Visual CD - disk and storage cataloging

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vhick
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Visual CD - disk and storage cataloging

#1 Post by vhick »

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http://www.boozet.org/visualcd.htm
Visual CD is a disk cataloging tool to index the contents of your media storage such as CDs, DVDs, HD-DVDs, BlueRay Discs, USB disks, hard disks, folders and allow you to search the contents at a later date.

Visual CD can index the files from the media by name, date, ID3 tag data, audio-video and picture information, generate thumbnail from picture and video files, and even catalog files which are contained in Zip/Cab/Rar/7-Zip archive files. Additionally, you can password protect catalogs in case you want to hide sensitive filenames from prying eyes, create MP3 playlist file without having the physical disks in the drive. Upon insertion of the corresponding disk, you can open files, extract Zip/Cab/Rar/7-Zip archive, splitting files, and more.

Visual CD is easy to use! The Windows Explorer-like style ensures that you will not find any difficulties to use it. Visual CD also support full Windows visual style and user friendly interface.

Visual CD Features

* Ability search across multiple catalogs
* Ability to index dimensions and duration of video and music files
* Ability to index dimensions and date picture taken of picture files
* Ability to extract thumbnail of picture, icon, video, and executable files
* Ability to save directory structure to Text Document
* Ability to export catalog to HTML Document, Microsoft Excel File, Rich Text Format and Text Document
* Ability to build Visual CD Portabel
* Support Zip, 7-Zip, Rar, Ace, and Cab archive
* Support MP3 ID3v1 and ID3v2 Tag
* Support Windows Visual Style
* Moving, copying, renaming, and deleting catalog without leaving Visual CD
* Auto switch drive
* Auto check disk status
* MP3 Playlist Generator
* Batch Export
* Extras: Advanced Rename, Duplicated Files Finder, File Splitter, NFO Reader, Photo Rename, and Thumbnail Maker
* And more..


NOTE: Portable version is available since version 4.0 by:
- Click Tools menu
- Click Build Visual CD Portable
- Specify the output folder ('Visual CD Portable' folder will be added automatically)
- Click OK

but i can't confirm if it is stealth.

ashghost
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#2 Post by ashghost »

It's already in the database: http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=1413

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Midas
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Re: Visual CD 4.1

#3 Post by Midas »

Old topic update: the present is now Visual CD (https://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=1413) official forum topic.
http://www.boozet.net/visualcd.htm wrote:Visual CD is a disk cataloging tool to index the contents of your media storage such as CDs, DVDs, HD-DVDs, BlueRay Discs, USB disks, hard disks, folders and allow you to search the contents at a later date. Visual CD can index the files from the media by name, date, ID3 tag data, audio-video and picture information, generate thumbnail from picture and video files, and even catalog files which are contained in Zip/Cab/Rar/7-Zip archive files. Additionally, you can password protect catalogs in case you want to hide sensitive filenames from prying eyes, create MP3 playlist file without having the physical disks in the drive. Upon insertion of the corresponding disk, you can open files, extract Zip/Cab/Rar/7-Zip archive, splitting files, and more.
Image

@webfork: please remove version info from OP. Thanks. :)

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smaragdus
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Re: Visual CD

#4 Post by smaragdus »

I tested Visual CD version 4.20 and I liked it- clean, pleasing and intuitive interface, some nice features and extra tools. It is a bit slow but for me its major flaw is that it does not support Unicode.

Can anyone recommend a similar program which is portable, supports Unicode and is still in development?

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joby_toss
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Re: Visual CD - disk and storage cataloging

#5 Post by joby_toss »

I searched the best one for my needs in this category for a long time and I ended up with 2 options: Cathy (free, portable workarounds available) + WinCatalog (commercial, JPE launcher).
Cathy is good for finding files quickly, but it ignores the volumes (for refreshing them) if the drive letter changes, which is a major drawback for me.
WinCatalog does everything and it does it well; its search speed is lower compared to Cathy's because of the huge amount of details saved in catalogs, but everything else is superior. The downside is it's not free (I got it at a discount at BDJ) and not portable (but I made a JPE launcher and it works fine).
I tested almost every other option out there (except WhereIsIt) and I got crashes, limitations, clunky interfaces, not indexing all my files etc.
I tell you what: if Cathy would've remembered the volumes by serial number only, I wouldn't have bought WinCat (you can use WinCat for free if you don't have over 10 disks to catalog - good to use for your HDD/SSD; it has no other limitation).

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smaragdus
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Re: Visual CD

#6 Post by smaragdus »

@joby_toss

Thank you very much for your response. I have not tested neither free Cathy nor commercial WinCatalog. Cathy interface looks too spartan while WinCatalog has ribbon (I can't stand ribbons). Is there an option to switch from ribbon interface to classic interface? I found a light version (Wincatalog Light) at AlternativeTo which looks better:

Image

Is this light version still offered for download? If not, do you know which is the last version of WinCatalog which comes without ribbon?

If Visual CD supported Unicode I think I would have given it a more serious try. It seems to be abandoned and its page is down. Have you used Visual CD (my test was not a thorough one)? If you have, does it have other major flaws besides the the lack of Unicode support?

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joby_toss
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Re: Visual CD - disk and storage cataloging

#7 Post by joby_toss »

About Visual CD: it had something to do with the GUI... there was no tree with all the catalogs, they were saved individually and you had to load them in another window to search something... And it didn't catalog the files in my language...

About WinCatalog Light: it's an older version, not available anymore; it was integrated in the main app, as an unregistered trial version.

