2 replies to this topic

[Twolf13]

I am looking for a program that will mage an image of all my PC games, to archive on hdd and to burn to cd/dvd (like media) so I can put my masters in storage and just play with the copies and make a new one from the image as the play disks go bad. So that is basically what I am looking for at this point..all the mounting and playing the image is fine and may get into that later on...but for now my concern is to just back up the masters to working images and backup disks.

Alcohol and Cloned cd were at the top of review lists and then there was blindwrite

Blindwrite, still working with, it made image but won't recognize the image it wrote, to burn it.

Clone cd made image, burned cd, and game installed from both disks, but when playing the game, it requires that disk 2 to be in drive, and when i start the game to play, with that copy in, it tells me to eject and reinsert disk and restart the game...something goofy went wrong. So still working there.

Now, Alcohol...i d/l'ed and went to install and it got so far and said I needed to reboot and it would finish installation. I did and I got the first BSOD I have seen in 3 or 4 years and did everytime I rebooted until I went to the F8 mode and last known good configuration and took what there was of Alcohol off.

Now I mention all this because 1st, that particular disk 2 was protected with safedisc 2/3 and was the game Pools of Radiance, Ruins of Myth Drannor (PC).

The BSOD and partial install of alcohol was on my laptop, which if messed up can reinstall win xp pro quickly...but I don't want to install it on my desktop which has all my stuff on it, if it is going to give BSOD and mess it up.

So my question is Is Alcohol what I am looking for? can it do what the other 2 have not been able to up to this point? Why did it BSOD me? I am very hesitant to put it on my computer because of the BSOD but if it will succeed where the others failed it may be worth the chance.

But again, mounting and so forth aside, I want something that can backup all my PC games to ISO or image file and able to reburn to good working backup disk as necessary.
And I don't mind owning 2, if Alcohol will serve my purposes and say, I get clonecd to work, I don't mind having both.

But I can't see putting money out if I can't get the trials to work for me.

Can anyone advise me on these and the BSOD for Alcohol and if it will do what I want?

I also gave Daemon tools a shot.

Hopefully someone that has used all of these can tell me which one or 2 work best Hoping Alcohol is one as I have read a lot of good things...just afraid of that BSOD that I got...really wierd...thanks all...t

[Twolf13]

Another question, PResales...hope this is the right forum

I got clonecd to work. But to play the game it has to have cdtray running in the systray and an option "hide cdr" to hide the fact that it is a copy from the game. so that has to be running in the background.

My question for you folks, is is the same true with Alcohol. does it or part of it have to be running in the background or systray to play a backup cd made from an image created by Alcohol? I would like a program that I can burn the image to archive on hdd and then burn a backup copy to play from without having to have alcohol or something running in background or systray telling the game it is not a copy or whatever. Can you tell me if this is common for all these programs or will Alcohol allow me to make image and backup disk and just play on any computer without having anything running in the background? thanks...t

I would add I am only interested in archiving and saving my PC game masters, some are older games that can't get anymore and am not interested in ripping music or movies..only my PC games..thanks

Edited by Twolf13, 01 March 2010 - 07:14 AM.

[Charalambos]

Backing up Safedisc CDs is very hardware depended, it really has to do with your burners EFM capabilities (have a look at the FAQ if you want to learn more about it). Also the newer the version of Safedisc the more difficult to be backed up. If you write the disk with the Safedisc 2/3/4 (EFM capable) datatype (remember to use the minimum speed possible and wait for the protection's numerous read errors to be bypassed) the disc that you will make will be able to work without any program installed- if it will be a good enougth copy so as to work. If you use the Safedisk 2/3/4 datatype (obligatory for Safedisc DVDs since there are not EFM capable commercial DVD drives) you'll have to write the disc with the RMPS data (you can have a look at the FAQ if you want to learn more about it too) and use the RMPS emulation of Alcohol. The same goes for discs protected with SecuROM (you may have to cloack the virtual drives with ACID- bandled with Alcohol- in order to bypass its blacklistings) or Starforce (in this case you may have to temporarily deactivate/uninstall your physical IDE/ATAPI drives or even their controlers in order to play with an image, newer versions doesn't require it ): Because of their abnormal topology the only way to use an image/copy is to make the image with the DPM data (using the corresponding datatype) and, if you want to make a copy, burn the image with the RMPS data and use the RMPS emulation. This emulation can be provided from Alcohol 52% Free (freeware).
There are other programs (the CloneCD is excluded) that can make images of discs with abnormal topology and play them with emulation but Alcohol is the only program (as far as I know) that can burn them and make working discs. This can be really usefull in case of SecuROM (the same goes for the SafeDisc's copies too) if you can't play with an image because of the blacklisting of the SCSI drives- of course in this case ACID can usually solve the problem- and in case of Starforce you can play with a copy using a drive with SCSI/RAID connection (not IDE/ATAPI) which can be an internal or an external USB one. You can keep and use these copies as backups but with one restriction: You can never make a 1:1 copy of a copy protected disc, so you must always use the original disc to make an image or a backup.

I got clonecd to work. But to play the game it has to have cdtray running in the systray and an option "hide cdr" to hide the fact that it is a copy from the game. so that has to be running in the background.

If your drive is a burner this is necessary whatever program you use because the copy protection can use its ATIP reading to determind if the disc is an original one or a backup.

That's the way the things are, anyway if you purchase Alcohol after giving a look at its trial version or checking what it can do (in the FAQ and the Help Files sections) you won't regret it.