hi jjcool,
sorry about not replying m8 i have been away from my yahoo account (forgotten password LOL) so only just read ur's and gabber's messages.
you are rite in the fact that now in teh light of day my files are just dummies too

, in fact if you have the log open when using clonecd it shows a load of dummy data being written.
about my opening post of dd64 i have no idea what this is and not tried it, its a just a rumour i heard and though it mite be worth posting here. i guess it maybe something along the same lines that people used to rip n64 games i dont know.
like u say back 2 the drawing board