Way to check burn reliability?

[snapware]

After burning a DVD, is there a way to do a data check on the disc to make sure everything burned 100% correctly?

[lordsmurf]

http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/burnquality.htm

[David K]

Two other simple suggestions.
If you're using Nero, you can check the verify burn option box when the burn screen comes up, and Nero will perform this immediately after burning the disc.
Isobuster has a surface scan option.
These two will catch any major sector errors.

[lordsmurf]

Two other simple suggestions.
If you're using Nero, you can check the verify burn option box when the burn screen comes up, and Nero will perform this immediately after burning the disc.
.

This is unreliable. It gives false results. It is very common to have that test pass on bad discs, and fail on good discs. Nero verification is worthless.

[CrayonEater]

DOS' File Compare. Just drop into DOS and enter fc /b c:*.* d:*.* where c: is assumed to be your hard disk and d: is your DVD, replacing drive letters and changing directories as necessary.

I forget if FC is or isn't included with XP. But it and similar DOS tools are available on the net.

Of course, if you're talking about a DVD-Video, you will also have to play it on your intended player, as standalones introduce their own quirks and compatibility issues.

[Wile_E]

DOS File Compare doesn't check the quality of the burn. If you have a Lite-On brand drive, you can use KProbe. This shows the C1/C2 error rates. Very few drives on the market have the ability to return C1/C2 data. Nero CD-DVD Speed has this ability, but only works if your drive can return data on C1/C2.

[David K]

I think we're running into the issue of defining a "good" burn versus a "perfect" burn.
For me, it's a good burn if (1) the disc plays well on the player, and (2) I can extract the data from the disc (which is what an Isobuster surface scan shows). If I cannot extract the data because of unreadable sectors, then that clearly is a bad burn.

[ROF]

After burning a DVD, is there a way to do a data check on the disc to make sure everything burned 100% correctly?

There is only one way to make sure everything burnt 100% correctly.

That is:

Read back any data, video, or audio you may have burned in the appropriate device for which you will be needing 100% reliability of playback.

There is software out there which will check you burns, but correct me if I am wrong. You did use software to burn your disc? It did report a successful burn? If it was unsuccessful and this software did not catch any problems during or after the burning process what makes you believe any other software is 100% reliable?

The only reliability is to watch, listen, or view 100% of your burned media.

[VegasBud]

After burning a DVD, is there a way to do a data check on the disc to make sure everything burned 100% correctly?

Theoretically, yes. In reality, a better question would be "Is the burn 100% useable and reliable?"

Ever since I started doing backups of data that is irreplaceable, I've suffered from backup paranoia. In the very beginning I wanted a program to verify my burns, but refused to trust someone else's programming skills...so I wrote my own program to compare the directory structure, filenames, file lengths, and every bit of every byte between the original and the backup. That approach addresses the "100% useable and reliable" question.

I was happy with that for a while, but after learning about the built in error correcting nature of burnt media and the drives that burn/use them, I decided to go after the raw, uncorrected data. I began writing another program to go below the error correction. It was during that time, deep into the bowels of low level drive/driver access, that I looked around and saw how far my backup paranoia had gone.

The reality is that the question of a 100% correct burn (below the error correction) is "academic" as in:
Scholarly to the point of being unaware of the outside world
Theoretical or speculative without a practical purpose or intention

If the data can be read with no error, and produces a dataset identical to the original, that's all that matters. Any file/directory compare program can automate the checking process. I'm sure Google can give you a whole list of freeware options.

On a side note, after many years, and many thousands of burns, my experience with verifying the verifies done by burning programs is that the Nero verify function is reliable about 99% of the time. For my purposes, a 1% failure is unacceptable, but it's better than not verifying at all. As a comparison, the verify function in DvdDecrypter or ImgBurn has never differed from from my program's analysis. Not once.

[franco]

Is Nero the only software that offers the "verify data" option after you have burned a disc??

[David K]

RecordNowDx has a verify function.
I still use version 4.6, the last version before Sonic bought it up and ruined it.

[wingnut]

I always burn iso's with dvd decryptor after first preparing them with imgtools. Lord Smurf et al, whats the reliability of DVD Decryptor's verify functionality?

[franco]

I'm curious to know that as well. DVD Decrypter verified a burn for me where Nero was unable to access a file on the DVD and therefore couldn't verify.

[CrayonEater]

DOS File Compare doesn't check the quality of the burn. If you have a Lite-On brand drive, you can use KProbe. This shows the C1/C2 error rates.

C1/C2 only test media quality and don't tell you a thing as to whether or not your data was recorded accurately. Nor is it any better of a predictor of DVD player compatibility than a plain integrity check. On top of it all, not everybody has a Lite-On.

As another poster pointed out, the ultimate verification is to play back the disc in the device in which you need 100% reliability. But, absent that, FC is a decent substitute.

[VegasBud]

wingnut,

As I mentioned above, I've never seen DvdDecrypter (or ImgBurn) give an inaccurate verify report, so (at least in my experience) both would be 100% reliable. You don't have to take my word for it, though. Just get a file/directory compare program and run your own tests. Google should list many such programs, even freeware ones. If you can find one that lets you set the "retries" to zero, that would be better.

franco,

Since both Nero and DvdDecrypter only verify burns they just did, the difference in verification you're seeing is most likely due to the DvdDecrypter burn succeeding, and the Nero burn failing, but I can only guess. If the same source was used for both burns, and you still have the source, you can use a file/directory compare program to check both disks against the source. Only then will you know the hard facts in your case.

[franco]

Good point, Vegas. However, I am using DVD Decrypter with IMG Burn. Therefore I cannot burn the original VIDEO_TS folder that I burned with Nero since IMGburn will not burn that folder.

The IMG file that I burned with DVD Decrypter actually came from one of the discs that Nero failed to verify, but that I ripped back to my hard drive with Decrypter. Therefore, I suppose they would be classed as different sources.

[VegasBud]

franco,

If you still have the original VIDEO_TS folder, just create an iso from it using ImgTools Classic (make sure it's the "Classic" one), then burn the iso with ImgBurn. That way you'll have a solid basis for the comparison.

[franco]

Thanks for the help, Vegas Bud. I done as you said and the IMG file burned and verified just fine. Must have been a problem with Nero.