Isolyzer verifies if the file size of a CD / DVD ISO 9660 image is consistent with the information in its Primary Volume Descriptor. For hybrid discs that contain both an ISO 9660 file system and an Apple partition, the expected file size is calculated using the information in the partition table (zero block) or the master directory block. This can be useful for detecting incomplete (e.g. truncated) ISO images. What the tool does is this:
- Locate the image's Primary Volume Descriptor (PVD).
- From the PVD, read the Volume Space Size (number of sectors/blocks) and Logical Block Size (number of bytes for each block) fields.
- Calculate expected file size as ( Volume Space Size x Logical Block Size ).
- If the image contains an Apple Partition Map, read the Block Size and Block Count fields from 'Block Zero'
- Calculate expected file size as ( Block Size x Block Count )
- If the image contains an Apple Master Directory Block, read its Block Size and Block Count fields
- Calculate expected file size as ( Block Size x Block Count )
- Calculate final expected file size as the largest value out of any of the above 3 values
- Compare this against the actual size of the image files.
In addition to this, Isolyzer also extracts and reports technical metadata from the Primary Volume Descriptor and the Zero Block.
In practice the following 3 situations can occur:
- Actual size equals expected size (value of tests/sizeAsExpected in the output equals True) - perfect!
- Actual size is smaller than expected size (value of tests/sizeAsExpected in the output equals False, and value of test/smallerThanExpected equals True): in this case the image is damaged or otherwise incomplete.
- Actual size is (somewhat) larger than expected size (value of tests/sizeAsExpected in the output equals False, and value of test/smallerThanExpected equals False): this seems to be the case for the majority of ISO images on which I tested the tool. A possible cause might be that some CD-writers apparently add padding bytes (see for example here and here). I'm not sure if this information is accurate; in any case it does not typically indicate a damaged image.
I wrote this tool after encountering incomplete ISO images after running ddrescue (most likely caused by some hardware issue), and subsequently discovering that isovfy doesn't detect this at all (tried with version 1.1.11 on Linux Mint 17.1).
The code is largely based on the following documentation:
- http://wiki.osdev.org/ISO_9660 - explanation of the ISO 9660 filesystem
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_disc - Wikipedia entry on hybrid discs
- https://opensource.apple.com/source/IOStorageFamily/IOStorageFamily-116/IOApplePartitionScheme.h - Apple's code with Apple partitions and zero block definitions
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Partition_Map#Layout - overview of Apple partition map
- https://developer.apple.com/legacy/library/documentation/mac/Files/Files-102.html - Apple documentation on Master Directory Block structure
- Behaviour with ISO files that use the Universal Disk Format (UDF) file system has not been thoroughly tested yet (although preliminary tests on a limited number of video DVDs resulted in expected file size that were equal to the actual size in all cases).
- No support (yet?) for HFS partitions that don't have a partition map (although they are detected)
- Also a correct file size alone does not guarantee the integrity of the image (for this there's not getting around running a checksum on both the image and the physical source medium).
- Other types of hybrid filesystems may exist (but I'm no aware of them, and the available documentation I could find about this is pretty limited)
- At this stage the tool is still somewhat experimental; use at your own peril!
The easiest method to install Isolyzer is to use the pip package manager. You will need a recent version of pip (version 9.0 or more recent). Alternatively, Windows users can also use stand-alone 32-bit binaries that don't require Python (see below).
Before installing, you need to decide whether you want to install Isolyzer for a single user only, or do a global installation (that is: for all users). The main advantage of a single-user installation is thatn it doesn't require administrator (sudo) rights. The downside is that this will install the tool to a directory that is not included in the PATH environment variable by default, which means you'll have to do some (minor) configuration to make it work. A global installation will make Isolyzer usable without any configuration, but the downside is that you need administrator (sudo) rights. Both methods are explained below.
