There are a few possible scenarios that could have led to you having a disc that is unfinalized:
- For whatever reason you have a disc which a reading device or software is specifically saying is unfinalized.
- The finalization process was (or you suspect it was) begun on a disc and for some reason failed.
- In the case of some camcorders or DVD recorders, the disc was still in the process of having content added when for some reason the disc was removed and finalization was never attempted.
Generally speaking the second and third scenarios result in messages saying that the disc is full (but will not play) or that there is no disc or even that there is a disc, it is empty but cannot be written to!
If the disc you have falls under scenario #1 above then keep reading and follow the instructions for using the Nero software to recover.
If the disc you have falls under scenario #2 or #3 I would also recommend following the steps below because there is no real way to be able to determine as to whether you truly have an unfinalized DVD or if you have some other typse of data corruption.
The bottom line is you have to start somewhere and it might as well be here!
Key Information on DVD Finalization, Data DVDs and Video DVDs
Before we dive in it is important that you get an understanding of some specific terms here so that you can proceed with at least an idea of what you are doing.
Finalization versus Closing
There are two strategies employed to “finish off” a DVD disc depending on the contents.
If the disc only contains data then certain final information is written to the disc to let anything reading that disc know what is on the disc and that the disc contains data only.
This is called Closing the disc.
An unclosed data disc generally speaking, can only be further written to by the original software that created it.
If the disc contains video as in a video DVD then the disc needs to be finished off so that the contents are readable by DVD playback devices and that those devices recognize it as a Video DVD.
This is called Finalizing the disc.
The internal structure of video DVDs is far more complex than a data disc and they MUST be finalized for it to be playable.
In this case the software is not just closing the disc so that it can be read by other software and devices.
The video DVD finalization process also involves writing a very complex set of files and instructions that tell the DVD player exactly what is on the disc and where it is.
What you see of this when you pop it in a player are simply the menus and their functionality.
If it is at all possible with any unfinalized DVD or open DVD, try to get the original device or software used to create the disc to finalize it.
If this is not possible or the original device is failing to successfully deal with the disc then read on.
There is no software available that is going to be able to tell you whether you have an unfinalized DVD or a DVD that has suffered an error in being finalized.
It is a “Catch 22″ in that the software will always be stumped because finalization is the key to the software working out what is on the disc.
Most software will report the DVD as being either full, unreadable or empty but unable to be written to!
The Good News and the Bad News
In order to recover from having unfinalized DVDs you are going to need software.
The good news is that there are two software products that can be used and they will give you two bites at the cherry.
Actually one will give you one bite plus two more half bites and the final one will give you a half bite as well so I guess that’s two and a half bites at the cherry… but who’s counting!
The bad news is that you are going to have to work out for yourself whether you are willing to pay for it!
The question you have to ask yourself is whether the contents of the DVD are worth the investment in the software.
I can’t decide that for you.
The Nero Solution
The Nero range of multimedia products have been around for quite some time and have always been at the forefront of technology for burning discs ever since home burning of CDs was first introduced.
Because of that they have probably the most friendly program for dealing with discs that may not have been created by Nero itself.
Nero obviously has a function that will perform a DVD finalization on discs produced by itself but this function can also be very often used on discs created with other software.
Failing that it has other functions that will allow extraction of all the data on the disc regardless of whether it is finalized or not.
In about 90% of cases Nero should be the only software you need.
Now a word of warning here!
In handling open, damaged, errored or unfinalized DVDs there will be long lags where it appears that the computer has frozen or that the software is doing nothing.
BE PATIENT! Take a walk, stay calm…relax! Some of the techniques here may take a long time to complete.
If you have an Unfinalized Video DVD start at Step One, if you have an unclosed or open Data DVD go directly to Step Three.
Finalizing a DVD in Nero
Download the Nero Trial Version Here
Step One
Place the unfinalized DVD into the computer DVD tray and wait until Windows has stopped asking silly questions about what you want to do.
Open the Nero Video module of the Nero program and click on the Tools menu top right then choose “Finalize Disc.”
