Checking for "corrupt" files ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Fitzsimons
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J

John Fitzsimons

I don't even know if such a program/utility even exists ....but.. is
there a way to scan files to find out whether they are okay or not ?
Sometimes I download a file then six months later go to extract it and
find it gives me a "corrupt", or some other, error. I then often have
difficulty trying to find the original file for download again.

Does the above exist ? If so then any recommendations please ?

Regards, John.
 
try Media Checker at http://noeld.com/
|
| I don't even know if such a program/utility even exists ....but.. is
| there a way to scan files to find out whether they are okay or not ?
| Sometimes I download a file then six months later go to extract it and
| find it gives me a "corrupt", or some other, error. I then often have
| difficulty trying to find the original file for download again.
|
| Does the above exist ? If so then any recommendations please ?
|
| Regards, John.
|
 
I don't even know if such a program/utility even exists ....but.. is
there a way to scan files to find out whether they are okay or not ?
Sometimes I download a file then six months later go to extract it and
find it gives me a "corrupt", or some other, error. I then often have
difficulty trying to find the original file for download again.

Does the above exist ? If so then any recommendations please ?

Regards, John.
Click to expand...

I asked the same thing a month or so ago, and got no response at
all. I hope you do better, since I am interested also.
 
I don't even know if such a program/utility even exists ....but.. is
there a way to scan files to find out whether they are okay or not ?
Sometimes I download a file then six months later go to extract it and
find it gives me a "corrupt", or some other, error. I then often have
difficulty trying to find the original file for download again.
Click to expand...
Does the above exist ? If so then any recommendations please ?
Click to expand...

If it is a zip file use yout zip program to test the file. This also
works on some .exe (self extracting zip) files. The same holds true
for .rar and the other archived file types I'm familiar with.

If you have the commandline version you can test all files in a
directory and redirect the results to a text file:

pkunzip -t *.zip > zip.txt
pkunzip -t *.exe >> zip.txt

I use pk, but the same should hold true for other archivers. Or use
the GUI if you use an archiver that has one.
 
I asked the same thing a month or so ago, and got no response at
all. I hope you do better, since I am interested also.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but John's paid his annual $5 contribution to the ACF Orphans Fund
for this year. ;)
 
I would think that this is not a possibility, considering the broad range of
files available. Such a utility should be capable of distinguishing between
zillions of filetypes available, to the minutest detail. Since the
corruptions come in all shapes and flavors, it should also be able to
perform some kind of a dummy run on them, to see that they are perfect.

Still, I wish you good luck.

Engin
 
news:[email protected]...
Click to expand...
| I don't even know if such a program/utility even exists ....but.. is
| there a way to scan files to find out whether they are okay or not ?
| Sometimes I download a file then six months later go to extract it and
| find it gives me a "corrupt", or some other, error. I then often have
| difficulty trying to find the original file for download again.
Click to expand...
| Does the above exist ? If so then any recommendations please ?
Click to expand...
try Media Checker at http://noeld.com/
Click to expand...

That appears to check data, maybe not archived files ? I will check it
out though. Thanks for the suggestion. :-)

Regards, John.
 
John Fitzsimons <[email protected]> wrote:
Click to expand...
The thought of checking thousands of zip files one by one with my
unzip program does NOT appeal.
Click to expand...

That would be a chore!
Well, I want to check all the files on my computer. Not just one
directory. Though almost every file I want to check is in fact in one
directory.
Click to expand...
I use winzip and AFAIK it doesn't have a commandline version. Will
consider finding/using pkunzip if it is still freeware. Thanks for the
help. :-)
Click to expand...

pk is shareware unfortunately. Give this one a try:

unzip.exe (30.4 Kb)Freeware unzip utility

http://www.greatware.com/gr08000.htm

"Greatware zipped files are compressed with world standard Pkzip(tm)
format. This file is a freeware Pkzip compatable unzip utility that
will unzip our *.zip files."

This will take some work though. It doesn't support wildcards :(

You can get a list of all zip files on a drive in the format that will
allow for easy conversion to a bat file by typing at a prompt:

dir /s/b/l c:\ > c:\myzips.txt

You would have to use replace to add "unzip -t " at the beginning of
each line of myzips.txt and " >> result.txt" to the end of each line.
I tried it and ran it as a bat and it creates a huge file that does
not highlight the bad files. Not so smooth...

