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AnyReader
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: I was using the trial version of AnyReader 2 to see how it works for rescuing some files on my old CDs. In about 30 hours after the first usage, it said "your 30-day trial period has expired". Was it really meant to work 30 hours or 30 days?
Q: What is the really big difference between AnyReader and the $79 software? I am thinking of purchasing AnyReader, but which of your software is the better one?
Q: If my reader-writer (burner) cannot read the files on a particular DVD, nothing will help. If it reads the disk (shows the DVD contents), I don't need AnyReader. Isn't that correct?
Q: Is there an upper limit on the number of files AnyReader can handle?
Q: Once Anyreader has copied my DVD home movie onto the hard drive, will it copy the files back to a new DVD disc, and also will the new DVD disc play in a DVD player like the original? All the discs I am trying to copy have Cyclic Redundancy Check errors.
Q: I successfully copied my data disc full of files to a file called !_disk_F.img. But these are data files. How do I extract data files from a picture?
Q: I have a couple of CD Program Disks that will no longer install properly. If I try to copy them, it is clear that there are a couple of files that can't be read. If they repair after being copied with AnyReader, then great. But it would be equally useful to me to know which files are the damaged ones. Does your program tell me that?
Q: When copying a 534.63 MB file from a VCD, the program seems to "stall", it seems like it's reading bad sectors over and over again. This is the only file I've tried to copy and a copy has never completed.
Q: How do I remove "Copy with AnyReader" from the Windows Explorer right-click menu after uninstalling the program?
Q: I used AnyReader because my operating system disk is scratched. AnyReader did find bad files -- will these be repaired now? I have saved all to a CD but I am wary of doing a clean install in case it does not work. I had to try many times with my original CD before it installed correctly. Will it work if I install from the new CD?
Q: My system says AnyReader is not a valid Win32 application and the program refuses to run. What can I do to rectify this?
Q: My daughter burned thousands of photos to four CDs and all four are unreadable; on some drives, the drive does not even detect the presence of a disk, on other drives, Windows presents a message that the format on the disk is not recognized or that the data is corrupted. With the AnyReader program, when we got to step 3 which lists what files were copied, the listing was blank; no files were copied, no bad sectors were found, just nothing was completed. So, I think AnyReader has met its match.
Q: I have a few slightly scratched CDs. I tried AnyReader on one where a song was damaged. But all I got was a 0-byte file -- what is wrong?
1. Miscellaneous Questions
Q: I was using the trial version of AnyReader 2 to see how it works for rescuing some files on my old CDs. In about 30 hours after the first usage, it said "your 30-day trial period has expired". Was it really meant to work 30 hours or 30 days?
A: The trial version limitation is 30 days of use or 710 MB of processed data, whichever happens first.
Q: What is the really big difference between AnyReader and the $79 software? I am thinking of purchasing AnyReader, but which of your software is the better one?
A: None is better than the other, they serve different purposes. FileRescue Professional hunts for deleted or otherwise "nonexistent" files while AnyReader does not even look at those, it is useful when a damaged medium or bad connection interferes with existing files.
Q: If my reader-writer (burner) cannot read the files on a particular DVD, nothing will help. If it reads the disk (shows the DVD contents), I don't need AnyReader. Isn't that correct?
A: Well, not quite. If Windows shows the contents but the files don't play right, and when you try to copy them elsewhere you get CRC errors -- that's when you need AnyReader.
Q: Is there an upper limit on the number of files AnyReader can handle?
A: There is no practical limit (technically, it's a number over 2.147 billion).
Q: Once Anyreader has copied my DVD home movie onto the hard drive, will it copy the files back to a new DVD disc, and also will the new DVD disc play in a DVD player like the original? All the discs I am trying to copy have Cyclic Redundancy Check errors.
A: No, AnyReader does not burn DVDs. But if you put the movie on a new disk with the DVD-burning software that you normally use, the disk should play exactly like the original (in fact, it depends on how much damage the original disk has sustained).
Q: I successfully copied my data disc full of files to a file called !_disk_F.img. But these are data files. How do I extract data files from a picture?
A: This file is not a picture, rather a disk image. You can now burn the image to a good blank disk (using some third-party application, like Nero Burning ROM) where you will be able to access most of your original files.
Q: I have a couple of CD Program Disks that will no longer install properly. If I try to copy them, it is clear that there are a couple of files that can't be read. If they repair after being copied with AnyReader, then great. But it would be equally useful to me to know which files are the damaged ones. Does your program tell me that?
A: Yes, the program will identify the damaged files. By default, they are renamed to "!_filename" (Menu -> Common Settings). You still have to copy the files with AnyReader to see that.
Q: When copying a 534.63 MB file from a VCD, the program seems to "stall", it seems like it's reading bad sectors over and over again. This is the only file I've tried to copy and a copy has never completed.
A: : Assuming you have the number of retries at 1, the pause at 50 ms and Fast Copy enabled, there is nothing you can do but wait. It can also help to get over a bad patch faster if, at Step 4, you set the "degree of damage" to "practically non-existent".
Q: How do I remove "Copy with AnyReader" from the Windows Explorer right-click menu after uninstalling the program?
A: Install AnyReader again, start, uncheck Windows Explorer Integration in Menu -> Common Settings, press OK, quit, uninstall.
Q: I used AnyReader because my operating system disk is scratched. AnyReader did find bad files -- will these be repaired now? I have saved all to a CD but I am wary of doing a clean install in case it does not work. I had to try many times with my original CD before it installed correctly. Will it work if I install from the new CD?
A: It might work if you are lucky but there is no guarantee whatsoever. It also depends on the settings you used in AnyReader. Just imagine what would happen to your installation files if you chose to "Fill bad sectors with zeros" at Step 3. Those are not multimedia files, one wrong byte can make such a file useless.
Your new CD must be an exact copy of the original, but the idea behind AnyReader is to enable it to ignore minor data-reading errors in order to produce perhaps an inexact but working copy. So, right you are, don't go for a clean install yet, first try the new CD on a test computer, or maybe on a virtual machine.
Q: My system says AnyReader is not a valid Win32 application and the program refuses to run. What can I do to rectify this?
A: There are two possibilities here.
a) Problem with AnyReader. Solution: re-download and reinstall.
b) Problem with Windows. Solutions: scan for viruses, try Safe Mode, reinstall.
Q: My daughter burned thousands of photos to four CDs and all four are unreadable; on some drives, the drive does not even detect the presence of a disk, on other drives, Windows presents a message that the format on the disk is not recognized or that the data is corrupted. With the AnyReader program, when we got to step 3 which lists what files were copied, the listing was blank; no files were copied, no bad sectors were found, just nothing was completed. So, I think AnyReader has met its match.
A: Not really. AnyReader is not designed for poorly burned or erased CDs on which no files are detected by Windows. Its purpose is to bypass Windows when the OS refuses to copy files because of a scratch or a CRC error.
AnyReader is only for copying. In your case, there is nothing to copy.
Q: I have a few slightly scratched CDs. I tried AnyReader on one where a song was damaged. But all I got was a 0-byte file -- what is wrong?
A: Due to file-system peculiarities, conventional copying of music CDs with AnyReader is currently not supported.