Unable to mount or eject DVD+RW

UpNorth

UpNorth

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I'm new to using a Linux OS. My computer specs are in my signature. Here is my latest issue.

I have a DVD+RW full of pictures that suddenly won't load. It's a brand new DVD. I recently stored the pics on there when I switched from Windows to Mint. It worked for a while. I was accessing it while experimenting with different photo software. Then I started getting errors that one of the folders wouldn't open. Now I can't get the DVD to load at all. It shows as "loading" indefinitely and there's no humming noise or anything. The computer eject button won't eject it. If I try to eject it from the icon on my desktop I get the error below. The only way I was even able to get the DVD out of the computer was by shutting down a few times until the tray opened.

The other DVDs load with no problems, so I don't think it's a hardware issue. Seems to just be this DVD. I'm worried because it has all my family and pet photos on it. If it's corrupted, are they gone forever?

Screenshot from 2024-02-01 19-56-04.png
 

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You may get better luck trying another DVD-ROM, perhaps in another machine. These units can be very sensitive to media. As soon as you get one to work, it might be wise to immediately back up all the data. In my case now I only use name brands for both media and the drive, after having the sort of problems you describe. Sometimes even name brands can fail, but it's much less in my experience than no-name brands and cheap media. YMMV.

An alternative is to rescue the data. That's possible by copying the dvd byte by byte to a hard drive with a program like dd, then using the testdisk and/or photrec programs, or some other rescue facility to hunt out and rescue the files.
 
G'day @UpNorth - what a dilemma.

I may not be able to help much but do you have access to another machine, eg laptop or friend/family computer you can try the DVD in? If so, I suggest do so, and if the same problem is found, it narrows it down to being the DVD itself.

Christophe Grenier of CG Security has a couple of programs, TestDisk, and within it PhotoRec, which may be of assistance. I am unaware if they work with a DVD, but you could take a look.

TestDisk is in your Linux Mint repositories.

Have a read of the following

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/photorec-recover-deleted-files-in-linux-ubuntu

I don't think the filenames are restored by PhotoRec, it may involve a lot of work.

Hence the suggestion to try on another machine first.

HTH

Wizard
 
My bad - TestDisk/PhotoRec mentioned twice, I should clean my glasses, but I guess you could say it is corroborative?

Wiz
 
You could try this...

The old paper clip works just fine.

m1212.gif
 
One thing about CD Roms and DVDs. Especially if you have auto-mount turned on.

If the disk is mounted, you can't eject.
If you're browsing to directories on that disc in your file explorer, you can't eject.
If you manually mounted that directory in the command line, and "cd'd" to a directory on the disc, you can't eject.

Make sure you don't have any consoles open to that disc, and mount sure you're file explorer doesn't have
any windows open to that disc. Then you can probably eject.
 
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Thanks all for the suggestions/input! I will peruse this all later tonight when I have some time. To answer one question, no, this is the only CD drive I have access to. I also have a laptop but there's no CD drive. I checked at work and also none. May have to run to my mom's later and try her computer. If I've lost these pics I will be VERY upset.

Ugghh! Don't get me wrong... happy to be done with Windows, but I've had a lot of issues relating to photos with this OS. Will keep chipping away at it. Glad to have you all as a resource to help bail me out.

PS: Will look into getting an external CD drive.

Later...
 
OK, I tried this command in #6, and it worked! The CD came out.

Code: 
mount /dev/cdrom
cd ..
eject /dev/cdrom

Since I'm not versed on using the terminal and want to be, please let me know if I entered all this correctly. And what does that line after the command mean that starts with mount: ? Is this any clue as to what my problem is?

Code: 
tina@tina-Lenovo-H520:~$ mount /dev/cdrom
cd ..
eject /dev/cdrom
mount: /dev/sr0: can't find in /etc/fstab.
tina@tina-Lenovo-H520:~$ cd ..
tina@tina-Lenovo-H520:/home$ eject /dev/cdrom
tina@tina-Lenovo-H520:/home$

I also read somewhere to type in the command cd-info. So I did and got this. Anything meaningful here?

