DVR 640h-S copy error. Now DVD data is missing and Recorder cant read DVD

The only editing glitch I've experienced with the later Pioneers is that they REALLY do not like to high-speed dub single segments shorter than 1 minute to a DVD. I find this will corrupt a compilation disc every time. The machines will copy a group of short titles successfully, but adding just one that runs a brief 30 secs will ruin a pre-existing disc that hasn't been finalized yet. There is no way to revive the ruined disc in the Pioneer, but some people here have reported success using various rescue tools on the PC like ISObuster.

I cannot help you with saving this ruined disc, but I can suggest the workaround I use successfully for your future projects. The disc corruption caused by very short segments only occurs when dubbing to a standard "video mode" DVD that you plan to eventually finalize. However, there is an alternative way to format a standard DVD-R or DVD+R disc so that it can accept very short video clips reliably. When you need to begin a new compilation, insert a new blank DVD-R or DVD+R in your 640. Go to the Home Menu>Setup>Disc Setup>Format Disc menu, and choose "format disc in VR mode." Your 640 will then format the new blank disc to the proprietary file system used on its hard drive (this takes just a few seconds). From this point on, you can add little clips to this special disc until you fill it, and it should not get corrupted.

The drawback to such a "VR Mode" Pioneer disc is that it will only play in a Pioneer recorder or DVD player. But once the disc is full, you can use the high speed lossless copy function of the 640 to copy everything on the disc back onto the 640 HDD. Then, insert a new blank disc, but do NOT change its format in the setup menu (new discs default to normal DVD mode). In the Copy screen, select all the segments you copied from the VR disc on the HDD, and tell the 640 to copy them to the new disc. The new disc can be finalized normally and is then compatible for playback in any standard DVD player. The original "VR Mode" disc can be set aside as a backup disc for your archives, then in future if you ever need a few of the clips on it you can copy them back to the 640 HDD and mix them with new clips to form a new compilation.

This ability to format standard DVDs as special "HDD Backup" dvds is a useful but "hidden" feature of the Pioneer x30, x40, x50, and x60 series of recorders. The Sony RDR-HX780 uses the Pioneer operating system and user interface, so it too has this feature.

I don't know anything about the 640, but I have noticed that partially written disks that have been unfinalized for a time are very prone to becoming corrupted and have the previous contents lost. I never have understood why, but it has certailny been the case. After about a half dozen disk failures like you describe, I have learned to not make partial recordings. I save the contents up on the HDD, and only write when I have the entire disk full of material to record.

Yeah, I know, it doesn't help you at all in this case, but it is something to consider for the future. I lost some very valuable content that way, so I know what you mean, and how frustratied you must be.

Try the program ISOBuster under Windows. I have in the past been able to at least extract existing VOB titles from a disc that ended up with write errors and it became a coaster.

For detailed step-by-step instructions on how to recover an unfinalized DVD with ISObuster, read this link:

http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/video-capture/1397-how-recover-video.html

Another alternative that sometimes works is using Nero, a software suite that comes free with nearly every DVD drive sold for computers. Instructions for recovering with Nero can be found at this link:

www.dvdrepairtips.com/unfinalized-dvds.html

Note two issues with ISObuster:

1. The free trial version can and does take FOREVER to do anything. Depending how badly the disc is damaged or corrupted, it is not unusual for it to spend literally days jerking around with the disc to finish its work. I once let it continue for three days before stopping it for fear it would kill my DVD drive in the process. People tend to recommend ISObuster as some sort of magic bullet, but its a pain to use and success is highly dependent on having a DVD drive with superb reading skills (most aren't that great). The specific damage to a particular disc is another important factor. So in your case, it may or may not actually be "stuck in a loop." Try it again tonight before you go to sleep, and let it run overnight for 6-8 hours. If it is still stuck at 2% in the morning, and hasn't gotten to at least 10%, you have a seriously bad corrupted sector that it can't ignore and gets stuck on. It probably won't work then, although there are various settings you can change that might allow it to skip that part and insert a patch over that sector.

2. The free trial version of ISObuster is often utterly useless. Depending on where/when you download it and what mood the developer is in that week, it might be a completely crippled barely functional demo. The most common complaint is that it won't actually recover anything: it gets stuck in a loop, or it won't allow saving the recovered files. While this is frustrating, you can sort of understand the developer's problem: most people don't turn to ISObuster until they need to recover a priceless damaged disc, something that usually occurs just once or twice in their lifetime. If the free trial version of ISObuster actually worked, nobody would ever pay for it: they'd recover their one disc for free and then forget about it. So most trial versions of ISObuster are crippled in some way, and won't work their magic until you pay for a license key. Whether this is worth it, only you can decide, but its a blind decision because you won't really know if ISObuster can truly help until after you pay for it. You could try downloading the free trial from multiple sources,and eventually one might prove more functional than the others. There are some reports of success using the free trial, so a few of them must work (or those users found a way to trick it into thinking it was paid for).
Edited by CitiBear - 8/16/12 at 7:30am

I have some finalizing experience with Nero. Not exactly as described in CitiBear’s link but very close to as described in “Second (half) bite!” described in CB’s link.

Here is as I did it described here. http://www.avsforum.com/t/1409286/finalizing-a-pio-sony-disc-with-nero that’s my personal, successful experience finalizing a disk. Note my disk was in no way corrupted, just unfinalized before I did this.

Good luck!