New to this copying (er I mean backing up, heh heh) malarky

[Wild6]

I am kinda new to this game copying malarky and I need a few answers to a number of questions.

I understand the idea of making a CD image using something like CDcopy, and then copying that image onto a blank CDR but, Will simply copying the entire CD onto my hard drive (not a cd image) eliminate the CD copy protection?

If it will not (im guessing that would be too easy), then are there patches that are specific to each game to remove the CD protection allowing the game to be copyed?

If some info on the specific types would be handy.

Cheers