File testing/verification

eyl · Post by **eyl** » 2008-01-19 08:41am

I have an external drive on which I stored a large amount of files. Recently, I noticed that a number of files were apparently corrupted (avi files which refused to play, though at least some of them did run in the past).

I ran ChkDsk to test the drive. It did not show any errors in the folders where I had encountered problems; however, it did give me "windows replaced bad clusters" messages on a number of large .ISO image files.

1) Can anyone recommend software to indivdually test the files on the disk, to see if any have been corrupted?
2) Is there a way to test the ISO files to see if they're OK? For example, if I successfully extract all the files with UltraISO (with no errors), does that indicate all the files are OK?

Thanks

Braedley · Post by **Braedley** » 2008-01-20 12:58am

Stupid question: Are you playing the files on the same computer as before? Because maybe you need to install some codecs.

eyl · Post by **eyl** » 2008-01-20 04:34am

Braedley wrote:Stupid question: Are you playing the files on the same computer as before? Because maybe you need to install some codecs.

I tried it again on a third computer (at work), and oddly enough now the files seem to work (I say oddly because A) my home computer should have all the codecs my work computer has and B) in my experience, missing codescs tend to manifest as missing video/sound rather than an error message). Is it possible the different computers are not reading the driev correctly?

Braedley · Post by **Braedley** » 2008-01-20 12:12pm

What are you using for your video playback? I would suggest VLC player or MPlayer (especially with the great GUI for Windows). And remember to download codec packs for them. If they can't play them, quite honestly, nothing will.

Also, as far as file formats go, you may have the proper audio and video codecs, but not the container codec, which would give you an error.

eyl · Post by **eyl** » 2008-01-20 12:44pm

Braedley wrote:What are you using for your video playback? I would suggest VLC player or MPlayer (especially with the great GUI for Windows). And remember to download codec packs for them. If they can't play them, quite honestly, nothing will.

Also, as far as file formats go, you may have the proper audio and video codecs, but not the container codec, which would give you an error.

I'll look into that (I use mainly Media Player; VLC also, but it has some annoying quirks on my laptop).

Currently, my main worry is actually possible damage to the ISO images, rather than the AVIs

Phantasee · Post by **Phantasee** » 2008-01-20 04:44pm

CCCP. Combined Community Codec Pack. Comes with a copy of Media Player Classic. Got everything you should need.