dvdisaster Version 0.72.4 / 0.72 (pl4) | To the Internet version

Contents
News
Overview
Howtos
· | The big picture
· | Scanning media for errors
· | Putting error correction data on a separate file
· | Putting error correction data on the medium
· | Recovering media images
· | Getting information about images and error correction data
· | Testing image compatibility
· | Dialogs and buttons
| - | Drive selection
| - | Image file selection
| - | Error correction file selection
| - | Starting actions
Download
Questions and Answers
Bug reporting
|  | ### Image file selection The image file contains the data from all medium sectors, including the information whether a sector was readable. dvdisaster works on image files because they are stored on hard disk which makes certain random access patterns much faster. Applying this kind of random access to CD/DVD/BD drives would slow them down significantly and eventually wear them out (the image files are created using sequential access which unlike random access is handled efficiently by the drives). The default file suffix for images is ".iso".
There are two ways of choosing the image file: using a file chooser dialog (button marked green), or by directly entering the file location (text entry field marked blue). The direct entry is helpful when you are processing several files in the same directory. In that case simply change the file name in the text field. |
Image file selection
Notes for using the file chooser under Windows and Mac OS X dvdisaster uses the GTK+ user interface toolkit which makes sure that it runs on many different operating systems. Since the GTK+ file chooser behaves differently from its Windows and Mac OS X counterparts (which we can't use), a small introduction is included further down this page. Please note that creating the Windows or Mac OS X version would have required a huge effort without GTK+ - we would probably just have concentrated on doing the GNU/Linux version instead ;-)
Choosing existing files. The areas marked green are used for choosing existing files. Directories are picked and navigated in the left half of the dialog; the files contained are shown and selectable in the right half. Choosing a name and location for new files. First choose a directory for the new file using the green area in the left half of the dialog. Then enter the name for the new file in the text field marked blue. To double check that you are creating the file in the right place please review the "Selection:" caption of the blue field; it contains the drive letter and directory path under which the new file will be created. Switching between partitions ("drive letters"). The available partitions are listed in the yellow marked area. If the currently selected drive contains lots of subdirectories you might have to scroll down to see the drive letters. Going back to the parent directory. Click on the two dots (..) marked red to go back one directory level. All directories leading up to the current one are contained in the drop down menu centered at the top of the dialog (also marked red). Note that this drop down menu is not used for switching drive letters; please use the yellow part of the selection for that.
Screen shot: Choosing files in the Windows version

Copyright 2004-2012 Carsten Gnörlich. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.