How can I Check Integrity of Files on HDD ?

I think it's obvious that playing a video file for a few seconds isn't going to verify that it will play properly all the way through. If you have one that plays properly all the way through, then you can use MD5 to check each copy against it to verify that they are the same in every way.

There are many reasons for an edited video to have unwanted effects such as some of those mentioned here. A lot of them are due to the user using improper specifications for the output and others may be due to the software or problems with the original videos, such as dropped frames, which aren't seen during playback.

Paul Black said:

Hi BuckSkin,



One way to do it is to set aside say 15 minutes or so when you have time and open them individually. I know it will be a pain but you would be able to open many videos within the 15 minutes or so time frame. You only need to see that they load and work and then close them. It might be a lot quicker doing it this way than waiting for and experimenting with alternative options. Also, you will definately know that when the time comes to view them, they will work!

Just a suggestion!

Just a thank you for convincing me to go ahead and do what I was hoping to avoid.
Other than a few strays here and there, I have the mission accomplished; and, it is amazing how little time it took per video --- but with a lot of videos, it still took some time.

What got me in this mess to begin with is first, I am poor --- I am talking almost dirt-floor poor; and, when money comes around that I should be spending on big HDDs, there is a thousand more pressing matters needing it.
For several years, we had only a single machine, and being poor, they were of the bargain-barn variety = small on storage and short on life; thus, I have a pile of various small HDDs that have been salvaged from these machines; each one with a mixture of whatever needed a place to be.
Add to this four little soccer-mom 1TB externals, purchased one at a time and all brimming full.

We now have four working machines, each of them nearly full to capacity.

One thing I learned in my stockyard days is you can't sort cattle without having a bunch of empty pens to sort them into; so, I let some more important things go and rounded up ten 2TB 3.5" HDDs and have went on a data organizing crusade.

I appreciate the help and ideas.