Back up your copy-protected CDs.

[DTSS]

By Kevin Rose

When I purchased my first CD-R drive (1X speed), the standard for burning CD-Rs was Easy CD Creator. Somewhere between the launch of Windows 2000 and the launch of Windows XP, Easy CD's market share started to give way to Nero's market share.

Today, Nero is my CD-burning software of choice. It's rock-solid, it's easy-to-use, and it works great for burning and backing up data and music CDs. But it can't handling copy-protected data CDs such as games.

Most new games released in the United States have some form of copy protection. If you stick a new game in your CD-ROM drive, put a blank in your CD-R, and click copy, you'll likely get errors and the copied disc won't work. The solution: Alcohol 120%.

Copy protection

There are several CD copy protection solutions, including SafeDisc, StarForce, and SecuRom. Most of these solutions work by duplicating errors. When it's created, a copy-protected data disc is burned with unique errors or physical flaws. Under normal usage these errors are ignored. But when you try to copy the disc, the CD-burning software tries to correct these errors. After receiving the first few errors, the burning software decides the disc is damaged and aborts the burn.

Alcohol 120% can duplicate these errors on new CD-Rs using a different backup method for each type of copy protection. Backing up your games is a two-step process:

You must identify the type of copy protection used on your games. But how? Use the Internet.
Fire up Alcohol 120% and select Copy Wizard.
Under Datatype choose the copy protection of your game.
Click Next and begin your burn.

Hard Drive Backup

With Alcohol 120% you can also back up and run your games on your hard drive.


1.Choose the Image Making Wizard in Alcohol 120%.
2.Choose Datatype.
3.Select the copy protection of your game.
4.Click Backup. This will create a duplicate CD image on your hard drive.

Once you have the image on the hard drive, you can mount it as a virtual CD drive and run the game directly from your hard disk. Not only does this save you from swapping out CDs, but it also runs the game up to 200 times faster than a standard CD-ROM drive.

Learn more about Alcohol 120% and download a free trial copy.[

 

[BennyD]

cheers, but i can't help thinking that making a piece of software that will 90% be used for piracy will mean that they won't get alot of people buying it

 

[1ManArmY]

can clony cd (skulls) difficulty level of protection aid you in you duplication process? At what speeds do you copy/image?

 

[yihsun]

Alcohol 120% rocks!!

 

[TheWart]

alcohol 120% always works for me.

 

[HomerSapien]

nero has the option to burn bad sectors and burn exactly as read. I havent used an up to date version for some time, but they still work for me.

 

[DTSS]

Nero, CAN NOT BACK UP copy protected games!

Acholol 120% can even copy playstation 2 games! For back up ONLY.

 

[SaigonK]

I use Alcohol for stuff I dont want to throw in the cd drive all the time.
Makes my life alot easier...

 

[DTSS]

Originally posted by: SaigonK
I use Alcohol for stuff I dont want to throw in the cd drive all the time.
Makes my life alot easier...

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: DTSS
Nero, CAN NOT BACK UP copy protected games!

Acholol 120% can even copy playstation 2 games! For back up ONLY.

yeah, because im sure that's what you use it for.

 

[DTSS]

If you must know what i use it for................................

With Alcohol I back up and run my games on my hard drive.

And yes all my games are bought and paid for! For those peeps that insist on making negative remarks about this software.

 

[Jhill]

Thanks, I'll try it.

 

[DaMutha]

I got it for the sole purpose of mounting my BF1942 disc so I don't have to keep remembering to put it in the drive everytime I play (which is too much).

 

[dakels]

I use CloneCD but it too has problems with some games. MOH is one. I like to run games from images off my HD (using Virtual Daemon) for many reasons. First of all, my DVD+RW is louder then all hell, 2nd its also annoying to have to swap my disc's everytime I change games, which can be quite often. 3rd, I don't have to worry about scratching the orginal discs which I keep in their original cases and boxes. I understand how this could be used for piracy but c'mon, game companies should think of something a little better then a stupid CD verification and anti piracy measures. Why does my $30 game CD require this when my $600 applications do not? I'd be 100% satisfied with online Registration Key check option over a physical CD-check. This should be a built in option on all games. Not mandatory so people without online connections can still use the CD check option. In fact, an online verification would be a better anti piracy measure then a CD check which can be bypassed via a burning method or a hacked no-CD exe.

All the games I have are all multiplayer anyways which checks your registration key every time you log on, why should I have to leave my CD in there too? I think it's a pathetic method of antipiracy. Also, I thought US law permits the owner to make one copy for themselves for backup purposes?

 

[DTSS]

bump

 

[Smilin]

Dakels:

Yes, US law allows you to make a copy for yourself. All the common sense rules apply ie if you sell your game you have to destroy the backup.

I've got probably over a hundred games and I typically just use the no-cd hack rather than backups. It saves me from having to hunt for the CD to play and when I don't use my cd's they tend to stay in good shape. An added bonus is that most games load faster as well.

This is a good resource for all of you seeking to do the same:

http://www.gameburnworld.com

For those of you wishing to pirate: !@#$ you for making the price of software go up for us legitimate users. Get a job.

 

[dakels]

thanks smilin. I don't want to use no-CD hacks cuz I play all these games online and often whenever I try no-CD hacks, I always seem to get a error saying I am running a different application then the host or server is. I got alot of my games running on virtual daemon but I should try alcohol since I hear it covers some games that VD does not. In fact I can't get VD or cloneCD virtual drive to work with most newer games. My main PITA's right now are my EA games like MOHAA/MOHAAS and BF1942. All of which I only play online so obviously I own legit copies. Still, I can't seem to make a copy or image that will work for teh CD check. The best I have done allows me to install, mount, etc but when it checks for the CD, the game crashes. Since those games I may sometimes just pop on for 15-30 minutes or so, it's annoying to have to grab the CD and change it. My desk is also an art table and has no drawers. I also have 3 computers on it No shelf to store 20 game CDs on it. It's very annoying to have to swap CD's all the time and I'm not gonna leave them on the desk with no cases or else I'll be replacing them soon.