Yes, Disk Drill can recover them, but sometimes the recovered items may be split in several parts. Therefore, if you cannot find a large VOB file after recovery, check for smaller files that can be parts of it. Keep in mind, the larger the files that need to be recovered, the lower the chances of a successful recovery.
What “DVD Image” Usually Means
People use “DVD image” in a few different ways. You might be trying to recover:
- DMG (common on macOS)
- ISO (common on Windows, also used on macOS)
- A full VIDEO_TS folder (DVD-Video structure)
- Individual DVD movie files such as .VOB, .IFO, and .BUP
If your goal is to restore a playable DVD movie, the most important files are usually:
- VOB files (the actual video/audio data)
- IFO files (navigation and playback info)
- BUP files (backup copies of IFO files)
Why Disk Drill Can’t Scan a DVD Disc Directly (But Can Recover DVD Images)
DVDs are optical media, and recovery software doesn’t always support scanning them the same way it scans hard drives, SSDs, or USB flash drives. With Disk Drill specifically:
- ⛔ It cannot scan the DVD disc itself
- ✅ It can scan a byte-to-byte image created from that disc (like DMG)
So the workflow becomes:
- Create a disk image (DMG) of the DVD
- Attach/open that DMG in Disk Drill
- Scan the image
- Recover the files to a different storage device
Why Your Recovered DVD Video Might Be Split Into Multiple Parts
Disk Drill can recover DVD data, but sometimes recovered items may appear split (especially when recovering large video files). If you don’t see one large VOB file after recovery, check for smaller files that could be pieces of the original.
This can happen for a few reasons:
- DVDs Often Store Video in Chunks. Even on a healthy DVD, video is commonly stored in multiple VOB segments (so “one movie” may naturally be several VOB files.), such as:
- VTS_01_1.VOB
- VTS_01_2.VOB
- VTS_01_3.VOB
- File Fragmentation or Partial Reads. If the original data was fragmented or the image contains unreadable sections, recovery tools may:
- Recover only part of the file
- Reconstruct content into multiple smaller segments
- Output files with generic names instead of the original DVD structure