a better index

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kurt
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a better index

Post by kurt »

I've always been frustrated in trying to locate files that I've previously burnt onto disks, and I've often thought about somehow organizing things a little better.

Over the last 10 years or so I've downloaded countless applications, media, photos, and other interesting things. Then when I burnt the files onto cd's and later dvd's, I'd often try to create some sort of index for the jewel cases. But when the disks contained dozens of files, that became too much work, so I stopped doing it.

Now I have all these disks full of files and it takes forever trying to find anything. So I came up with an extremely simple solution that maybe might help others with the same problem.

I loaded the disks and then took screenshots of the contents and saved them as pictures! Now all I have to do to find anything is look at a few image files on my computer and I instantly know where everything is, which really saves me a great deal of time.

Maybe this might help others with a similiar problem. Or maybe there's some sort of better solution that I'm not aware of?
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Vuzeth
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Post by Vuzeth »

I usually create file listings for burned CDs/DVDs. They're necessary for really large amounts of files. You can combine listings in one large file and easily find the needed file with Edit->Search command and at what CD it is burned. Screenshots are not that good at least for me they can only show up to 50-100 files and can't be searched with software ONLY with EYEOS. Also for better browsing combine files in basic groups such as MUSIC, PICS, GAMES.... etc. I create listings with WinRAR 3+ If you know better software for that purpose please post here.
P.S. Also consider printing/backuping them from time to time in case you PC get killed with something.
:lol:
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kurt
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Post by kurt »

A searchable index is definately a lot better, but that would be an awful lot of typing wouldn't it? I'm not really sure how WinRar creates lists either, since I only use it for extracting compressed files.

My screenshots are kind of large though with some being around 3000 x 768. But they do contain images of all of the files.

I've also discovered that I have 5 disks that seem to no longer be readable by the dvd drives. I normally use Memorex disks, but these were Maxell disks, and neither of my drives recognizes these disks when they're inserted. So hopefully I'll still be able to somehow find a way to salvage these files. Any ideas?
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Vuzeth
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Post by Vuzeth »

kurt wrote:A searchable index is definately a lot better, but that would be an awful lot of typing wouldn't it? I'm not really sure how WinRar creates lists either, since I only use it for extracting compressed files.
Tools -> Generate Report (Alt+G)
kurt wrote: I've also discovered that I have 5 disks that seem to no longer be readable by the dvd drives. I normally use Memorex disks, but these were Maxell disks, and neither of my drives recognizes these disks when they're inserted. So hopefully I'll still be able to somehow find a way to salvage these files. Any ideas?
I really think it doesn't matter whatether you use merorex or anything else they're the same. Maybe your disks got damaged somehow did you keep them in safe place?
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kurt
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Post by kurt »

Thanks Ghoste. Now I'll have 2 index systems, so hopefully I won't have any problems finding anything anymore.

As for the unreadable disks, they were all well protected, and they all appear undamaged. The problem only occurs with those Maxell disks. I tried Isobuster on them and they were still unreadable, so maybe they've somehow turned into coasters now.

If anyone has any solutions on recovering files from unreadable disks, or any other suggestions on index systems, please post them here.
DustyStyx

Post by DustyStyx »

You might try a data recovery program like BadCopy. I've had it work well on floppies and CDs that have gone corrupt.
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Post by leileilol »

dir H:\ /s >list.txt
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boss429
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Post by boss429 »

leileilol wrote:dir H:\ /s >list.txt
I was just going to suggest using a DOS command like this.
(I assume this command outputs the dir command into a text file correct?)
you could even print out the text file as a cd label.
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kurt
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Post by kurt »

That DOS command works pretty good. It creates a nice text file of everything on the disk. Thanks leileilol.

I haven't had a chance to try out BadCopy yet, but hopefully it helps to recover the inaccessible data from those defective disks.
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kurt
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Post by kurt »

I just finished trying out BadCopy on my damaged disks. It's an excellent piece of software that was able to recover all of the files from 4 of my disks. The 5th disk upon closer examination had a small scratch that apparently prevented it from being recognized by my drive. So I took a chance and polished it with some car wax. Amazingly that did the trick and now I have all of my lost files back again.
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kurt
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Post by kurt »

Ok I finally found what I'm looking for. Its a good program that can index all of the many cd's and dvd's, and then save it in a nice file. It has an explorer type of interface and extensive search capabilities, and its incredibly easy to find anything on my disks now.

http://www.zero2000.com/cd-catalog-expert/index.html

Its reasonably cheap as well. Or possibly free to the thieves among us.
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