Enter the following command:
pip install isolyzer --user
This will install the software to the .local folder (hidden by default!) in your home directory (~/.local). Next try to run Isolyzer by entering:
isolyzer
Most likely this will result in:
isolyzer: command not found
If this happens, you will need to add the directory ~/.local/bin (which is where the Isolyzer command-line tool is installed) to the PATH environment variable (you only need to do this once). To do this, locate the (hidden) file .profile in you home directory (~/), and open it in a text editor. Then add the following lines at the end of the file:
# set PATH so it includes the user's .local bin if it exists
if [ -d "$HOME/.local/bin" ] ; then
PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
fi
Save the file, log out of your session and then log in again. Open a command terminal and type:
isolyzer
If all went well you now see this:
usage: isolyzer [-h] [--version] ISOImage
isolyzer: error: too few arguments
Which means that the installation was successful!
Simply enter:
sudo -H pip install isolyzer
No further configuration is needed in this case.
Go to the release page of Isolyzer's Github repo:
https://github.com/KBNLresearch/verifyISOSize/releases
Then download the file 'isolyzer_x.y.z_win32.zip' from the most recent release. Unzip the file to whatever location on your machine you like. You'll now be able to run Isolyzer from a command window by entering 'isolyzer', including its full path. For example, if you extracted the zip file isolyzer_0.2.0_win32.zip' to directory 'c:\test', you have to enter:
c:\test\isolyzer_0.2.0_win32\isolyzer
If you installed with pip, enter this for a single user installation:
pip install isolyzer -U --user
For a global installation:
sudo -H pip install isolyzer -U
If you installed from the Windows binaries, repeat the instructions from the 'Installation from stand-alone binaries' section above (you may want to remove the old installation manually).
isolyzer [-h] [--version] [--offset SECTOROFFSET] ISOImage
ISOImage : input ISO image
-h, --help : show this help message and exit;
-v, --version : show program's version number and exit;
--offset SECTOROFFSET, -o SECTOROFFSET : offset (in sectors) of ISO image on CD (analogous to -N option in cdinfo)
(All files available in testFiles folder of this repo.)
isolyzer minimal.iso
Output:
<isolyzer>
<image>
<fileInfo>
<fileName>minimal.iso</fileName>
<filePath>/home/johan/verifyISOSize/testFiles/minimal.iso</filePath>
<fileSizeInBytes>358400</fileSizeInBytes>
<fileLastModified>Thu Jan 12 12:48:49 2017</fileLastModified>
</fileInfo>
<statusInfo>
<success>True</success>
</statusInfo>
<tests>
<containsISO9660Signature>True</containsISO9660Signature>
<containsApplePartitionMap>False</containsApplePartitionMap>
<containsAppleHFSHeader>False</containsAppleHFSHeader>
<containsAppleMasterDirectoryBlock>False</containsAppleMasterDirectoryBlock>
<parsedPrimaryVolumeDescriptor>True</parsedPrimaryVolumeDescriptor>
<sizeExpected>358400</sizeExpected>
<sizeActual>358400</sizeActual>
<sizeDifference>0</sizeDifference>
<sizeAsExpected>True</sizeAsExpected>
<smallerThanExpected>False</smallerThanExpected>
</tests>
<properties>
<primaryVolumeDescriptor>
<typeCode>1</typeCode>
<standardIdentifier>CD001</standardIdentifier>
<version>1</version>
<systemIdentifier>LINUX</systemIdentifier>
<volumeIdentifier>CDROM</volumeIdentifier>
<volumeSpaceSize>175</volumeSpaceSize>
