3: 00 00 00 (invalid)

2:29:05 PM #13 Text 0 File DlgWaitCD.cpp, Line 499
>>> Protocol of DlgWaitCD activities:
=========================================

2:29:05 PM #14 Text 0 File ThreadedTransferInterface.cpp, Line 756
Setup items (after recorder preparation)
0: TRM_DATA_MODE1 ()
2 indices, index0 (150) not provided
original disc pos #0 + 355986 (355986) = #355986/79:6.36
relocatable, disc pos for caching/writing not required/ required
-> TRM_DATA_MODE1, 2048, config 0, wanted index0 0 blocks, length 355984 blocks [F: SONY DVD RW AW-Q170A]
--------------------------------------------------------------

2:29:06 PM #15 Text 0 File ThreadedTransferInterface.cpp, Line 958
Prepare [F: SONY DVD RW AW-Q170A] for write in TAO
DAO infos:
==========
MCN: ""
TOCType: 0x00; Session Closed, disc not fixated
Tracks 1 to 1: Idx 0 Idx 1 Next Trk
1: TRM_DATA_MODE1, 2048/0x00, FilePos 0 307200 729366528, ISRC ""
DAO layout:
===========
___Start_|____Track_|_Idx_|_CtrlAdr_|_____Size_|______NWA_|_RecDep__________
-150 | lead-in | 0 | 0x41 | 0 | 0 | 0x00
-150 | 1 | 0 | 0x41 | 0 | 0 | 0x00
0 | 1 | 1 | 0x41 | 355986 | 0 | 0x00
355986 | lead-out | 1 | 0x41 | 0 | 0 | 0x00

2:29:06 PM #16 Text 0 File ThreadedTransferInterface.cpp, Line 1029
Removed 2 run-out blocks from end of track 1. Length: 355986 -> 355984.

2:29:06 PM #17 Text 0 File SCSIPTICommands.cpp, Line 240
SPTILockVolume - completed successfully for FSCTL_LOCK_VOLUME

2:29:06 PM #18 Text 0 File Burncd.cpp, Line 4362
Caching options: cache CDRom or Network-Yes, small files-No (
2:29:06 PM #19 Phase 24 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1767
Caching of files started

2:29:06 PM #20 Text 0 File Burncd.cpp, Line 4484
Cache writing successful.

2:29:06 PM #21 Phase 25 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1767
Caching of files completed

2:29:06 PM #22 Phase 36 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1767
Burn process started at 32x (4,800 KB/s)

2:29:06 PM #23 Text 0 File ThreadedTransferInterface.cpp, Line 2675
Verifying disc position of item 0 (relocatable, disc pos, no patch infos, orig at #0): write at #0

2:29:06 PM #24 Text 0 File MMC.cpp, Line 22511
Set BUFE: Super Link -> ON

2:29:06 PM #25 Text 0 File ThreadedTransfer.cpp, Line 273
Pipe memory size 83836800

2:29:31 PM #26 SPTI -1135 File SCSIPassThrough.cpp, Line 215
CdRom0: SCSIStatus(x02) WinError(0) NeroError(-1135)
CDB Data: 0x2A 00 00 00 02 80 00 00 20 00 00 00
Sense Key: 0x03 (KEY_MEDIUM_ERROR)
Sense Code: 0x0C
Sense Qual: 0x00
Sense Area: 0xF0 00 03 00 00 00 B7 0A 00 00 00 00 0C
Buffer x072f0540: Len x10000
0xEC 51 88 93 2D B6 DB 76 B6 5B 72 6C 28 CA 46 12
0x3C 21 92 FD 90 CA 36 EF 3D B2 DA F1 98 D8 80 C0
0xDA A2 88 64 38 74 29 36 A6 45 C0 57 B9 C5 56 27

2:29:31 PM #27 CDR -1135 File Writer.cpp, Line 306
Write error
F: SONY DVD RW AW-Q170A

2:29:31 PM #28 CDR -201 File WriterStatus.cpp, Line 325
Invalid write state
F: SONY DVD RW AW-Q170A

2:29:31 PM #29 TRANSFER -18 File WriterStatus.cpp, Line 325
Could not perform EndTrack

2:29:31 PM #30 Text 0 File MMC.cpp, Line 17309
start Close Track #2

2:29:31 PM #31 SPTI -1176 File SCSIPassThrough.cpp, Line 215
CdRom0: SCSIStatus(x02) WinError(0) NeroError(-1176)
CDB Data: 0x5B 01 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Sense Key: 0x05 (KEY_ILLEGAL_REQUEST)
Sense Code: 0x72
Sense Qual: 0x04
Sense Area: 0x70 00 05 00 00 00 00 0A 00 00 00 00 72 04

2:29:31 PM #32 CDR -1176 File WriterStatus.cpp, Line 375
Session fixation error
F: SONY DVD RW AW-Q170A

2:29:31 PM #33 TRANSFER -19 File WriterStatus.cpp, Line 375
Could not perform Fixation

2:29:31 PM #34 Text 0 File WriterStatus.cpp, Line 384
falling back to disc fixation

2:29:31 PM #35 Text 0 File DVDPlusDualLayer.cpp, Line 1424
SetDriveCaps: Set LAST LBA of layer 1 to 0

2:29:31 PM #36 Phase 38 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1767
Burn process failed at 32x (4,800 KB/s)

2:29:31 PM #37 Text 0 File SCSIPTICommands.cpp, Line 287
SPTIDismountVolume - completed successfully for FSCTL_DISMOUNT_VOLUME

2:29:31 PM #38 Text 0 File Cdrdrv.cpp, Line 11444
DriveLocker: UnLockVolume completed

2:29:31 PM #39 Text 0 File SCSIPTICommands.cpp, Line 450
UnLockMCN - completed sucessfully for IOCTL_STORAGE_MCN_CONTROL

Existing drivers:

Registry Keys:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WinLogon\AllocateCDROMs : 1 (Security Option)

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