Indexing a CD or DVD takes only a second the most. It is really fast and will record folders, file names, file sizes, creation dates and attributes. Essentially the full structure of each CD or DVD that is indexed that way. Files can be linked to keywords to make the search even more efficient.

All indexed volumes can be searched in the same interface. The search supports wildcards and a few advanced search parameters like searching specific dates or file sizes.

Octopus should work on most Windows operating systems. Alternatives are the fast and tiny disk catalog software Cathy or Visual CD.

Cathy has a size of only 59 Kilobytes unpacked and creates a new disk catalog file after scanning and indexing a new disk. I previously mentioned that the indexing process was fast. It takes only a few seconds to index the contents of a full DVD. That is possible because Cathy indexes only the files, their path and information whereas Visual CD would index the contents of zip drives and media information.

Another benefit of using Cathy is its simplicity. Every disk catalog is searched automatically and results start to appear after seconds. Several filters are available to narrow down the search results. It is for instance possible to filter by date or length.

The verdict: If you want fast, simple and portable select Cathy. It’s the perfect disk catalog software for users who want to search their entire disk collection in a few seconds. If you want to add value, add mp3 tags, thumbnails and the like go for Virtual CD which offers that. It does take much longer to index the disks though and the interface is complicated and not that intuitive.