If you get the “Media not supported” message movie on to Step Two.
In the Menus to Create section in the drop-down menu, choose to keep the existing menu.
Click the Start button. You have now finalized a DVD… probably!
Step Two
If the above procedure fails for any reason, usually because the disc has been partially finalized, we come to your next bite at the cherry!
This next procedure is your last chance at recovering the data from a Video DVD with all the Menus and necessary files and folders intact.
In other words your last chance of recovering the disc in the form of a Video DVD. (Don’t panic, you still have lots more chances of retaining the actual video files!)
We are going to use a little known function of Nero to pull all the data off the disc and on to your hard drive.
So, again from within Nero:
Open “Nero Recode.”
Select “Import DVD Structure.”
This will begin a search on the disc for the specific DVD files that comprise a correctly made Video DVD.
If you are lucky the folder that should appear is called VIDEO_TS exactly as I have written there.
Select “Import DVD.”
In the explorer window that opens, navigate to the DVD reader in your computer and select it.
Select the VIDEO_TS folder if it is showing and click on “Select Folder.”
Recode will now begin to read the contents of the disc.
Once that is successfully done on the lft side of the screen next to the figure “1. For which device?” Make sure that MPEG2 is showing.
For “2. To which quality?” Move the slider all the way to the right to the “Best Quality” setting and in the “Maximum size” drop down menu choose the same disc size as the one you are trying to recover.
Click OK then on the next screen click “Start Encoding.”
Navigate to your “My Documents” folder and you will find the newly created folder called “Recode.”
Inside that folder you will find the normal .ifo, .bup and .vob files normally seen in a DVD video folder.
Create a new folder called VIDEO_TS and move any files Recode created into that folder then use a normal DVD burning software application to create a new Video DVD.
Step Three
Nero Rescue Agent
Rescue Agent is yet another module within Nero that has the sole purpose of recovering data from damaged discs, errored discs or in this case, an unfinlized disc.
The only way to really know if Rescue Agent can read your disc is to put it in to your reader and let it run.
If the software can at least open the disc it will offer you the choice of a Quick or a Full scan. Try the quick scan first and failing that try the Full Scan.
Once the disc has been scanned Rescue Agent will offer to save off the files it has found to a location on your computer. Just follow the instructions.
Note that it is unlikely that Rescue Agent will recover a video DVD with any file structure or menus intact.
What it may do is recover the original video files which can then be used to rebuild a new video DVD.
Last Chance Café – Isobuster
Go to www.isobuster.com and download a copy of the software.
Using the free functions first make sure that Isobuster can read the disc and can report at least the presence of a file structure.
If it can then it is time for you to make the decision as to whether the data on the disc is worth the purchase price.
At this point the best you can hope for is the extraction of the MPEG video files or data files on the disc.
You MAY lose any video menu information and you may lose some of the video or data.
It is most likely, at this point, that there is damage to the file structure on the disc or even the disc itself and you are not dealing with a straight unfinalized DVD situation.
Start Isobuster then load the disc.
When Isobuster has detected the files on the disc run the Find Missing Files and Folders option under the File menu.
You will now have an entry on the left hand column of Files and folders found by their signature.
Select that, then go to File, Files found via their signature then for a Data DVD choose Extract files found via their signature. Choose a location and let it run.
For a Video DVD or disc choose Extract but filter only MPEG frames.
You will now have all the files where you selected them to go.
In the case of a video DVD you may end up with files having the .VOB extension. These are the MPEG files from your disc, wrapped in the VOB container.
They can then be imported into a video editing program using the “Import DVD/VR” function or can be read by most DVD burning software.
In the case of a Data DVD the files will usually be intact and have the appropriate extension.
Well hopefully somewhere on this page you found how to fix unfinalized DVDs! If not feel free to hit the “contact” button and I will try to help you in any way I can.
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Hello Lance.
I try to follow your guide but there’s no solution for me at least.
I have a Samsung DVD Camcorder that gave me a Disc error while I tried to finalize the disc, I even try with a newer Blank disc, recording anything and then finalize and in that case the Camcorder finalized the disc just fine!