<volumeSetSize>1</volumeSetSize>
<volumeSequenceNumber>1</volumeSequenceNumber>
<logicalBlockSize>2048</logicalBlockSize>
<pathTableSize>10</pathTableSize>
<typeLPathTableLocation>19</typeLPathTableLocation>
<optionalTypeLPathTableLocation>0</optionalTypeLPathTableLocation>
<typeMPathTableLocation>21</typeMPathTableLocation>
<optionalTypeMPathTableLocation>0</optionalTypeMPathTableLocation>
<volumeSetIdentifier/>
<publisherIdentifier/>
<dataPreparerIdentifier/>
<applicationIdentifier>GENISOIMAGE ISO 9660/HFS FILESYSTEM CREATOR (C) 1993 E.YOUNGDALE (C) 1997-2006 J.PEARSON/J.SCHILLING (C) 2006-2007 CDRKIT TEAM</applicationIdentifier>
<copyrightFileIdentifier/>
<abstractFileIdentifier/>
<bibliographicFileIdentifier/>
<volumeCreationDateAndTime>2015/09/05, 17:45:07</volumeCreationDateAndTime>
<volumeModificationDateAndTime>2015/09/05, 17:45:07</volumeModificationDateAndTime>
<volumeExpirationDateAndTime>0/00/00, 00:00:00</volumeExpirationDateAndTime>
<volumeEffectiveDateAndTime>2015/09/05, 17:45:07</volumeEffectiveDateAndTime>
<fileStructureVersion>1</fileStructureVersion>
</primaryVolumeDescriptor>
</properties>
</image>
</isolyzer>
isolyzer minimal_trunc.iso
Output:
<isolyzer>
<image>
<fileInfo>
<fileName>minimal_trunc.iso</fileName>
<filePath>/home/johan/verifyISOSize/testFiles/minimal_trunc.iso</filePath>
<fileSizeInBytes>49157</fileSizeInBytes>
<fileLastModified>Thu Jan 12 13:01:00 2017</fileLastModified>
</fileInfo>
<statusInfo>
<success>True</success>
</statusInfo>
<tests>
<containsISO9660Signature>True</containsISO9660Signature>
<containsApplePartitionMap>False</containsApplePartitionMap>
<containsAppleHFSHeader>False</containsAppleHFSHeader>
<containsAppleMasterDirectoryBlock>False</containsAppleMasterDirectoryBlock>
<parsedPrimaryVolumeDescriptor>True</parsedPrimaryVolumeDescriptor>
<sizeExpected>358400</sizeExpected>
<sizeActual>49157</sizeActual>
<sizeDifference>-309243</sizeDifference>
<sizeAsExpected>False</sizeAsExpected>
<smallerThanExpected>True</smallerThanExpected>
</tests>
<properties>
<primaryVolumeDescriptor>
<typeCode>1</typeCode>
<standardIdentifier>CD001</standardIdentifier>
<version>1</version>
<systemIdentifier>LINUX</systemIdentifier>
<volumeIdentifier>CDROM</volumeIdentifier>
<volumeSpaceSize>175</volumeSpaceSize>
<volumeSetSize>1</volumeSetSize>
<volumeSequenceNumber>1</volumeSequenceNumber>
<logicalBlockSize>2048</logicalBlockSize>
<pathTableSize>10</pathTableSize>
<typeLPathTableLocation>19</typeLPathTableLocation>
<optionalTypeLPathTableLocation>0</optionalTypeLPathTableLocation>
<typeMPathTableLocation>21</typeMPathTableLocation>
<optionalTypeMPathTableLocation>0</optionalTypeMPathTableLocation>
<volumeSetIdentifier/>
<publisherIdentifier/>
<dataPreparerIdentifier/>
<applicationIdentifier>GENISOIMAGE ISO 9660/HFS FILESYSTEM CREATOR (C) 1993 E.YOUNGDALE (C) 1997-2006 J.PEARSON/J.SCHILLING (C) 2006-2007 CDRKIT TEAM</applicationIdentifier>
<copyrightFileIdentifier/>
<abstractFileIdentifier/>
<bibliographicFileIdentifier/>
<volumeCreationDateAndTime>2015/09/05, 17:45:07</volumeCreationDateAndTime>
<volumeModificationDateAndTime>2015/09/05, 17:45:07</volumeModificationDateAndTime>
<volumeExpirationDateAndTime>0/00/00, 00:00:00</volumeExpirationDateAndTime>
<volumeEffectiveDateAndTime>2015/09/05, 17:45:07</volumeEffectiveDateAndTime>
<fileStructureVersion>1</fileStructureVersion>
</primaryVolumeDescriptor>
</properties>
</image>
</isolyzer>
isolyzer minimal_trunc_nopvd.iso
Output:
<isolyzer>
