CD-R Media:
Thanks go to PKer for this.
It is a popular misconception that there are huge differences between CD media. Simply put, there is not. Each CD-R CD must meet a certain set of guidelines to be sold in the United States. Even the cheapest CD-R media meets these guidelines. A few older CD-Rs seem to be a bit picky about what media they use, but with these few exceptions in mind, it is safe to say, it doesn’t matter what CD-R media you choose. We have burned well over 1000 CDs using the cheapest brand of media on the market. Not once did we get a bad piece of media. Not once did a burn fail due to the CD itself. There are always other factors, which contribute to a burn failure. Sony CDs work the same as generic CDs period. Anyone who tells you different either has one of the aforementioned “picky” CD-Rs of which we only know there to be one, or he or she has succumbed to subversive advertising techniques. Here are the rules to buying CD media:
1. Buy new media only. Do not buy any CDs that have been out of the package, used or not.
2. Always buy your media from a reputable vendor. This way you can be sure you are buying media that meets or exceeds the ISO standards no matter what the cost.
Do not buy media at a flea market or through fly-by-night mail order companies. Many times you can get deep discounts by buying CDs in bulk. If you don’t need 50, 100, or more CDs at once, get your friends to chip in and just split up the CDs and the cost. Your target cost per CD should never be more than $1. There will be the occasional situation where you might have to pay more, but you should always aim for that $1 price range.
Preparing to Burn:
Preparation is half the battle. The idea is to burn the CD right the first time every time. This traces right back to the original copy you are trying to back-up. If you are backing up from your hard drive simply make sure the media you are burning to is brand new and in good condition. Keep your CD-R clean by buying any of the cleaning kits available for around $6 at any computer store. Also keep the tray closed when not using the burner, and don’t leave CDs in your burner when not using it, as CDs tend to attract dust. You should probably clean your CD-R after every 1000 hours of burning. CD-R burning tends to be very clean, but over time, you can build up dust or other particles on the optical lens, which will need to be cleaned.
If you are burning from another CD, you should make sure that the original CD is in good condition. Many CDs that you might buy second hand, or from the used video game section at your local video store, may have dirt, finger prints, and scratches all over them. These scratches etc. will cause errors when making a backup of the CD. Before you go out and buy filler kits to repair scratched CDs, or send the CD out to be re-surfaced by a professional, try cleaning you CD with denatured alcohol. Use ONLY denatured alcohol, as denatured alcohol evaporates leaving no chemical residue. Isopropyl and other “disinfectant” type alcohol leave a chemical residue behind which in large enough doses could harm your CD-R. Simply use a cotton swab or other soft non-abrasive towel, to carefully clean off all of the fingerprints and dirt from the CD. You will be surprised what you can’t see. You should be left with a mirror like finish on the CD. Even if there are a few scratches, if the CD is extremely clean, those scratches may not stop you from making an accurate backup.
If you have an IDE CD-R, if you can, make sure that it is on a ribbon of its own. For maximum through-put considerations, having the CD-R as a single master drive will offer you the best possible performance, and least chance of “buffer underruns” and other errors of that type. SCSI drives do not need to worry about where they sit on the SCSI bus because the addressing system is much better than the master/slave situation of IDE.
Capturing your image:
In most cases, it is better if you backup your original CD to the hard drive first. This will help to make sure you have the necessary throughput going to the CD-R. In some cases this is not possible, due to space limitations etc. Some software programs offer “on-the-fly” recording or CD to CD recording. A few rules of thumb when using this type of recording are: Do not, back-up from a CD to a CD-R on the same IDE ribbon cable. This can cause buffer underruns and other errors that will ruin your backup procedure. “On-the-fly” recording is best used for Audio CDs only. Data CDs tend to have more complicated sectors which may again cause errors to occur. If you do use “on-the-fly” recording for data CDs, use 1X recording in order to minimize chance of error. Remember that you CANNOT make a bit by bit backup of a CD using your CD reader as a source drive.
