Does any one have any experience with cdrecord/readcd?

[zeekec]

Does any one have any experience using cdrecord and readcd for making 1:1 copies of CDs?

They freely are availible for both Linux and Windows (under cygwin);
but I don't know if they are suitable for 1:1 copies.

Cdrecord home page.

[zeekec]

Interesting note

The new version of Deamon-Tools (3.43) is no longer detected by cdrecord -scanbus. It was detected previously, but gave worning about improperly sized structures.

[David Brown]

I use cdrecord regularly for making cds, both on windows and linux. I find it is faster and more reliable than commercial windows programs (like Nero). It is easiest to use with the CDR front end:

http://demosten.com/cdrfe/

Since the tools themselves are command-line, they are easy to use in batch files for things like automatic backups - the cdrfe front-end will even show you the command lines to use, to save looking at help screens or man pages.

I haven't tried using cdrecord for protected cds - I know it won't work for copying the more difficult protection systems (although it may work with daemon tools's emulations). It certainly works fine for simple backups of unprotected cds.

[Sapiens]

If it can't read subcodes or build sector density files, it won't be of much use in making copies of 99% of today's games. Alcohol and BlindWrite are your best bets, despite being Windows-only.

[David Brown]

Readcd reads a straight iso image, so as far as I know that will include the subchannels, TOCs, audio tracks and anything else there - but it will not read defective sectors or timing information. However, I've now used it for Alpha Centuri and Jedi Knight II, and both games have worked fine after mounting with Daemon Tools. This is a bit of a relief - my Jedi Knight CD has been getting a bit worn and has aquired unintentional bad sectors. The command line I used, in case anyone wants to try it, is:

readcd dev=1,1,0 f=jedi.iso -v retries=32 timeout=30 -s speed=16 -noerror

(Use readcd --help for options).