Perhaps better: Use ZipScan, 107,949 bytes.

http://woundedmoon.org/win32/zipscan.html

This is actually a program to search for text strings. I set it to
search C:\ with the first two boxes checked to recursively search
subdirectories and archives. I used a "normal" search of "9999",
as I'm not really wanting to find the search term. It went through and
found all .zip files and made a neat error log which details what you
are seeking.

"The file C:\WM\httpdocs\scenic\scenic3.zip does not appears to be a
valid Zip file (Could not find Central Record)"

The above was an aborted download I never got back to.

You might delete "C:\Windows\Temp" before you run it. I had a bunch of
old zip files in there that were not properly deleted. It just clogged
up the error log. "C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files" also had some
corrupted zip files in it.

Unfortunately, it works only on .zip, .cab and .jar extensions. It has
no ability to test self extracting executables. This part is tough.
Not all SFX's are pk compatible and they show as corrupted if tested.
I just tried my last SpywareBlaster.exe download and it shows as
corrupt, but it isn't. It is just not pk compatible. It would have
been far better to use an .sfx extension, rather than the .exe
extension. It is difficult to tell what is an archive file and what is
a program file.

This will get your .zip files though, I hope, in an easy fashion.
 
John said:
I don't even know if such a program/utility even exists ....but.. is
there a way to scan files to find out whether they are okay or not ?
Sometimes I download a file then six months later go to extract it and
find it gives me a "corrupt", or some other, error. I then often have
difficulty trying to find the original file for download again.

Does the above exist ? If so then any recommendations please ?
Click to expand...

For existing files on your computer, I can only think of doing something
like REMbranded's (excellent) suggestion. But as a new protocol :) I'd
recommend actually opening/running such files immediately after
download. If they're an openable archive, then your archive program
should provide some sort of integrity check function. If they're
installers, let the install open up then abort it - if it gets that far
it's OK. If it's a sfx/ self extractor, just run it and watch the DOS
box to see that it extracts to your temp folder without errors - then
clean that folder out periodically with your regular housekeeping.

The only way I've brought myself to check what I've already had
downloaded has been during archiving & cataloging, when determining
versions etc. This way, any "dead units" are weeded out.

HTH
 
Well, I want to check all the files on my computer. Not just one
directory. Though almost every file I want to check is in fact in one
directory.
Click to expand...


if you can check on directory, then you could use something that
repeats a command for all files or perhaps FOR:

FOR /R [[drive:]path] %variable IN (set) DO command
[command-parameters]

Walks the directory tree rooted at [drive:]path, executing the FOR
statement in each directory of the tree. If no directory
specification is specified after /R then the current directory is
assumed. If set is just a single period (.) character then it
will just enumerate the directory tree.


that is from the XP help for FOR -- i dunno whether other versions are
the same.

so that would enable you to check a disk in one go. a tiny batch file
and you could do all disks.


jack
HOPCOUNT exceeded - there is a looping problem
 
"Terry Russell" <[email protected]> wrote:
Click to expand...
download , check, cherish or chuck
Files more than one week old go mouldy, breed vermin and spread SARS.
Click to expand...

Haha, I've never seen it put like that. He might have a wealth of
older files that dropped off the servers of the planet or went
shareware in newer versions though.

One more idea John. Since your main archive is in a single directory
you might also give ZipIndexator a spin. It reads any text info in the
file and creates an attractive html table of contents. It doesn't span
subdirectories and it doesn't flag bad files, but it does make
browsing the files a pleasant adventure.

http://woundedmoon.org/win32/zipindexator12.html
 
On Sat, 12 Jul 2003 18:38:40 +0930, Terry Russell wrote:

[snip]
download , check, cherish or chuck
Click to expand...
[snip]

Hey Terry, can I quote you on this? Excellent! The three "C's" lol.
-Sam

d r u m h e a d <at> v e i <dot> n e t
 
Perhaps better: Use ZipScan, 107,949 bytes.

