First off, I'm not 100% sure if this is the right sub-forum but it seemed to be the most approriate one to ask this question. Anyways, My girlfriend recently moved in with me and with her came a crap ton of music discs and dvd's and I was wondering if there is some kind of software for Windows or OS X that can scan a disc for any defects. That way I don't start ripping a DVD or CD just to have it fail halfway through or something. The CD one is optional but I'd really like one that scan's DVD's for any defects before ripping. Any help is appreciated.
This is probably your best bet: http://www.cdspeed2000.com/ It's a more recently updated version of this: http://www.afterdawn.com/software/cd_dvd/dvd_tools/nero_cd_speed.cfm Interpreting the scores is a little subjective, but generally speaking high numbers in PI errors and failures = a bad burn/less likely to perform well. Same goes for 'jitter'. It doesn't explicitly tell you if you can successfully rip the data off or not though, but ripping a DVD on a modern PC is a pretty quick process with DVDFab etc anyway.
I was lucky I got some software that came with my new LG CD/DVD burner.It checks blank discs for defects.Nero tools can also scan for disc errors.