newbie questions

[deathscythe]

i have some questions about burning DC backups cause i really keep screwing up and wasting CD's. Some of the games that i got from HK
are in bad condition and don't work anymore.So i really want a backup copy of them.

-Does the brand of the CD matter?
-Can a protected DC game CD(games from HK) still be burnt?
-Can slightly damaged CD's still be backed up using Clone CD sector amplifying?

I successfully made a back up of my NBA2k1 using CloneCD's image to CD
but when i put it in the DC it didn't load up;it was a perfect copy when i put them into the Cd rom drives they were identical...i was wondering if it had to do with the CD brand.

I also tried using disk juggler's recorder to image then to recorder but it wasn't even close to the original CD when i put them into the CD rom drives; the original was larger so it didn't load.

I'm pretty new at this, i've read the faqs and all but i've hardly had any luck with burning games.

please post any sugesstions or anything that i'm doing wrong as i would really apreciate u guys for helping me

[Megalexxx]

I had some problems with some CDs...

Maybe you could try Blind Read / Blind Write. I never tested it, but it might work.

There also might be some tools to unprotect CD.

[Wayne]

You're not trying to copy original GD-ROM discs on your CDRW drive, are you????

You can tell if it's a GD-ROM disc if it's a SEGA disc, and if you can see two bands of data on the recorded side. GD-ROM discs will usually have a small band of data near the center, followed by a gap, and then more data area from the gap to some point near the outer edge of the disc.

If these discs you're trying to copy are not BACKUP discs already, (meaning they are GD-ROM discs), you'll ***NEVER*** be able to copy them using a CDRW drive. You'll have to RIP them using a serial cable (or BBA, NIC and cable), and special software (TerraTerm & Serial/Slave software).

Please elaborate about these discs you're trying to copy.

[deathscythe]

they're from hong kong and it dosen't come with a manual so i'm pretty sure its not a GD.I've been able to get a few games to run but they have weird bugs in it like sound dosen't play every now and then, longer loading times and graphical glitches.

[Megalexxx]

In Honk Kong, you can find GDRom copiers, so you might also have GDRom copies...

Can you read the file system ? I mean, can you see files on your CD using windows explorer (files like 1st_read.bin for example) ?
If not, it's a GDRom...

[deathscythe]

yeah i can read the files.
The thing is that my friend lent me his copy of Grandia 2 which he downloaded and burnt.I was able to copy it successfully where as my CD's from HK always fails.I think its the protection thing.

[Wayne]

It could *STILL* be a GD-ROM thing...

The **COPY** that your friend "downloaded and burned" is going to be easy to make copies of, because it's on a standard CD-R disc. The CD-R discs generally top out at about 700mb (some are more but few drives support them).

A GD-ROM holds around 1 GB of data and as such, a good way to see if you have a GD-ROM is to insert the disc in your computer, load "My Computer" and right-click the drive with the disc. Choose "Properties". If it only shows to be a few meg in size (1 to 50+ MB) you're looking at a GD-ROM. All of your games should have at least 200 MB of data (most will be upwards of 400-650 mb or more).

If you see a very small quantity of data, you're looking at a GD-ROM and the method I described before (RIPPING) is required to make copies.

This is the **ONLY** method of "PROTECTION" that I've ever seen for Dreamcast, and it's very effective for the casual copier.

[Megalexxx]

On some Hooligans (R18) releases, some files are "hidden" so that you can't just copy all the files on your HD in order to make a selfboot copy, for example. You need to edit the image TOC to "unhide" these files...
But I think you can make a CD to CD copy anyway.

[deathscythe]

yeah its definetly a cd most of my HK games are about 500 megs;
has anyone burnt pirated(obviously) dc games from hong kong before?
please let me know
thanks for your help everyone