Scanning media for errors
Basic settings

The following tabs are found in the configuration dialog. Open the dialog by selecting the symbol marked green in the screen shot (click the image to expand it). The symbol may look different due to the symbol theme you are using.

Opening the configuration dialog.

"Image" tab. Selecting the proper method for determining the image size is important. The setting "ISO/UDF" (marked green) usually works in any situation. Pick the selection "ECC/RS02" (marked red) only if you are sure that the medium contains RS02 error correction data. Using the error correction (ecc) data will improve scanning results, but searching for non existing ecc data will cost several minutes. Adjust the remaining settings as shown in the screen shot.

"Image" tab.

"Drive" tab. Reading data from the drive while it is spinning up can generate spurious error reports. Adjust the spin up time for your drive (typically 5-10 seconds) in the field marked green to make dvdisaster wait for the appropriate time. Leave the other settings at the values shown; you can optimize them later.

"Drive" tab.

"Read attempts" tab. Adjust the reading attempts settings as shown here. Using larger values causes unnecessary reading activity but will not improve the scan. The option "Read and analyse raw sectors" (first green marking) uses C2 analysis and possibly more raw data reported by the drive for a better assessment of CD media quality. This setting does nothing for DVD and BD media, but it is safe to remain activated unless it causes problems with your drive reading CDs. After a read error no less than 16 sectors should be skipped (second green marking); when scanning badly damaged media this setting can be optimized using larger values. Performing multiple read attempts is not recommended during a scan; set the number of retries to 1 in the three places marked in orange. Collecting raw sectors should also be off during the scan.

"Read attempts" tab.

"Misc" tab. Currently this tab only has functions for creating log files. This is helpful for sending in bug reports but should be left off during normal operation.

"Misc" tab.

The "Error correction" and "Files" tabs have no influence on scanning media. The "Appearance" tab allows you to adapt the output colors to your taste, but these have no further effects on the scanning process.