working copy of the SIMs
 

I just made a working copy of the SIMs with CloneCD. But it only works in the CD writer. Could it be that my CD-Rom is cheap and unable to handle the job or could it be that CloneCD CD's only work in the writer that created them?

I had the same problem!
Try unchecking the DMA box on your cd rom Properties. (Control panel, system, Device manager tab and then CD ROm. )
It worked for me !!

Top cat you managed to make a working back up of the sims i see, i dont know why it doesn;t want to work in in the cd rom , have you tried it in other peopls cd roms and if they worked it could be your rom i think but try the other oaks advice first!
Fgrom packer