I can play all the video on the disc just fine using the Camcorder but there’s no way to finalize it, I tried Nero but no luck at all.
If you have any idea of what I can do, Maybe using a Capture Device and just record the screen?
Hi Lucas,
Sorry to hear about the DVD woes!
First up the recording of the video playing on a screen idea is going to give you some pretty awful looking video!
If this was my disc my next step would be to go to the Isobuster solution on this page Isobuster and apply those steps.
The good news is that Isobuster will tell you upfront if it can read the disc or not before you need to pay.
Let me know how that goes.
I try Isobuster but it seems to not know there’s a DVD Drive installed, It doesn’t gave me the option to check the Disk.
Hi Lucas,
OK so this is probably going to involve a lot of questions and answers between us to get to the bottom of the problem.
I will need to know some things before we go any further.
1. Please tell me the make and model of the Samsung DVD camcorder.
2. When you tried to use Nero and Isobuster did you do that on a PC you have at home?
3. Have you tried both the Nero solution and the Isobuster solution on any other PC?
4. If you haven’t done that is it possible for you to do that? (A friend or family member’s PC?)
5. Is the DVD disc a +R, -R or +RW or -RW?
Let me know and we can keep going!
I recorded a DVD with many files (about 3GB ) of data, music and html and pdf files. in about 30 folders
I used software “Any Burn” because it has worked fine many times and let me choose multisession not finalizing DVD, or single session. I had recorded 2 sessions before, DVD could be read well)
but after I added a third session the DVD now can not be read in 90% of the files I tried again using the option – Finalize disc, but it did not work, If I try to add only one single file (or no one) and then finalize, the disk, the software says I can not add anu y more data since it is already finalized. Can I try to finalize again using other software or only the origina Any BUrn must be used? Thanks in advance-
my email ends with zero nine. not “o 9” ( “”o” can be confused with 0 (ZERO)
. .
Hi Miguel,
From what you describe it sounds like the “Any Burn” program or even the burner suffered some sort of glitch when you tried to finalize.
Generally that means the process is “half done” and there is pretty much no way to come back from that.
The software (any software) will keep detecting the disc as being finalized even though the jog wasn’t done completely.
The only way I know of to bypass all of that is to use something like Isobuster on this page.
That software ignores the traditional structure on the DVD and accesses the raw data on the disc.
Try that and let me know what happens.
Hi,
Step 2 using the recoder seems to have worked for me. At this point though, i would rather convert them/leave them in digital and upload them to a cloud to share with my family (These are all of my families home videos from 1985-2006) — Question, now that I am at the end of step 2 where i have the “Video_TS” file. What do I do now to A- Best preserve the quality, and B- Upload them in a format that is readable by say, youtube.
Thanks,
Pat
Hi Pat, Woohoo! Glad to see you got this far!
OK so the VIDEO_TS folder should have three types of files in there:
1. An IFO file which is information about the video, location on the disc blah, blah.
2. a BUP file which is a backup of the IFO file just in case.
3. A VOB file or even a few of these depending on a few things about the original disc.
Usually the smaller VOB file is the menus and the larger one (or ones) is the actual MPEG2 files of the video wrapped in the VOB container that allows interaction with the IFO file.
To unwrap the MPEG2 files you will need some kind of DVD Ripping software that can read and extract.
Please let me know what software you think you may have that can do this… any kind of video playback or video editing software?
great advice thank you
Lance, thank you for your step by step guide. I have tried to apply this guidance to a video I recorded in October 2010 of my cousin’s wedding. This DVD contains the only recording of my cousin’s wedding. After recording the wedding on my Aunt’s camcorder, I never finalized the DVD and when my Aunt tried to play the video the DVD was not viewable and has not been since. So I have made several attempts over the last 11 years to recover this video.
