How to make better Backups ?!

[theshadow]

Hi there !

I know that a working backup depends a lot on the reading/writing hardware.
I already made successful backups for Sim City 4, Gothic 2, Fifa 2003, C&C Generals with my CD Recorder which is ironically a SONY CD-RW CRX 1611 (you know, cuz Sony develops Securom).

The Problem is that e.g. Fifa 2003 and C&C Generals only start if I insert the backup into this Sony CD-RW.
If I try to start one of the games with the CD inserted into my DVD-ROM (16x);
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it fails to start without even a notice (I'd expect a "please insert the correct CD" notification, but nothing pops up).

So I guess, since my DVD-ROM is pretty much noname it fails to read the CD as an "original" cd.

So what can I do to improve the backup, so it works on all drives ??

Slower Image reading spead or slower writing spead or disabling Fast Error Skipping ??

Thanks in advance

The Shadow

[LocutusofBorg]

Fifa2003 and C&C Generals are both protected with SafeDisk2, this means, that the protections include so-called "weak sectors".

It depends strongly on the writer to create a really good backup. You can f.e. use Alcohols "Bypass EFM-Errors" (or CloneCD's "amplifiy weak sectors")-option to MAYBE (!) create a backup that run from DVD-Drive or other non-working drives.

The reason is, that your writer is maybe not capable to write such sectors correctly, you can proof this by yourself:

Start f.e. CloneCD and activate the Log and try to read the Backup using your DVD-ROM; if ANY error appears BELOW sector 800 the problem is your cd-writer, it writes the "weak sectors" not correctly. Try than the above mentioned advices and try again to read the new created backup with your DVD-Drive.

[theshadow]

Thanks for your help.

But "EFM-FEHLER AUSBESSERN" (German Version of Alcohol) is chosen at default for the Safedisc 2 Profil. So it's already been turned on.
AND: When I start reading an Image off the backup, my dvd-drive encounters the first error at Sector 825. So it's not below 800.

That's strange. But I guess it still must be my writer, cuz Images work just fine and every time by mounting them with Daemon-tools.

Any other ideas ??

Maybe turn "EFM FEHLER AUSBESSERN" off ??

The Shadow

[LocutusofBorg]

I'm such an Idiot

SafeDisc-Protection checks for the "correct" drive, that means, you must INSTALL and PLAY from the SAME drive, that's the reason, why your copys not run from dvd-drive. I bet you installed them from burner, uninstall the game and install it new from your dvd-drive, then it should work! If your copy doesn't contain read errors below sector 800 than everything is fine!

Although this is one of the first questions I ask, I'm sorry for the confusion here :oops:

[OlivierFromFrance]

You can also modify the key in the registry base which make reference to the cd reader location .

Just look for the name of the cd (or the name of the installation folder) and you will find a set of keys with one or 2 which make reference to for example f:\ or g:\ ..., you can replace f:\ by g:\ for example .

This works with 99.99 % of games .

[theshadow]

No No, it's not that.

I know about that registry stuff and guess what:

I installed Generals from my DVD Drive and can't play from it, but I can from my CD-RW.

Weird, huh ?

TheShadow

[NetSoerfer]

I can confirm that, Generals doesn't seem to check for the drive the CD has been put into. I installed from my Alcohol VDrive, and I can play from the Alcohol VDrive, the Daemon-Tools VDrive and from my hardware CDVD drives.

[slydog]

No No, it's not that.

I know about that registry stuff and guess what:

I installed Generals from my DVD Drive and can't play from it, but I can from my CD-RW.

Weird, huh ?

TheShadow

This is not unusual and I'm surprised Locutus does not remember this issue with Plextors some time ago. A SD2 protected image, read from a Toshiba 1402 or 1502, with Software EC turned on (CloneCD) will, most times, not play anywhere but the Toshiba DVD-ROM.

[OlivierFromFrance]

Does it work if you emulate safedisc in Daemon Menu ?

[LocutusofBorg]

This is not unusual and I'm surprised Locutus does not remember this issue with Plextors some time ago. A SD2 protected image, read from a Toshiba 1402 or 1502, with Software EC turned on (CloneCD) will, most times, not play anywhere but the Toshiba DVD-ROM.

Oh, I DID remember this issue :wink: , but he stated that he got NONE error below Sector 800, so it has nothing to do with the weaksectors for sure - except they added weak sectors above Sector 800, but I never heard about something like that.

He could read the disk correctly even on dvd-rom, so I think it's another problem, but it's only guess.
And he already tryed out the Emulation. No, I think the problem is more complicated than burner-related. But that's only my opinion