Written CD-R gone blank. Can I recover any data from it?

[Introvert_Monk]

Earlier today my English teacher lent me a book to prepare for the CAE. The book comes with a CD-R 80 UG disc that is supposed to have all the audio for the listening part of the exam on it but the problem is that this CD is blank. I tried to open it in Windows 10 Pro, Windows 7 Pro and on a Ubuntu 17.04 LiveUSB but each one of them tells me that the CD is blank. I can tell that the disc had data on it because it has two distinguishable zones on it's back, one of which is darker than the other (at least from what I know, this is how you can tell if a disk has data on it. Please correct me if I'm wrong).

 

Please note the following: the envelope that contained the disc wasn't in the best of shapes so I took it out of it and placed it on a table until I took my laptop out of my backpack. I pressed the power button and Windows 10 disk repair was about to start. I did, of course, abort the process. While the process was being aborted, I opened the laptop's DVD-RW and inserted the CD in it. A few seconds after I closed the DVD-RW the computer shut down because the battery ran out. Also (if relevant), before the shutdown, there was a message on the login screen that read "Shutting down...".

 

Can anyone please tell me if I can recover any data from the CD?

The book was published after 2015.

[zMeul]

that disk looks absolutely blank, like never written on

[Introvert_Monk]

1 hour ago, zMeul said:

that disk looks absolutely blank

So I can't tell if a CD has been written to before just by looking at it's back or is there actually no way to recover the data?

Edit: Oh.. Never mind... I need to read your entire reply. My apologies. I have only read the first half and freaked out...

[zMeul]

1 minute ago, Introvert_Monk said:

So I can't tell if a CD has been written to before just by looking at it's back or is there actually no way to recover the data?

yes, you can tell, just the "zones" you mention do not appear - yes, it's true for CD/DVD-R disks to be identifiable by the written zone

unless the disk is a stamped one - stamped disk are silvery

 

left: written disk

right: stamped disk

Spoiler

 

[Ryujin2003]

1 minute ago, zMeul said:

yes, you can tell, just the "zones" you mention do not appear - yes, it's true for CD/DVD-R disks to be identifiable by the written zone

unless the disk is a stamped one - stamped disk are silvey

 

 

9 minutes ago, Introvert_Monk said:

So I can't tell if a CD has been written to before just by looking at it's back or is there actually no way to recover the data?

 

I think it has been written:

 

I see the circle that looks like it's been burned, but I just think its  a bad angle. You can even see the ring near the center of the disk.

[Introvert_Monk]

1 hour ago, zMeul said:

yes, you can tell, just the "zones" you mention do not appear - yes, it's true for CD/DVD-R disks to be identifiable by the written zone

unless the disk is a stamped one - stamped disk are silvery

 

left: written disk

right: stamped disk

  Hide contents

 

 

 

Nope. I can definitely see the zones on the CD. Look closer at the first photo you can see that near the red light there is a darker zone.

[zMeul]

Just now, Ryujin2003 said:

I think it has been written:

I can't tell without a better picture

[zMeul]

5 minutes ago, Introvert_Monk said:

Nope. I can definitely see the zones on the CD. Look closer at the first photo you can see that near the red light there is a darker zone.

if there is, then your dives can't read it due to old dusty ... who knows

sometimes optical units won't read disk written by other optical units

 

the 1st thing you should try would be to clean the lense of the optical unit with some isopropyl alcohol and a cotton swab - they do get dirty

try other optical units

[Introvert_Monk]

 

1 hour ago, zMeul said:

if there is, then your dives can't read it due to old dusty ... who knows

sometimes drives won't read disk written by other drives

 

the 1st thing you should try would be to clean the lense of the optical unit with some isopropyl alcohol and a cotton swab - they do get dirty

try other optical units

 

 

 Is the lens dusty? I can't tell. Also, those are the best shots I can get of the CD without a second camera. The zones can be seen more easily with my phone's flashlight over them, but since I don't have a second phone or camera, those will have to do.

[zMeul]

clean that lense with a cotton swab and alcohol, gently!

[Introvert_Monk]

Is medical alcohol good enough? I don't have isopropyl alcohol at hand right now.

1 hour ago, zMeul said:

clean that lense with a cotton swab and alcohol, gently!

 

[zMeul]

Just now, Introvert_Monk said:

Is medical alcohol good enough?

I think it is

 

try it on a disk 1st, see if it doesn't leave spots or damages the surface

[Introvert_Monk]

1 hour ago, zMeul said:

I think it is

It worked! Merci mult!

[Introvert_Monk]

1 hour ago, zMeul said:

I think it is

 

try it on a disk 1st, see if it doesn't leave spots or damages the surface

 

 

Also, I did use an ear tip to clean the lens. I dipped one end in medicinal alcohol and the other was dry. I first rubbed the lens with the damp one and then I used the dry tip to clean the alcohol off.