<image>
<fileInfo>
<fileName>minimal_trunc_nopvd.iso</fileName>
<filePath>/home/johan/verifyISOSize/testFiles/minimal_trunc_nopvd.iso</filePath>
<fileSizeInBytes>32860</fileSizeInBytes>
<fileLastModified>Thu Jan 12 14:51:26 2017</fileLastModified>
</fileInfo>
<statusInfo>
<success>True</success>
</statusInfo>
<tests>
<containsISO9660Signature>False</containsISO9660Signature>
<containsApplePartitionMap>False</containsApplePartitionMap>
<containsAppleHFSHeader>False</containsAppleHFSHeader>
<containsAppleMasterDirectoryBlock>False</containsAppleMasterDirectoryBlock>
<parsedPrimaryVolumeDescriptor>False</parsedPrimaryVolumeDescriptor>
<sizeExpected>0</sizeExpected>
<sizeActual>32860</sizeActual>
<sizeDifference>32860</sizeDifference>
<sizeAsExpected>False</sizeAsExpected>
<smallerThanExpected>False</smallerThanExpected>
</tests>
<properties/>
</image>
</isolyzer>
First use cd-info on the physical carrier to find out the start sector of the data session:
cd-info
Then look for this bit:
CD-Plus/Extra
session #2 starts at track 8, LSN: 21917, ISO 9660 blocks: 25309
ISO 9660: 25309 blocks, label `DISC
So start sector of the data session is 21917. Then:
isolyzer.py --offset 21917 multisession.iso
Result:
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<isolyzer>
<image>
<fileInfo>
<fileName>multisession.iso</fileName>
<filePath>/home/johan/verifyISOSize/testFiles/multisession.iso</filePath>
<fileSizeInBytes>6950912</fileSizeInBytes>
<fileLastModified>Wed Apr 19 14:39:27 2017</fileLastModified>
</fileInfo>
<statusInfo>
<success>True</success>
</statusInfo>
<tests>
<containsISO9660Signature>True</containsISO9660Signature>
<containsApplePartitionMap>False</containsApplePartitionMap>
<containsAppleHFSHeader>False</containsAppleHFSHeader>
<containsAppleMasterDirectoryBlock>False</containsAppleMasterDirectoryBlock>
<parsedPrimaryVolumeDescriptor>True</parsedPrimaryVolumeDescriptor>
<sizeExpected>6946816</sizeExpected>
<sizeActual>6950912</sizeActual>
<sizeDifference>4096</sizeDifference>
<sizeAsExpected>False</sizeAsExpected>
<smallerThanExpected>False</smallerThanExpected>
</tests>
<properties>
<primaryVolumeDescriptor>
<typeCode>1</typeCode>
<standardIdentifier>CD001</standardIdentifier>
<version>1</version>
<systemIdentifier>SYSTEMID</systemIdentifier>
<volumeIdentifier>DISC</volumeIdentifier>
<volumeSpaceSize>25309</volumeSpaceSize>
<volumeSetSize>1</volumeSetSize>
<volumeSequenceNumber>1</volumeSequenceNumber>
<logicalBlockSize>2048</logicalBlockSize>
<pathTableSize>218</pathTableSize>
<typeLPathTableLocation>21936</typeLPathTableLocation>
<optionalTypeLPathTableLocation>0</optionalTypeLPathTableLocation>
<typeMPathTableLocation>21937</typeMPathTableLocation>
<optionalTypeMPathTableLocation>0</optionalTypeMPathTableLocation>
<volumeSetIdentifier>DISC</volumeSetIdentifier>
<publisherIdentifier/>
<dataPreparerIdentifier>STARBURN SDK</dataPreparerIdentifier>
<applicationIdentifier/>
<copyrightFileIdentifier/>
<abstractFileIdentifier/>
<bibliographicFileIdentifier/>
<volumeCreationDateAndTime>1899/12/30, 00:00:00</volumeCreationDateAndTime>
<volumeModificationDateAndTime>0/00/00, 00:00:00</volumeModificationDateAndTime>
<volumeExpirationDateAndTime>0/00/00, 00:00:00</volumeExpirationDateAndTime>
<volumeEffectiveDateAndTime>0/00/00, 00:00:00</volumeEffectiveDateAndTime>
<fileStructureVersion>1</fileStructureVersion>
</primaryVolumeDescriptor>
</properties>
</image>
</isolyzer>
Published under the Apache 2.0 license.