Quickest way to verify a good burn

[petar]

I post this in the computer section because it's more related to data than video.

I had a hardware problem with my PC which after fixing required an OS reinstall and I lost some data since my last backup. So I'm trying to backup more often and was wondering what do you think is the quickest (but reliable) way to make sure the data burned is OK. I know Nero has a "verify data" option but it takes something like three times as long to verify the data than to actually burn it since it verifies each file and we are talking probably several thousands.

Is there some tool that can quickly check if everything is OK? Maybe instead of accessing each file just check if all sectors are OK? Would that be a reliable and faster way to make sure the files are OK or I am talking nonsense?

[flaninacupboard]

my machine verifies the same speed it burns...

If you want a more reliable backup method i'd look into RAID or magneto optical storage.

[petar]

I'm actually OK with the reliability of DVD for data backups. It's just that I'd like to do it more often but I'd like to be sure that it's written OK without spending too much time. The writing takes around 20 min on +RW but then the Nero option to verify the data takes over an hour. It seems to try to read each file and there are around 5000 of them hence it takes ages. I was wondering if there's any faster way without having to read each file.

What do you use to verify that it's written OK?

[flaninacupboard]

i use nero on -R discs. i can only burn at 2X and have never seen an error picked up by nero using ritekg04 discs, so i evenutally stopped looking.

If it can WRITE the files in 20 minutes, it should be able to READ them in 20 minutes...
Seems a bit weird, maybe it's a +RW thing?

[petar]

If it can WRITE the files in 20 minutes, it should be able to READ them in 20 minutes...

Yeah, I know. Really strange. Even when I try to copy my entire +RW to my HD it takes about an hour too. Maybe it can only read +RW at x1 and the fact that it's thousands of files to access.
Ah well, never mind. Perhaps I'm too paranoid trying to backup every week, hence I want to speed up the backup. It's just that I'd hate to have to rebuild my OS again and discover that my backup DVD has errors. Maybe I'll do the backup twice to two +RWs instead of one and forget about the verification. Save 40 min that way.

[flaninacupboard]

ah, if it's really THOUSANDS of files, that could explain it, small files get cached when burning, but obviously not when verifing. i'd try dropping all your files into a zip with the weakest possible compression (so it doesn't take too long) then burn and verify it.

[petar]

Ah, that explains it.
Good tip on zipping before burning. I'll give it a try on my next backup. Thanks.