In order to protect yourself from a digital music disaster, it's essential to backup your music library to a safe place. Many people use external hard drives or burn optical disks such as CD, DVD, Blu-ray, etc., to backup their media libraries, but what if you accidentally scratch a disk and it becomes unreadable? In this case, you can use specialized file recovery software to try and recover as much of the information as possible. The following list is a selection of free file recovery software programs that specifically recover files from damaged disks that your operating system may not be able to read.
1. CD Recovery Toolbox
CD Recovery Toolbox is a free file recovery software program for Windows. It's simple interface makes it easy to select the folders and files you want to recover. CD Recovery Toolbox tries to read data that is stored on damaged media such as CD, DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-ray, etc. If for example, you've got a scratched MP3 CD that Windows can't read, then this program will try to recover as much of the data as possible. Even if you have an incorrectly burned disk, using CD Recovery Toolbox might just get your files back.
2. CDCheck 3
CDCheck is a popular Windows program that is normally used as a disk scanner for CDs, DVDs, hard drives, and other types of media for the presence of read errors. However, this freeware program also doubles as a file recovery tool to recover files from a disk that Windows can't read. Overall, CDCheck is a great utility to install in order to keep a check on all your media and recover files that Windows can't read.
3. Roadkil's Unstoppable Copier
Unstoppable Copier by Roadkil is a multi-platform (Windows / Linux) file recovery program for reading damaged CDs, DVDs, etc., that your operating system can't read. If the storage medium has sustained physical damage or just produces read errors, then you can use this freeware program to try and recover as much of the data as possible. Unstoppable Copier can also be used as a backup program to transfer your music, videos, and other types of files to an external hard drive etc. Using its batch mode functions, you can use the command line to effectively perform a daily backup of your media library.
4. IsoBuster
The free version of IsoBuster offers a generous amount of options considering that the makers of the program (Smart Projects) also offer a paid-for 'Pro' version. This recovery software program (Windows / Linux) specializes in extracting data from optical disks -- CD, DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu-Ray. If you can't access an optical disk for any reason, then IsoBuster employs several methods to read the disk and recover lost data. If you're looking for a software program that specializes in recovering files from damaged optical disks, then IsoBuster is a good tool to use for getting your media files back.
5. Photorec
You'd be forgiven in thinking that Photorec is just for the recovery of photos. This open source program actually supports over 320 file extensions -- including media types such as .MP3, .FLAC,.OGG, .MP4, and many more. Photorec is a multi-platform program (Windows, MacOS, Linux, and others) that is a companion to the partition recovery program, TestDisk. Rather than trying to use the file system to recover files, Photorec reads the raw data to enable it to recover lost files on damaged hard disks, CDs, DVDs, and even digital camera memory cards.