Code: 
tina@tina-Lenovo-H520:~$ cd-info
cd-info version 2.1.0 x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
Copyright (c) 2003-2005, 2007-2008, 2011-2015, 2017 R. Bernstein
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.
There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
CD location   : /dev/cdrom
CD driver name: GNU/Linux
   access mode: IOCTL

Vendor                      : TSSTcorp
Model                       : DVD-RW SH-216DB
Revision                    : LE01
Hardware                                  : CD-ROM or DVD
Can eject                                 : Yes
Can close tray                            : Yes
Can disable manual eject                  : Yes
Can select juke-box disc                  : No

Can set drive speed                       : No
Can read multiple sessions (e.g. PhotoCD) : Yes
Can hard reset device                     : Yes

Reading....
  Can read Mode 2 Form 1                  : Yes
  Can read Mode 2 Form 2                  : Yes
  Can read (S)VCD (i.e. Mode 2 Form 1/2)  : Yes
  Can read C2 Errors                      : Yes
  Can read IRSC                           : Yes
  Can read Media Channel Number (or UPC)  : Yes
  Can play audio                          : Yes
  Can read CD-DA                          : Yes
  Can read CD-R                           : Yes
  Can read CD-RW                          : Yes
  Can read DVD-ROM                        : Yes

Writing....
  Can write CD-RW                         : Yes
  Can write DVD-R                         : Yes
  Can write DVD-RAM                       : Yes
  Can write DVD-RW                        : No
  Can write DVD+RW                        : No
__________________________________

Disc mode is listed as: Error in getting information
++ WARN: error in ioctl CDROMREADTOCHDR: No medium found

cd-info: Can't get first track number. I give up.
tina@tina-Lenovo-H520:~$


More to come!
 
UpNorth said:
OK, I tried this command in #6, and it worked! The CD came out.

Code: 
mount /dev/cdrom
cd ..
eject /dev/cdrom

Since I'm not versed on using the terminal and want to be, please let me know if I entered all this correctly. And what does that line after the command mean (starts with mount:)? Is this any clue as to what my problem is?

Code: 
tina@tina-Lenovo-H520:~$ mount /dev/cdrom
cd ..
eject /dev/cdrom
mount: /dev/sr0: can't find in /etc/fstab.
tina@tina-Lenovo-H520:~$ cd ..
tina@tina-Lenovo-H520:/home$ eject /dev/cdrom
tina@tina-Lenovo-H520:/home$
Click to expand...
If you are mounting the CD in a terminal, you need to specify a point in the filesystem at which the CD will be mounted. For example, as root:
Code: 
mount /dev/cdrom /mnt
and then you can navigate in the terminal to the /mnt directory as user or root, and list the contents of the CD with the ls command.

The /mnt directory is a standard mount point for temporary mounting, but you can create your own mount point but will probably need root privileges to do it.

If you have a configuration entry in the /etc/fstab file which specifies the cdrom, its mount point and some options for mounting, then the CD can be mounted with just the command:
Code: 
mount /dev/cdrom
That entry would look something like:
Code: 
/dev/sr0        /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660,users,noauto     0       0
That line has been used on a machine here to allow any user to mount a CD or DVD with either of the commands:
Code: 
mount /dev/sr0
mount /dev/cdrom
where the mount point is /media/cdrom0. The noauto option means that media is not automatically mounted when introduced to the machine, but has to be deliberately mounted. Often a Desktop Environment will automatically mount media, so that can be a complication one might attend to.

To use the term "cdrom", there is a link in the /dev directory from /dev/sr0, which is the original SCSI device name the kernel gives to such units, which explains the reference to /dev/sr0 in the output you provided above.
 
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I'm afraid this is way over my head.
 
UpNorth said:
I'm afraid this is way over my head.
Click to expand...
Not to worry. We have to work at the level we are at. Perhaps the most useful way out is to see if the DVD can be seen by another DVD-ROM unit ... it might be useful to try a few, and if one works, copy your files to a large usb stick to save them.
 
OK, I dug out and hooked up an old computer that I had loaded Ubuntu 14.04 LTS years ago "for practice." No wonder I gave up on it. Very hard to navigate.

Anyway, same thing. I could see other files on other DVDs, but not this one. However, the info on the problem DVD says 2.8 GB free and 40.2% full. So there has to be something there, right? Please tell me there's something there. I can't accept that these photos are gone forever.

None of this makes sense to me. I copied all these files to disks at the same time. They're all HP, from the same package. All the other disks are fine. All the pics on the problem disk were there at one time. I was looking at them a week ago. Now they're gone. Very frustrating.
 
