Has anyone used CDCheck?

[Soldier Blue]

You can use it to run a diagnostic on a CD, DVD or video game CD DVD to see if the disc is still salvageable. Just put the disc into your PC while the software is running. I use it when the disc might have damage on the top of it, but still plays great to see if there is any damage within all of the kilobits of data within the disc.
So far it has worked for me and tells me when to just throw away a disc.

For Ps2 games, for example, based on my research, it seems to be that if you have a little damage on the top of the disc but it is not near the middle, but towards the edge, then it will often still be a good disc. Has anyone tried it and what do you think?

[Ziggy]

I've never used CDCheck, but I have a way of checking discs. I just use ImgBurn to read the disc to an image file and see if there's any read errors that I can't get around. If I was able to read an entire disc without errors, then I'm assuming that means the disc is fine. Once you have the image, I suppose you could also double check the file size, sector count and hash values from something like redump.org (example) but I've never bothered for just a quick read check.

I assume that's all CDCheck is doing, reading all the data on the disc and reporting any errors. What's note worthy is that I doubt CDCheck will work with a disc that has any sort of copy protection. For example, PS1 games that have intentionally bad blocks. But I may be wrong.

[Exhuminator]

I recommend VSO Inspector:

http://www.vso-software.fr/products/ins ... pector.php

It can scan CD, DVD, and Blu-ray and report all sorts of deep analysis.

[Sarge]

I've always used ISOBuster for that kind of stuff. I might check out some of the other suggestions here, too.

[CRTGAMER]

For Ps2 games, for example, based on my research, it seems to be that if you have a little damage on the top of the disc but it is not near the middle, but towards the edge, then it will often still be a good disc. Has anyone tried it and what do you think?

I install PS2 games using the slow direct method with HDAdvance. It reports errors on any disc and the game installed can be play tested. Though slow, a double check sure way to verify a rare game which might be hard to find years later.

[Ziggy]

I install PS2 games using the slow direct method with HDAdvance. It reports errors on any disc and the game installed can be play tested. Though slow, a double check sure way to verify a rare game which might be hard to find years later.

As we've discussed in the past, I use the newer HDD loader (OPL) for PS2 which doesn't rip games. I transfer games from a PC to the PS2 HDD via a crossover cable, so I have to rip the games on the PC. I use ImgBurn, as mentioned above, which will report any read errors.

Just pointing out that it's a different method of accomplishing the same task. What might be noteworthy though, is that a newer PC optical drive (which is probably in a lot better shape than the PS2 drive) and ImgBurn (which is probably far superior than HDAdvance at ripping discs) might be able to read a disc, without errors, but the PS2 optical drive would have trouble with it. If you ever have trouble ripping a less than perfect disc on your PS2, you might wanna try and rip it on the PC instead.

[Sarge]

This is very true. There are several problematic discs that I have that a PC DVD drive will actually read as compared to the PS2 drive. Those aren't high-quality drives, anyway, much less if they've been used a long time.

[CRTGAMER]

As we've discussed in the past, I use the newer HDD loader (OPL) for PS2 which doesn't rip games. I transfer games from a PC to the PS2 HDD via a crossover cable, so I have to rip the games on the PC. I use ImgBurn, as mentioned above, which will report any read errors.

This is very true. There are several problematic discs that I have that a PC DVD drive will actually read as compared to the PS2 drive. Those aren't high-quality drives, anyway, much less if they've been used a long time.

Just showing an alternate to the CD check the OP brought up; a way to absolute verify all the sectors on a rare PS2 game disc so not defective. Validates that the game disc can run with ALL game levels direct on the console; without having to try a work around such as ISO backup to get it run. This is a side benefit to my preference of the direct install of the game thru the PS2 optical drive. A confirm I have a good archive copy that might sit on the shelf for decades since the game is played thru the PS2 hard drive.

[Soldier Blue]

Lol. I just checked my copy of Albert Odyssey...23 errors
The most errors I've ever seen, usually there are only a few. Funny thing is I actually played through the whole game even though it had disc rot. I think by now maybe it won't play at all but who knows

[Sarge]

Depends on where the spots are. A lot of Saturn games used redbook audio, and if it's just on the audio tracks, you should be fine.