How can I recover data from a mini disc that won't play?

[madeofsteel]

I have data on a HI MD and i cannot recover it when i hook it up to the computer it says error. I hav tried a different player and different computers and still no luck. The manual says do not delete the file management folder on the disc. I dont know if it is there or not. Please help

[raintheory]

Check this thread: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=19912

[madeofsteel]

I dont wanna send it anywhere. I just want to download something. is there some sort of driver??

[raintheory]

Are you able to play the disc with just the player?

Do you only get the error when hooked up to PC?

[madeofsteel]

Hi Thank you for this.

I can add music using sonic stage on a different disc to the one with the data on it and i can play music. so it seems to be the disc. in the manual it says something about a file management folder? I have no idea what that is?

[A440]

The best thing to do is not to alter the data on the disc. The music is encrypted with an encryption no one has been able to break. It's hidden somewhere on the disc in the relationship between files you can see and files that are invisible to Windows. If you use Windows to fool around with anything on the disc, you will just make things worse, and you could easily erase or alter a unque encryption key that can't be recovered.

There is no "driver." And don't worry about "file management." Just leave it alone. This is simply not something you can do on your home computer. Only Sony can attempt to get data off a disc that has a glitch in it, which costs $45 per disc. And Sony has been known to fail.

To repeat raintheory's question: If you disconnect the unit from the computer, can you play the disc on the unit? If you can, record it in realtime out of the headphone jack into your computer. It won't be digitally bit-perfect, but you'll have what you recorded. That's your best option right now.

[madeofsteel]

The disc that isnt working doesnt have music on it. It has data. the Data disc cannot be read word files and such . when i plug the data disc in it shows the error message. I have different discs with music and they read fine. its just the data thats the problem.

[madeofsteel]

also it says access error on screen when the data disc is in there

[A440]

So it's not an encryption problem, but a mechanical problem with that specific disc. Since it's data, SonicStage is irrelevant--you're just using the MD as a USB storage medium. And you've already tried other players and computers.

I assume you have SonicStage set (in Options, I think) not to open automatically when the MD unit is connected. So Windows should just detect the unit as a USB drive.

Can you drag-and-drop data (via Windows Explorer) to a different disc? (Preferably an empty one with nothing to lose.) If no, you could try uninstalling and reinstalling SonicStage, which should have every necessary driver for MD. But I suspect the answer is yes, so that your computer can already read discs that are working correctly and the driver is already installed.

It sounds like the disc has gone bad--you can't access anything on it. Which suggests that the only option, assuming the data is worth enough to you, is to send it to Sony and let them try to read it (probably for $45). Presumably they have more sophisticated MD readers that can correct errors better than the portable Hi-MD unit.

[BIGHMW]

I just wondered what Hi-MD unit he is using for the data drive, perhaps it is a (I assume) first-generation unit (MZ-NH600/NH600D/NH700/NHF800/NH900/NH1/NH3D). I use an RH1 myself for all of my uploading/downloading of music and also as a USB storage drive, so I may think that it is a kind of "generation gap" or maybe a firmware issue, I don't know, but I assume it may be it.

I also have some NH700 and RH710 units that are used exclusively as players while on the road, mostly for their internal "AA" battery capacity.

As for my RH1, it is permanently stationed here in my home office, as a successor to my Zip 250 drive, which is now exclusively used (but is still stationed here in the office) to edit my music I record on my Boss BR-8 Zip 100 multitrack recorder in my home studio, HMW Studio One.

Perhaps if madeofsteel gives out his unit model number, maybe A440 can give more help on it.

Thanks, currently bidding on another MZ-NH700 (from Canada) on eBay http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...A:IT&ih=010

Ray Jackson.

[madeofsteel]

Hi, I have a mz-nh 600.

I have uninstalled sonic stage and reinstalled. Could something in sonic stage help?

[A440]

Which SonicStage did you install?

SonicStage is for music and recordings, not data. To use the unit as a data drive, it needs Windows drivers that should already be in Windows itself. Newer versions of SonicStage may update those drivers--I really don't know.

Does Windows recognize the unit as a disc drive when you have a different disc in it? If it does--and it probably does since you can use SonicStage to transfer music to other discs--then again, we're back to a problem with the disc itself. And if the computer connected to the unit can't read it, you're going to have to depend on Sony.

[madeofsteel]

I dant drag and drop anything

[A440]

OK, let me get this straight.

SonicStage will connect to the player, recognize a disc and transfer music to it--but not this disc?

Windows Explorer will not recognize the player as a USB drive when you connect it with a working disc in it.

Right so far? Or have I misunderstood?

I hope you are connecting directly to the computer and not to a USB hub. If you are trying to use a USB hub, that may be a problem. Connect the MD directly to a USB port.

What happens when you connect the unit with a working disc in it? Does Windows show something is connected but can't find the driver? Does Windows not react at all?

[BIGHMW]

OK, let me get this straight.

Windows Explorer will not recognize the player as a USB drive when you connect it with a working disc in it.

Right so far? Or have I misunderstood?

I hope you are connecting directly to the computer and not to a USB hub. If you are trying to use a USB hub, that may be a problem. Connect the MD directly to a USB port.

My RH1 works pretty good (so far when hooked up to my Belkin USB 2.0 hub, I just wonder if this issue is exclusively related to his NH600 and not to the entire Hi-MD family.

P.S.: I have yet to lupload/download up any files other than music with my RH1, but If just wonmdered if they issues will arise if and when I do.

Thanks.

[madeofsteel]

OK, let me get this straight.

SonicStage will connect to the player, recognize one disc with music on it. it all works well there.

i have a second disc with data on it. this one does not work. i need the data off it.

i am connecting the player through the cable that came with the player. the disc used to work but now it doesnt.

[A440]

@madeofsteel

Let's leave SonicStage out of it. If SonicStage automatically opens when you connect the unit then just close it. SonicStage is for music and you're dealing with data. It would be thrilling if your whole problem is that SonicStage just doesn't deal with data.

So just close SonicStage. You want to look at the disc with Windows Explorer in My Computer, which should show the unit as one more USB hard drive. Data files should just drag-and-drop--IF--a very big if--the unit can read the disc at all. I think you're saying that it can't, but I'm not sure.

From what you've described so far, it seems that the disc itself is messed up since everything else works. Since you are depending on your unit to read the disc, and the unit can't read the disc, unless Windows can read the disc your only remaining option is to send it to Sony and pay them to recover the data.

@BIG..

People have had trouble with USB hubs in the past, and when troubleshooting it's best to make as few roundabout connections as possible. The only way to find out if your USB hub will give you trouble is to try it, but I would guess--only a guess--that drag-and-drop via Windows Explorer is a lot less complicated than a SonicStage upload.