ripping some backup DC CD's into an image, the big mystery - IMPORTANT

Ok folks. Many people are obviously having trouble making copies of their already burned cd's since there are many posts on this topic. No one has given a good answer. No one. Answers like: oh stupid, use clone-cd or nero or disk-juggler to make an image just won't do.

Here's what i think. Certain backup cd's copy fine. You just dump to an image and burn. Others don't. It seems like on the ones that won't burn, the table of contents that the normal cd-rom reads just doesn't include the whole rom. perhaps when people originally create the ISO's when they rip it from the original cd, somehow the file doesn't write a good table contents. i'm not a programmer i don't know. but perhaps the dreamcast finds it's TOC somewhere else. So the cd-burners don't actually copy the whole cd-backup when you try to rip it because the original ISO used to burn the backup or the software used to originally burn the backup was screwed somehow and allow for a invalid non-inclusive TOC.

For example, on one of my backups (which plays beautifully on the dreamcast) the cd-burner will only find one session on the cd, a small audio track, and makes a 1-Mb image, not a 700-Mb image.

It's not my cd-burner, i've tried this on about 5 different computers, 5 different burners (scsi, eide, 4x, two 8x's, two 16x's), many different cd-rom's, and every type of software popularly used.

There must be a way to make an image of the cd from the first sector of the disk to the last, ignoring what the TOC says is on the disk. (DAO, RAW, and all the other formats just don't do it), so that you get an 700 Mb image everytime, no matter what the TOC says is there.

just think, how would you make a copy of a coaster, one where there is no TOC but all the info is there? that seems to me the solution?

anyone have any useful thoughts? (note the word "useful", don't waste time posting mocking replies, you have to have something better to do? or do you?)

+-K

[DreamcastKeV]

oh stupid, use clone-cd or nero or disk-juggler

[DreamcastKeV]

hehe.... i know what your talking about though. after burning some games it wont let you copy them normally (clone, nero, cdrwin etc) but DJ will always let you make a copy of it... no matter what. its just that alot of people have crappy burners that don't work with disk juggler and they will be like "i tried everything" when that is not the case. i do know what your saying though. after i burned soul calibur nero couldn't do it, but after burning vigilante 8, nero copies it perfectly. try not dumping to an image and choose ignore read errors and do a simulation.

[DreamcastKeV]

also, the first session on a selfbooting game is a 4 second audio track, so for some reason your burner is only jackin' the first session... so yes, it is your drive that is causing the problem.. if you try copying an enhanced cd, see what it does. chances are you will either only get the audio tracks or only get the data

Some readers doesn't properly recongnize multissesion dics.

For my part i have a pioneer dvd rom and a sony burner.
My dvd rom often recognizes only the first session.
My burner always recognizes the 2 sessions.
I am lucky.
In fact I saw 3 types of readers with multissesions discs :
The ones that read it perfectly (like my sony burner)
The ones that sometime see only one session.
The ones that always see 2 sessions but never backup it properly.
-> I have had a 50x reader that made too big images with discjuggler (80 or 90 minutes instead of 70-80).

So you may try to flash the firmware of your reader or burner.
(Nero CD-Recorder Firmware site : http://ahead.de/en/Firmware.htm)
Then if it doesn't change anything, buy another one.

Good luck.

Alucard

[DreamcastKeV]

hehe... exactly. i hate it when peeps say "i know its not my burner" even though it is.... hehe. now peeps wonder why they had to try and save money by getting that "other" burner.. hehe.