Using the trial version, I tried the Nero Video module and received the “Media not Supported” message. I tried the Nero Recode module and received the message “Nero Recode could not find any valid DVD structure” I tried the Nero Rescue Agent and received the message “Sorry, no supported file system could be found on this media.” using both the fast and deep scan options. The ISObuster software also could not detect any files.
It has been a while but I think we tried finalizing the DVD on the original camcorder and it failed. My Aunt may still have the camcorder so my next move is to go back and give it another try. But if that fails, do you have any suggestions.
Hi Matthew,
Well first up I have to admire your persistence!
I am going to reach out to you via direct email if that’s OK because this may take a little game of “20 questions” before we can move forward so stand by!
Hello Lance! I have a couple of questions that you may be able to help me with after reading some of the content from your site.
#1: I have been providing video edited sports highlights to our high schools patrons since 2002. To date I have used dvd’s as the format. For the last couple of years my video editing software )Pinnacle) has had issues with “finalizing” the dvd’s when I try to burn. I’ve been through customer service a zillion times and LSS, we’ve never pushed through to a resolution of this issue. Basically, the burning process goes to about 80-85%, then just stops and tells me the burn was successful. But, the dvd’s do not work. Question I have for you: is there another software that I can use that could take the Pinnacle rendered Video_TS files and successfully get them burned?
#2: With the recent explosion of internet and video streaming, etc. and with the life span of dvd’s close to be “old hat” so to speak, I was wondering whether I should look into either selling the video files either online or I was wondering whether I could sell them on usb drives that would support playback of hd video? Then I wondered whether I could write protect my files in either of those scenarios? Any advice or information would be Greatly Appreciated – Thx, DK
Hi Dean, Thanks for dropping by!
1. OK so let’s address the DVD problem first.
Unfortunately there never was a completely standardized set of parameters for DVDs.
And by that I mean file writing and reading strategies, formats, disc specifications, burner specs, player specs… the lot!
So in reality any successfully written DVD that actually played was a miracle in itself!
As time has passed and as you have observed, the DVD standard is slowly sinking beneath the horizon so the reason the people at Pinnacle can’t really deal with your problem is that the software, the firmware and just about everything else hasn’t moved in years.
In the meantime computers have continued onwards and upwards and continued development of DVD to keep up has been pretty much deemed pointless.
The good news is that as long as you can produce a standard DVD compliant video file you have all you need to use another program for the burn.
Just Google Free DVD authoring software and there are a gazillion of them.
2. USBs are probably a good way to go here and you can produce in HD as well.
There are a number of small free utilities available online you can use to write protect the USBs when you are adding the video.
Any of the ones listed here https://www.raymond.cc/blog/write-protect-or-deny-access-to-your-usb-drives/ should be enough.
Lance
A friend brought round a couple of dvd’s recorded on an old LG dvd recorder which has since died, I had a similar model LG which also died shortly after warranty expired. So he said that he’d forgotten to finalise his dvd’s and wanted to know if I could help.
Luckily I accessed this website which I found very easy to understand, and following the instructions for the Nero method I managed to finalise them but they still would not play on a dvd player. I then made copies of his (now finalised) dvd’s in Ashampoo Burning Studio and burnt new dvd’s from the Ashampoo cache >>> Success, the final product now plays perfectly on my normal dvd player!
Many thanks to DIY Video Editor
I love it when a plan comes together!
My daughter and I use to record programs from our tivo until our recorder died. Bought another recorder but it doesn’t recognize our discs. I use DVD+R discs and she uses DVD-R. Switching to my computer to try finalizing, the computer could access my +R disc but didn’t see the recorded programs. It couldn’t access her -R discs. How can we finalize our discs?
Hi Dennis,
Sorry to hear about the whole DVD disaster there!
Not surprised your computer can read a +R but not a -R.
The standardization of DVDs was never completed so it remains a bit of a crap shoot to this day.
For the +R disc you may have a hope of finalizing using the method described on this page using Nero software.
Download the free trial version and you will be able to tell if it can “see” the disc or not.
For the -R disc there is an outside chance Nero may detect it (there’s always hope right?!) but I wouldn’t go holding my breath!