The new popular “disk-at-once” option is a good way to capture a CD image to your hard drive for backup purposes. Most software offers “disk-at-once” capability now. You can use “create an image” or “extract image” procedures to do the same basic thing as disk at once. This will basically create a mirror image of the CD you are attempting to back-up. It is best that you use your actual CD-R for disk-at-once backups. This is because the CD-R is most likely the best CD reader you have. Although it may not be the fastest, it is the most precise, nine times out of ten. It also allows you to do a bit by bit backup because you are using the same CD to read and write. Remember that you CANNOT make a bit by bit backup of a CD using your CD reader as a source drive.
Once you have decided what method you will use to capture your image, it is next a good idea to view the Table of Contents
When capturing most software your settings will remain constant. You most likely won’t have to change your settings unless you run into problems. You should normally set your “error recovery” option to disable. This will just let the procedure continue even if the CD-R perceives it has found an error. Even PSX games that people say have errors, actually do not. A brand new PSX game should back-up with no error, no matter how you have your error recovery set. In a few instances, there are “bad blocks” on a CD as a copy protection, and for this reason, you disable error recovery. Next, as a rule of thumb, you should disable Jitter protection. Jitter protection should be used ONLY when making backups of Audio only CDs. Any CD that has audio and data should be captured without jitter correction. Jitter correction is an algorithm that corrects the slight “tick” you hear at the beginning or end of an audio track.
Subcoding or Subcode Analysis is where things get a bit more sinister. When backing-up data CDs of either type, Mode 1 or Mode 2, you can and should normally disable this. Any mixed mode CD, containing multiple Data tracks should have subcode options left on Auto Discovery or Auto. The real trick is when you have one Data track and a bunch of Audio tracks. Then you should set the Subcoding to fixed. A fixed setting assumes that each Audio track contains the pregap sector of 2 seconds. Unless you know of specific reasons for particular CDs, it is best to use these settings above for good image capture.
A new option has appeared in Nero due to concerns about copy-protection schemes. This is “Ignore Illegal Table of Contents”. A few manufacturers have used Illegal table of contents to fool CD-R software. If you are using Disk-At-Once recording, many times this can be passed right by and never noticed. The same goes if you are first creating an image of the file.
Some software writes .cue sheets or contents sheets that you can edit. These are also sometimes called Subcode-Qs. It is always a good idea to review these .txt files in order to ensure you have made a valid back-up of your software and that when you burn the backup it will work correctly.
Your actual capture speed will vary depending on the condition and type of CD you are trying to back-up. If you are backing up a CD with one track, such as a Mode 2 track, you can easily capture at Maximum speed with your CD-R without much worry. If you have a clean, undamaged original, and you have set your software correctly, you will capture without error. If you are trying to capture Mixed Mode CDs or CDs with a lot of Audio tracks, it is best to capture at 1X, no matter what the condition of the CD.
Burning your image:
If you have captured your software correctly, then it is less and less important how you burn it to your new CD. For best quality it is a good idea to burn at 1X as this will offer the sharpest possible video and the highest quality sound. Burning at 2X and 4X are entirely possible if you are starting off with an error free image, as you should be.
To Review:
1. Clean dirty and used CDs with denatured alcohol to a mirror like finish.
2. You will be better served by capturing images to your hard drive first.
3. Do not use Error correction or Jitter control in most circumstances.
4. If your software allows, review the .cue sheet or contents sheet file for errors.
5. Do not use “on-the-fly” backing-up for anything other than pure Audio CDs.
6. Capture Multi-Mode disks at 1X.
7. Use your CD-R as your capture device. Remember that you CANNOT make a bit by bit backup of a CD using your CD reader as a source drive.
8. Use any reputable CD Media you wish as long as it is new and in good condition
9. Burn at 1X if you encounter errors during capture, if you are backing up multi mode CDs or desire the best possible audio or Video.
10. Go to it!