Hey there. I'm new to this forum, but I searched around to try and find the answer to this question while figuring out how to do all this stuff I'm trying to make a backup of my purchsed copy of HOMM4 (Heroes of Might and Magic 4). The first CD (Install CD) copied fine, but I ran into a problem with the game CD. I downloaded and ran ClonyXXL, and it said the disc was protected by "SafeDisc v2". I followed the tutorial on how to copy a disc with this method, by downloading/installing Alcohol 120% and using the Image Making Wizard. I switched the Datatype to "SafeDisc 2", and tried to create an image of the disc. However, I'm still getting Read Errors. If I'm doing something wrong, can someone please let me know? I tried on 3 diff CD drives, but it's obvious the problem is that the encryption is not letting me read the disc, and the methods that Alcohol 120% are using don't seem to be working. = Thanks!
Ignore them. The image will have 'bad sectors' embedded to it, and this is how things work. When you need to write them back, there is a little issue to solve. Usually Alcohol 120% 'emulates' weak sectors by default, selecting Datatype=Safedisc2. This is shown by the default selection on the 'Bypass EFM error' checkbox. If you have a '2-sheep burner' (see http://elby.ch/english/products/clone_cd/writers/a.html ) you might need to modify manually that setting, by UNCHECKING the 'Bypass EFM error' Alcohol checkbox. Read this article http://clone.cd/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=583 to learn more about this issue.
Hmm.. my burner wasn't on the list, so I wasn't sure whether it was a 1 sheep or 2 sheep burner (it's a Philips CDRW800).. so I tried burning it both ways. For both resulting CDs, the intro screen would pop up fine, but when you hit play, it asks you to insert the CD.. so I guess it didn't work either way. Any other suggestions? Thanks again!
Inserting a CD when playing is a 'CD check' that occurs even on original games, the problem is if the game does not work with the backup copy on the CD-Unit. BTW, you have done 90% of the job. If the backup copy is not enough good to bypass the CD-check then you couldn't make a 'perfect' backup (your burner wasn't good enough). But.. you might have burned a 'working' backup. To try using your backup (i.e. to cheat the CD-check) you can try to run Alcohol 120%, enabling Emulation-->Ignore Media and close (not exit) Alcohol on the system tray. If it still doesn't work, you might also want to enable 'Emulation-->Extra Emulation--> BAD sector emulation) on Alcohol and try again. Report here the results... HOMM4 is Safedisk 2.51 protected, so it shouldn't be really difficult to backup with Alcohol 120%...
Yeah, neither burn I made worked while having the CD in the drive. This is probably attributed to, as you said, not having a particularly good burner (think I paid $40 for it ). However, I took your advice and tried loading up Alcohol 120%, and went into Emulation, checked "Ignore Media Type". I then mounted the CD image into Alcohol and launched it. It still bombed, so I tried the last alternative. I went into "Extra Emulation" and checked the "BAD Sectors Enabler". I remounted the image and relaunched it. Voila! It worked! Thanks a ton for all your help!
Jinsaku, Congrats on your successfull backup m8! Just a reminder any time you wan't to play the backup, you'll need emulation. If you backup games on a frequent basis, then consider another burner that corrects EFM encoding= 2 sheep burner. One of the best out there at present is the LiteON LTR 52x or MemorexMAX52x (rebagged Litey). Shoey
Yeah, when I bought this burner, I kinda sucked with hardware, so I bought the cheapest one I could find, in case I focked it up when I installed it. Now that I know much more about hardware, the next burner I pick up (besides a DVD burner) will be a better one. I've noted down your recommendations. Thanks!
