(responding to 6 posts)
On 11/21/2025 10:13 AM, home user via users wrote:
(F-42 Workstation; gnome)
This past spring, I backed-up some 15-20 GB to an MDISC blu-ray. Now I
need to recover that data.
The optical device is blu-ray. It (supposedly) handles MDISC. It
connects to the desktop via 2 USB ports.
- I tried recovering the data logged in as a regular user, as the
admin, and as root.
- I tried the file browser, Brasero, Gnome CD Master, and K3b. They
either don't see the device, or they see it but don't know there's a
disc in it. Gnome CD Master shows the device's status as "Busy".
- I tried plugging in the device after logging in; I tried plugging it
in before powering up the desktop.
Nothing works.
The "Disks" utility does see the optical drive.
I get no real error messages.
I spent time in the "mount" man page, but could not make sense of it.
I've spent hours on this. How do I recover the back-ups from the
blu-ray disc?
Thank-you, everyone, for your replies.
The blu-ray disc was made this past April on an F-40 workstation (gnome)
desktop, using K3B, using a built-in drive (it is in a "bay" connected
directly to the motherboard). 2 directory trees were copied to the disc
as a "data project". When the burn was done, I moved the disc to a
separate built-in blu-ray drive in another bay, connected to the
motherboard. Files (gnome's file browser) saw it and using Files, I was
able to open a text file in an editor (gvim).
The disc is an M-DISC blu-ray, which is supposed to have a very long life.
yesterday - new tower
The drive is an external one. The optical drive is powered by one usb
cable with 2 usb connectors (a 'Y' lead). Both were plugged in to USB
ports on the desktop case. There is no separate power cord (for an AC
outlet). I did try switching the 2 connectors; no difference.
After my initial post, I did try a few things on the new desktop.
* It played a musical CD just fine.
* It handled a commercial blu-ray movie as well as it could. I
apparently don't have whatever codec it needed, but I could see the
directories and files in Files.
I went back to the old desktop (currently f-42 workstation, gnome).
* The optical drives played the musical CD just fine.
* The optical drives handled the commercial blu-ray movie same as the
new desktop.
* The Disks display show the back-up disc having 2KB of data on it;
Files does not see the disc.
* I tried an older backup (Oct. 2024, f-39). One drive sees the data.
This gives me an idea.
The above strongly suggests to me that the problem is not mounting. The
desktop seems to be mounting the device automatically.
back-up done on old desktop, F-40 workstation, internal blu-ray drives.
back-up recovery attempted on new desktop, F-42 workstation, external
blu-ray drive. it also fails on the old desktop, now at f-42, internal
drives.
I had not looked inside the new (external) drive, but it played the
music and handled the blu-ray movie.
I can't rule out the disc being bad. But it was burned only 7 month
ago, stored in a house with no big temperature fluctuations, low
humidity, in a jewel? case. It's M-Disc, which should have a very long
life. It's only gnome CD Master that claims the disc or drive is busy;
the drive does not continue spinning.
I'll try George's suggestion after I try something else (below).
I have a couple of short (I hope) questions while I try on the new
desktop to see if the new drive sees the older back-up. This will take
a while. Meanwhile, the 2 questions...
* Is "ddrescue" a good thing to try on a blu-day data disc?
* Do I first need to mount a blu-ray before attempting "ddrescue"?
--
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