This is actually a program to search for text strings. I set it to
search C:\ with the first two boxes checked to recursively search
subdirectories and archives. I used a "normal" search of "9999",
as I'm not really wanting to find the search term. It went through and
found all .zip files and made a neat error log which details what you
are seeking.
Click to expand...
"The file C:\WM\httpdocs\scenic\scenic3.zip does not appears to be a
valid Zip file (Could not find Central Record)"
Click to expand...

< snip >

VERY clever indeed. Many thanks for the suggestions and explanation.
Much appreciated. :-)


Regards, John.


P.S. Yes, I have used ZipIndexator.
--
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/ Oz \ John Fitzsimons - Melbourne, Australia.
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v http://clients.net2000.com.au/~johnf/
 
John Fitzsimons wrote:
Click to expand...
Winzip does have a command line version. It's called the winzip
Command Line Support Add-On, available on the winzip.com site. Free,
but of course you have to have Winzip to use it.
Click to expand...

Excellent ! I didn't know that. Thanks for pointing it out. :-)
Some freeware zip tools also have command line versions, e.g., Power
Archiver, that could be used in the same way.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Wasn't aware of that either.


Regards, John.

--
****************************************************
,-._|\ (A.C.F FAQ) http://clients.net2000.com.au/~johnf/faq.html
/ Oz \ John Fitzsimons - Melbourne, Australia.
\_,--.x/ http://www.aspects.org.au/index.htm
v http://clients.net2000.com.au/~johnf/
 
This may be something that may do what you want. I have no idea
if it can only check one zip file at a time, or a bunch to see if they
are corrupted. Here is the Link to the program and a brief description
It's also Freeware.

ScanZip 1.0 Windows 95/98/Me/Win2K/XP
(FileSize: 92 kb)

ScanZip will scan your zip files and let you view the files inside.
Gives information about size of each file, total, compressed and
uncompressed, CRC and any notes attached. Also determines which ones
are corrupted.

Website:
http://camtech2000.net/

Download:
http://camtech2000.net/Programs/scnzip10.zip
 
This may be something that may do what you want. I have no idea
if it can only check one zip file at a time, or a bunch to see if they
are corrupted.
Click to expand...

Neither do I. I suspect one at a time. I will check it out though.
Here is the Link to the program and a brief description
It's also Freeware.
Click to expand...
ScanZip 1.0 Windows 95/98/Me/Win2K/XP
(FileSize: 92 kb)
Click to expand...
ScanZip will scan your zip files and let you view the files inside.
Gives information about size of each file, total, compressed and
uncompressed, CRC and any notes attached. Also determines which ones
are corrupted.

Download:
http://camtech2000.net/Programs/scnzip10.zip
Click to expand...

Thanks. I already had it but I hadn't tried it in this context.


Regards, John.
 
If it is a zip file use yout zip program to test the file. This also
works on some .exe (self extracting zip) files. The same holds true
for .rar and the other archived file types I'm familiar with.

If you have the commandline version you can test all files in a
directory and redirect the results to a text file:

pkunzip -t *.zip > zip.txt
pkunzip -t *.exe >> zip.txt

I use pk, but the same should hold true for other archivers. Or use
the GUI if you use an archiver that has one.
Click to expand...

7-Zip 2.30 Beta 31 Copyright (c) 1999-2003 Igor Pavlov 2003-04-29

Usage: 7z <command> [<switches>...] <archive_name> [<file_names>...]
[<@listfiles...>]

<Commands>
a: Add files to archive
d: Delete files from archive
e: Extract files from archive
l: List contents of archive
t: Test integrity of archive
u: Update files to archive
x: eXtract files with full pathname
<Switches>
-bd Disable percentage indicator
-i[r[-|0]]{@listfile|!wildcard}: Include filenames
-m{Parameters}: set compression Method
-o{Directory}: set Output directory
-p{Password}: set Password
-r[-|0]: Recurse subdirectories
-sfx[{name}]: Create SFX archive
-t{Type}: Set type of archive
-u[-][p#][q#][r#][x#][y#][z#][!newArchiveName]: Update options
-w[{path}]: assign Work directory. Empty path means a temporary directory
-x[r[-|0]]]{@listfile|!wildcard}: eXclude filenames
-y: assume Yes on all queries

This is from the command line version of 7-zip. Perhaps you could tell
me how to do it
The GUI version also as a submenu context menu: Test Archive. AFAIK is
the only one that have this context menu function.

Thank you.
 
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