Hi, I'm trying to extract some .dat files of a nero hard drive backup that I created in march 2007. I don't know how to do that. ultraiso, and winrar doesn't extract them, any idea? I seem to be able to use NRESTORE 1.03 but i don't know if it will overwrite my windows98 laptop entire hd! it seems like it would. so the best solution is to extract the .dat files manually, but how? is there any way to to extract the .dat container? thanks if you have a suggestion. would isobuster work?

 

I don't know about .dat files, but even regular .nrg ISOS are a pain to manage..

Certain nrg extracting programs exist, and indeed work for most ISOs,
but for some it's almost impossible, specially if it's a multi-track CD with data+audio..

Then the only option is install Nero and burn a disc


As for the .dat files,
If they have a proprietary encoding it will be hard,
but perhaps Isobuster/Power Iso/similar programs, or even 7zip might stand a chance.. so it's worth a try.

Cannot you install whatever Nero Backup software you used originally, and just manage/open the .dat image?

For that I guess you will need a second HDD however,
or to plug this laptop drive on you actual computer, there's surely adapters for that if it's not SATA or smth..

 

Thanks for the ideas. I think using nrestore is the only way and i'll have to buy a usb drive i suppose. isobuster didn't work, but i'll try 7zip. i sort of doubt it will work since isobuster is basically the most powerful. oh well. :P

 

Maybe you could run a Live windows on a USB stick,
or a VM Ware live USB shadow system of a thing..

It may be slower, but if the USB is big enough maybe you can recover the important files this way..

 

Wow. its working lol. why or how dos can read an 8gb usb stick as a 7646.0mb Pri:NTFS hard drive is interesting. It asked me for DVD 2. (edit)

 

Last edited: Nov 23, 2021

Regarding the .dat files, you've got some good suggestions there. Isobuster, PowerIso, and even 7zip might do the trick, but yeah, proprietary encoding can really throw a wrench into things. And if you still have access to the original Nero Backup software, that might be your best bet, though it might require some extra hardware if you're working with a laptop drive. Have you considered using google workspace cloud backup? Google Workspace offers some pretty solid options for cloud backup that could save you a lot of hassle in the long run. It's definitely worth looking into, especially if you're dealing with older files and formats like these.

 

Last edited: Apr 8, 2024