About the ribbon: it is not as bad as other ribbons (it's intuitive), i look at it like a menu with bigger icons. You can have it minimized, however, so you don't have to look at it all the time: :)
Image
And you can customize the Quick Access Toolbar (top bar) using any action you need, so you don't have to open the ribbon.

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smaragdus
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Re: Visual CD

#8 Post by smaragdus »

@joby_toss

I always appreciate your opinions and suggestions so I suppose that WinCatalog is a good program, but its lack of portability and its ribbon interface discourage me for the time being. The ribbons (one of the many reasons to hate M$) are not just an aesthetical problem for me (they are ludicrous on desktop- not just ugly and unhandy but a waste of space too) but an ethical one as well- why should I tolerate developers who copycat every M$ nonsense, why should I stimulate them by buying their products?

By the way I managed to find WinCatalog Light (version 2.4, file version 2.31.9.1213) at Tucows, the download is clean:

Name: wincatalogl_setup.exe
File Size: 549963 Byte(s) (537.07 KB)
MD5: 6d7758fffbbdbcce015893af7be1799e
SHA1: 316ae91e2be45c2ce75228841e54a49a754f4cb1
SHA256: 7742de9b35538a5ddfeb70168e680a629d84f30789b0959524d6c80ebf63b9de
CRC32: 06a22015
VirusTotal analysis - Detection ratio: 1 / 57

WinCatalog Light looks nice but it is not portable. If I don't find a better tool I may try it.

I also sought for other commercial alternatives and I found several- abeMeda, Broken X Disk Manager, CD Catalog Expert, Smart CD Catalog, Where Is It?. Where Is It? has a portable version but it seems abandoned and I have read horrible things about the way the developer treats the users so it is out of question. Broken X Disk Manager seems interesting plus it comes with lifetime updates. Have you ever tested any of these programs?

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joby_toss
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Re: Visual CD - disk and storage cataloging

#9 Post by joby_toss »

I remember trying CD Catalog Expert and Smart CD Catalog, but I can't remember exactly why I didn't choose any of them, sorry!

Edit: CD Catalog Expert is portable, but I have trouble with some unicode characters; Smart CD Catalog says it can't run on my win 10...
Image

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Midas
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Re: CD Synch

#10 Post by Midas »

I have just tested DotNET CD Sync Portable and I'll be posting it to "Submission" shortly (it's here).

Although it's geared towards so-called multimedia, it might be of interest here -- contrary to what its name implies, it doesn't limit itself to removable media.

The site and developer is AWOL, so here are third-party download links (Softpedia lists the installable version, FreewareFiles the natively portable one, the one I tested):

A payware I used to be fond of back in the day was OrangeCD Catalog:

Incidentally, it's sad to watch what was once a thriving and lively sub-genre of cataloguing utilities so full of ruins nowadays... :(

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smaragdus
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Re: Visual CD

#11 Post by smaragdus »

@joby_toss
Smart CD Catalog says it can't run on my win 10...
This is strange:
System requirements: Microsoft Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10
Which version did you install? The latest one is 3.16, Release date: May 17, 2016, it installed just fine on my system (Windows VIII) but I didn't like it.

I tested WinCatalog and it is not bad, if there was a portable version perhaps I would try to tolerate the ribbon but no portable version plus ribbon is too much for me. After I uninstalled it, the program opened an online feedback form and I wrote down shortly what I didn't like and surprisingly for me the developer replied in a very friendly and helpful manner.

abeMeda is offered as installer and as archive, but it is not portable and I couldn't find a way to make it portable.

@Midas
OrangeCD Catalog looks clean and sharp but it seems to be designed for cataloging of audio CDs only, or I am wrong?
Incidentally, it's sad to watch what was once a thriving and lively sub-genre of cataloguing utilities so full of ruins nowadays... :(
Are you surprised? Who would use such software nowadays? Those who don't know what book-marks and add-ons mean?

When I put Windows 8 in brackets I got this- (Windows 8), but it is not cool at all.

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joby_toss
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Re: Visual CD

#12 Post by joby_toss »

smaragdus wrote:@joby_toss
Smart CD Catalog says it can't run on my win 10...
This is strange:
System requirements: Microsoft Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10
Which version did you install? The latest one is 3.16, Release date: May 17, 2016, it installed just fine on my system (Windows VIII) but I didn't like it.
I just downloaded it that day for retesting (it was the latest version), so I don't know what to say... Maybe they need to update it for the Anniversary Update.

ankitr.42
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Re: CD Synch

#13 Post by ankitr.42 »

Hi Community,

I just found out this forum today and saw that there still might be? some interest in cataloging software.
I sort-of abandoned CD Sync after not seeing too much reception / feedback on the first version assuming it's a product without audience.

If there's enough interest, I can plan to work on creating an upgraded version with newer technologies, while taking feature requests.

I also open sourced the code couple of years back, if you're interested in checking it out: https://github.com/ankitr42/cdsync
I now own and write at: https://www.randomgarage.com/2012/03/di ... -sync.html

- Ankit

Midas wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2016 5:57 am I have just tested DotNET CD Sync Portable and I'll be posting it to "Submission" shortly (it's here).

Although it's geared towards so-called multimedia, it might be of interest here -- contrary to what its name implies, it doesn't limit itself to removable media.

The site and developer is AWOL, so here are third-party download links (Softpedia lists the installable version, FreewareFiles the natively portable one, the one I tested):
A payware I used to be fond of back in the day was OrangeCD Catalog: http://www.firetongue.com/cd-database.html.

Incidentally, it's sad to watch what was once a thriving and lively sub-genre of cataloguing utilities so full of ruins nowadays... :(

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