For that one it is more likely you will have to pull the individual video files off the disc using Isobuster then create a new video disc.
Instructions for that are here: Disc Data Recovery
Is this available for a Mac I downloaded it but its for Windows
Hi Ian,
Unfortunately over the years I have never been able to find anything that really compares designed for Mac.
O no – I finally found a glimmer of hope for my unfinalized DVDs and now there’s nothing for MAC? Please tell me that’s changed since last July when you answered this question… #hoping
Hi Christine,
Ummm… not sure how to break this to you but no, no new news on this front.
Sorry.
I feel the same way! For years I’ve searched for a solution to finalizing one single home video DVD that I forget to finalize before getting rid of the Sony burner. I’ve found this article again and again along with a few others but every single solution is for Windows. I’m thinking my only solution is to find one of the obsolete Sony devices that I used to burn the dvd in the first place. But 1) I’m not certain that would work (Does it have to be the EXACT one I used or just the same model?) and 2) They’re hard to find and when I do they’re almost $200!! If I find a solution for Apple, I’ll let you know. Please do the same for me. The frustrating search continues….
Thank you so much! After spending several days trying to find a solution you provided a clearly explained perfect solution that worked seamlessly.
I have an old Samsung DVD camcorder purchased in 2007. 2 of the discs would not read in my laptop’s DVD-drive. I still have the camera and the old software disks. I tried finalising the discs in the camera. No luck! ‘Disc error’ came up. I tried plugging the camera directly into the laptop (to see if I could use it like an external hard drive and copy files that way). The camera was too old to be recognised. I even tried my ancient laptop, but it couldn’t recognise the camera either. I tried using the software disc to download the driver for the camera and the software, but it was too old to be used on my new laptop. And for some reason wouldn’t work on my ancient laptop either.
By this stage I was becoming extremely frustrated and disheartened. I really thought my home videos of my kids as babies were lost. In a last attempt I went to Google and discovered this page. I worked through your steps in order (I used a free trial of Nero). Nero was unsuccessful, so I went to Isobuster. I loved that the free version allowed me to see if it would work before I had to spend some money. Once I saw that it would work, I happily paid the $60AU to purchase the product (I figured if I took it somewhere it would cost me at least that much, and after all this time of trying everything else I was happy to spend the money so my time wasn’t wasted).
IsoBuster recovered the files relatively quickly. Initially I thought that some of the videos hadn’t been able to be saved (which I was prepared for), but a bit of investigating and I discovered ALL videos were saved, just some had been combined into one file. So on my video camera they were 3 separate videos, but in the recovered files the three videos had been combined into one. Nothing was lost! To say I was ecstatic is an understatement!!
Once again, THANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing your knowledge and expertise.
I’m not cryin’ YOU’RE cryin’!
So happy to hear you got your precious videos back and thanks for stopping by to let me know.
You have made my day!
Hi, I recorded stuff from my camcorder dv tape to Dvd on dvd recorder. I thought i followed the correct procedures and for a while was able to watch said videos. But at a later date when i put the dvd in to play it says 100% free space ie nothing on there! What has happened to my treasured memories.
Hi Angie,
OK a couple of possibilities spring to mind.
If you transferred the video off the tape and on to the DVD THEN successfully played it then we can (probably ,maybe) assume the DVD was OK… probably maybe!
So as far as that DVD goes check the playing surface (opposite side of the label) by holding it up near some light to see if the plastic is totally fine and there is no dirt, scratches, finger prints, peanut butter etc.
If yes, clean with a soft cloth, if no… keep reading.
Now look at that same side of the disc and you should be able to see the blue or silver metal foil that the data is burned on to.
Make sure that all looks even and there are no blotchy sections or spots.
Once you have done that get back to me but instead of doing it here in the comments of the website just use the CONTACT button on this page and we can talk directly.
I am totally fine to help you with this but we may need to work through a bunch of possible causes to the problem.
RescueAgent did it for me. Thank you for giving me a clear path to trying out different options, along with explanations of what each step means! I now have my recovered VOB files AND a little more information on how it works!