UpNorth said:
I have a DVD+RW full of pictures that suddenly won't load.
Click to expand...
It used to be that you needed to "close" or "finalize" a CD+RW or DVD+RW in order for it to be readable in other drives/computers. This step was best done by the same software that was used to keep adding to the -RW disc, but it may can be finalized later by other software. But it will likely have some additional risk if not using the original -RW software to finalize it. There may be a Linux command that can do it too... if this is the problem.

Perhaps the reason it didn't want to eject is because it had not been finalized?
 
Last edited:
Might be a good idea to start storing things on an external Drive...so you won't have this problem again.
m1212.gif
 
Still trying to figure this out and retrieve my pictures. I was just accessing another DVD+RW, also an HP. It mounted and worked fine. But when I tried to eject it I got the message below. An hour later still getting the message and unable to eject. I looked it up and turns out I have the program Xdg-user-dirs-gtk installed. Don't know when or why I would've installed it. What is the purpose of this program? So I uninstalled the program, but still getting the same message. If I try to eject anyway, would it harm the contents of the disk? Just wondering if this is what happened before.

Screenshot from 2024-02-03 21-13-33.png
 
UpNorth said:
I have the program Xdg-user-dirs-gtk installed. Don't know when or why I would've installed it. What is the purpose of this program? So I uninstalled the program,...
Click to expand...

Uninstalling that program was possibly not your best idea. It is installed by default with Linux Mint and others, and is integral to determining the management of your Home /folder or partition.

I would suggest putting it back with

Code: 
sudo apt install xdg-user-dirs-gtk

as soon as possible.

Once that is done, reboot, and that program will update its configuration.

When you have rebooted, open your File Manager, aka Nemo under Cinnamon, it will default to /home/yourusername

There, if you are only seeing 7 - 8 folders such as Desktop, Documents, and so on -

press and hold Ctrl-h

You will see a bunch of hidden files and folders appear, starting with a dot.

Double-click the one called

.config

It will likely have a number of folders and a couple of files.

One of them will likely be

user-dirs.dirs

Right-click that and choose Open with Text Editor

Read its contents, and you can see why xdg-user-dirs-gtk is important to you.

I'll try to get back tomorrow with a couple of ideas for the problem DVD.

Wizard
 
wizardfromoz said:
Uninstalling that program was possibly not your best idea. It is installed by default with Linux Mint and others, and is integral to determining the management of your Home /folder or partition.

I would suggest putting it back with

Code: 
sudo apt install xdg-user-dirs-gtk

as soon as possible.

Once that is done, reboot, and that program will update its configuration.

When you have rebooted, open your File Manager, aka Nemo under Cinnamon, it will default to /home/yourusername

There, if you are only seeing 7 - 8 folders such as Desktop, Documents, and so on -

press and hold Ctrl-h

You will see a bunch of hidden files and folders appear, starting with a dot.

Double-click the one called

.config

It will likely have a number of folders and a couple of files.

One of them will likely be

user-dirs.dirs

Right-click that and choose Open with Text Editor

Read its contents, and you can see why xdg-user-dirs-gtk is important to you.

I'll try to get back tomorrow with a couple of ideas for the problem DVD.

Wizard
Click to expand...


Thank you! I did everything you said. I thought this was something I installed when trying out different photo software or problems resulting from it. I should probably keep track of the things I'm doing. In my job I meticulously document everything. And here I am at home just doing things willy nilly on a computer I don't know how to operate.

Obviously I'm in way over my head with this. I now have 2 DVDs that can't be mounted or read. Something isn't right. I expected there to be a learning curve with this new OS and I would gradually build my knowledge base. Instead I'm constantly in crisis mode trying to fix issues way beyond my understanding, all related to photos. The irony here is that my Windows computer was so unstable. I kept thinking, "I gotta get these photos off here soon before I lose everything." So I saved them all to disk, and now I've lost them.

I'm going to my mom's today to try opening the disk on her Windows computer. If that doesn't work, I'm just focusing on how to recover what's left on it. I will get an external drive. Right now I just want my pictures back.

PS: I did install TestDisk. It wouldn't launch from the software manager. I tried to follow the instructions doing it in the terminal, but I got lost. Will look into this again later.
 
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