SDB:Checking the CD/DVD installation media

From openSUSE

Version: 1.0 - | 9.3/10.0

Situation

You are not sure if one of the installation CD's (or the DVD) might have a physical defect. You would like to check on this. Please take a note that if one of the following testing procedures will fail on your computer, it may mean not only faulty installation media. Another possible reason could be faulty CD/DVD drive. To be completely sure what exactly requires your attention, it is strongly recommended to perform the same test on a different computer (equipped with different drive).

Procedure

Procedure in Installation Menu (SUSE Linux 9.3/10.0)

Boot your computer from CD1 (or DVD), select installation and confirm it with 'Enter'. As soon as you will get language selection screen please click on 'Abort' and then click on 'Abort installation'. If you will get "An error occured..." window press 'Enter'. And now please select 'Verify Installation CD-ROM/DVD' and accept it with 'Enter'.

You can safety repeat this procedure on any other computer, it will not make any changes to it's configuration.

Procedure in YAST2 on different SUSE Linux installation (SUSE Linux 9.3/10.0)

You just need to open Yast and here go to Software -> Media Check.

Procedure in "Rescue Mode" or on a different Linux distribution

Run the following command as root:

  dd if=/dev/cdrom of=/dev/null

(If the symbolic link /dev/cdrom doesn't exist, or is incorrect, then you have to replace /dev/cdrom by the appropriate device file. E.g. /dev/hdc if your CD/DVD drive is connected to the master of the secondary IDE port. This will also be the case, if you don't have Linux installed already, and therfore have to use the rescue system to do the checking.)

If the media is fine, you should get a result like the following:

  linux:~ # dd if=/dev/cdrom of=/dev/null
  1316996+0 records in
  1316996+0 records out

If, on the other hand, a physical defect on the media prevents the data from being successfully read, you will get an error message.

A typical error message would look like this:

  linux:~ # dd if=/dev/cdrom of=/dev/null
  dd: reading `/dev/cdrom': Input/output error
  60812+0 records in
  60812+0 records out