Most tools that claim to "recover" anything use very basic (i.e, poor) methods to essentially try again on any failed sectors. I know that the old saying is "If at first you don't succeed -- try, try, again!" But in the world of computers, doing the same thing twice almost always results in identical results. Hence the poor nature of these sorts of tools. It's really not made for data recovery.
Read this:
Guide to recovering files off CDs and DVDs
Two import programs mentioned in that guide:
- DVD Decrypter (freeware) has a brute force retry that sometimes works, though not often. Sometimes you can simply skip the bad sectors, though that's not foolproof either.
- ISO Puzzle (freeware) is what you want to use for recovering bad/damaged CDs and DVDs. It has a unique method of reading discs, which generally works quite well. This program does not work with copy protected discs.
If the disc is physically damaged with scratches, you'll likely need to get it repaired. Don't further ruin it with one of those lousy home "disc fixers" (overpriced junk), but take it to a DVD rental store that is using a rebuffer machines from
DiscChek, like an
Eco Senior.
Don't waste time trying to re-read a scratched disc in a drive, as you'll just wear out the drive. And it usually does not work. Recovery tends to be made for non-external defects (inferior dye, decaying foils, etc).
............
To simply copy a DVD, use
DVD Decrypter or
DVD Fab HD Decrypter -- both are freeware.
If it's "too big" to fit on a
DVD-R or DVD+R, copy it to a
DVD+R DL or "shrink" it
with DVD Shrink.
The quality of DVD Shrink will be better than the WinX programs.