How can I generate a hash value for a folder, cd, dvd etc?

Questions many people ask
Q1. Can anyone recommend a program / utility that I can point to a folder and it generates a SHA-1 hash of all contents?

Q2. The md5sum program does not provide checksums for directories. I want to get a single MD5 checksum for the entire contents of a directory, including files in sub-directories. That is, one combined checksum made out of all the files. Is there a way to do this?

Q3. How can I generate a hash value for a file or folder?

Q4. I want to point to a folder and generate hash of all contents. I'm familiar with using md5 folder enumerator which works very well with single files but not folders.

Q5.Anyone know of a decent freeware or donateware hashing program that can hash at the DVD or CD level?

Q6. There are LOTS of ways to hash individual files, even hashing all the files in the folder, but the result still requires you compare individual file hashes to check data integrity. Ideally what I'm looking for gives me a single hash number for an entire disc or folder (and its sub-folders) and does it relatively quickly.

Q7. How to do a HASH check of a Windows dvd.

Summary:
many people are asking for to get a single hash of the folder and its contents, not just individual file hashes or recursive listings of files in a folder which is the same as file hash.

Read further and look at the screenshots for evidence of this new technology

*JUHAX Announce HASHING Technology Breakthrough*
This new technology called JUHAX "Juxtapose unknown homomorphic A(synchronous) X". JUHAX allows you to create a single so called hash code of millions of files. It can check the contents of CDs, DVDs, hard drives, and other types of media and create a single cryptographical hash code. JUHAX technology can also be used for comparing folders and files which is a useful feature if you want to compare the files written to disc with the source files (normally stored on your hard drive). Comparison of DVDs, CDS, USB memory sticks is possible using the technology. The JUHAX technology is built around a search engine which can be used to create search hash codes from random files from different folders. Currently the feature of hashing folders, drives, usb memory sticks, cd/dvds comes in two versions, an asynchronous version allowing up to 3 000 000 files inside a folder to be calculated into a single hash code or JX1 which is synchronous allowing unlimited numbers of file objects. The Asynchronous version differ from the synchronous version by calculating the total by calculating Hashcodes while the synchronous takes input in the order it finds data. The technology is currently under development and beta testing. It is planned to have a low price tag of 20 dollars.

Example #1 my documents folder hashed
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Folder : C:\Documents and Settings\admin\Mina dokument
File :
Size : 5498405683
TAG :
Hashcode : 1BAA8FA1944A3608CAC873F9CABF039D
Info : JX1 HASH
Ext : (DIR)
Algo : md5
Date Created : 2010-05-27 14:45:07
Date Last Access : 2013-02-13 15:32:34
Date Last Write : 2013-02-13 15:32:33
USize : 5,12 Gb
---------------------------------------------------------------

Video example # hashing battlefield folder