Thank you Lance!
Hi Gonzalo,
So happy to hear you were successful!
We have some DVD’s that were not finalized from our Sony DCR-DVD650 because it was stolen. If we can find another Sony DCR-DVD650 will it work to finalize what our DVD’s, or would we only be able to do that with the original recorder?
Hi Austin,
Absolutely the ideal situation here is to get the original recorder or at least another one of the same model to try to finalize those discs.
This will give you a 99% chance of getting them handled.
*Note: Notice how I said, “try to finalize” and then said 99%!
We are dealing with technology after all so let’s remain calm.
hi thanks for the information
I’m using a Pioneer DVR-520H DVD recorder with an 80 GB hard drive. I created several unedited discs of home video to make room on the hard drive for other endeavors. I inadvertently finalized these discs, and subsequently erased the associated video files on the hard drive. I now want to load the files on the discs back onto the hard drive, but the machine won’t copy files from a finalized disc to the hard drive. The discs are DVD-R and were recorded in the Video Mode (as opposed to VR). Is there any way to accomplish this?
Ray
Hi Ray,
Yes this shouldn’t be too much trouble.
Place one of the DVD discs into the DVD reader of your computer.
Usually at this point Windows will either perform the default action for discs or ask you to what you want it do do.
If the disc starts playing back just stop it and close the playback window.
If Windows asks you what you want it to do choose nothing and close that box.
Now go to “My Computer” or “This PC” depending on your system setup and you will see probably the C Drive and some others plus the DVD Drive.
Right click the DVD Drive and Choose to Open the disc. Do not choose Open AutoPlay or anything like that.
What you want is to navigate into the files on the disc.
Once it opens look for the VIDEO_TS folder.
Inside the VIDEO_TS folder there will be a bunch of files with three extensions. they will be .BUP, .IFO, and finally .VOB.
Ignore the BUP and IFO files, what you want are the VOB files.
Just drag those on to your desktop. Once the are there change the extensions of those files from .VOB to .mpg.
They should then play in Windows Media Player.
Give that a go and let me know how you went and anything else you need.
Lance
I have 5 discs that were not finalized on a Panasonic DMR-EZ485VK. The client no longer has that deck. If we purchase a used Panasonic DMR-EZ485VK or Panasonic DMR-EZ485V deck can we expect to be able to finalize these DVD-R discs, considering they date back to the mid 1990s?
I tried using 321Soft Data Recovery for Mac and it showed 12,000 .mpg files recoverable. all having different numbers as file names. If we used that process how can we be assured they will all stitch together as one long video sequence with properly synced audio?
Hi Chris,
OK so let’s go through both alternatives individually but for both of them you have to understand that there is nothing guaranteed about any of this!
Plan A
As far as purchasing a used DVD recorder of the same model goes on the surface this would generally be the best way forward.
However when I wrote that recommendation I wasn’t thinking of a DVD Recorder that was considerably out of date and would have to be purchased in a used condition.
Theoretically that same model DVD recorder in good working condition “should” be able to read those discs and finalize them successfully.
The only possible points of failure would be a fault in the recorder itself due to age, wear and tear etc. Or, that some or all of the discs have suffered degradation in either the surface of the disc (scratches etc.) or that the underlying dye layer that holds the data has degraded.
So all I can say on that one is that if the discs show no visible signs of degradation they should be good to go with the used DVD recorder.
Plan B
The second method using software recovery will probably get you the files back but… and it’s a big but!
The software has reported back to you the files it has discovered, the .mpg files.
These are the actual video files all in no particular order or any understandable naming protocol.
The fact that the software can see them means that the software can recover them so you have that certainty.
However if you place disc 1 in the computer and recover the .mpg files what you will get are a number of .mpg files and nothing else.
From that point forward those files will have to be edited back together into a “whole” in order to re-create what was recorded originally.
Out of sync audio should not be a problem here. Each .mpg file will have its own audio synced fine and editing them together would not throw anything out of sync.
Get back to me if you need to discuss further.
Lance