[howardec]

Saltman,
You are almost on the nose with my scenario! I do indeed do exactly like you do, the difference is when I eject the DVD I "leave it as is"... which I took it to mean that I wasn't doing a multi session burn, I thought I was doing multiple copies to the DVD, then when it got to near full I would close the DVD to be read on any player. In reading about the recovery programs, I am finding this not to be entirely true. From what I understand,, each time you use the drag & drop method, even if you don't close the DVD, it creates a snapshot of your current DVD status, this is called a VAT file. So even though I wasn't closing the DVD, then re-opening it (which the difference is you would lose about 20MB of space each time you opened & closed) the program was still considering it to be a multi session disc. All in all, it seems that the DVD "lost" the latest VAT file & because it didn't have one the disc came up as empty. Using the recovery programs will enable you to look at all the VAT files on the DVD, not just the latest one which is what a DVD burner would do (using the same software of course).

Francis50,
The reason I asked the question here was not to analyze & dissect the problem that had occurred, It was to see what programs people were using to recover CD's/DVD's that had become unreadable using ANY program, not just Roxio. I used Roxio as my example since it is what I was using. I don't have the time to find out why this has happened, I mean if it was a recurring problem then by all means would I get a hold of support & figure this out, but it was only one DVD out of 300-400 that I have currently & in the past. This has happened before, but the program I use comes with a Recovery program, this time it didn't work. I was just curious what other people have used in similar cases.

Dorrcoq,
This one is all on me... the reason why I don't just wait until I have 4 gig then burn all at once. Everyone has their way of doing things. I start with this because I know how anal this sounds... I really do... BUT I seem to have to have the need for an impossible catalog organization. Here is what I mean... I have lots of Zeppelin boots (Many other bands as well, Only using Zep as an example) so I have one DVD for boots in 69, as well as 70 & so on. For some reason I can't place a 1972 boot along with a 1969 show. If I have a DVD with 1969 boots on it & it is full, then I get a show for 1969.05.19 (the Boston show of course) the normal thing to do would be to make a new DVD & add it... but noooo. I need to take my 1969 DVD & break it up into 2 dvd's... so that I can include the new 05.19 show so that they appear in order so I need 01.10, 04.24, 04.26 then the new one 05.19 on a separate DVD I have the later date shows. If you want to call it an OCD thing, by all means I'm ok with that! hahaha... but seriously, that is why I don't wait to get 4 gig, then burn. Because of this though, I have way to much on my computer & tons of dvd's that have plenty of space. I am realizing lately that it might be better to throw a mis mosh of dates on one dvd, then close it (all in one method) rather than have multiple dvd's with free space that are opened. The obvious problem with leaving these open is you need the exact same software to read these dvd's while they are open. Anyways, I was already writing way too much... I don't need to burn out you guys' wheely on your mouse with useless dribble that can be posted on another thread!

In summary... I've tried about 4 Recovery programs & they all detect the missing files. Of course these 4 programs will only let you recover these files if you buy the program. I'm not cheap, but these programs go for $30-$50, if I could just use the program & recover even just 10 files as a trial & it work, I would purchase it. None of these offer this. I have 4 kids with one working income, I am in no state to be sending $100 in programs that may not work. I'm not looking for sympathy, I'm just stating this fact cause I know some out there would spend money on what they need, but I just can't... all though, mac & cheese for a week never hurt anyone! I will post a summary of what program worked for me, I intend on rolling the dice with one, I just need to do some research now on the few I've been told about. Thanks to all for listening on this one.