Read errors are normal for many types of CD copy protection. Just compare the number of read errors to the number on redump.org and you should be good. Securom disks will need MDS/MDF. It contains everything a CUE/BIN set has in addition to some extra stuff.

TheMLGladiator wrote on Yesterday, 15:35:

Read errors are normal for many types of CD copy protection. Just compare the number of read errors to the number on redump.org and you should be good. Securom disks will need MDS/MDF. It contains everything a CUE/BIN set has in addition to some extra stuff.

Hmm. I tried just the regular Securom and the files as MDF, but again, it got to 60%, came up with a disc read error, and cancelled the operation itself.
🙁 Looking on redump.org, it doesn't appear to list any errors at all.

http://redump.org/disc/78471/

This image is lifted from the alcohol 120% electronic user's manual. I hope fair use qualifies.

Note that on the image creation dialog window, 'skip read errors' exists.

It exists for this reason.

You can find said manual here.

https://support.alcohol-soft.com/documentatio … user-manual.pdf

In the event that these are *actual data defects*, and not copy ptotection factory-made bad blocks, I would advise the slowest read speed possible, AND, holding the disc up to a light to check for pinpricks in the top surface of the disc.

wierd_w wrote on Yesterday, 16:16:

This image is lifted from the alcohol 120% electronic user's manual. I hope fair use qualifies. […]
Show full quote

This image is lifted from the alcohol 120% electronic user's manual. I hope fair use qualifies.

The attachment Screenshot_20260201-101238_Firefox.png is no longer available

Note that on the image creation dialog window, 'skip read errors' exists.

It exists for this reason.

You can find said manual here.

https://support.alcohol-soft.com/documentatio … user-manual.pdf

Yeah, that's usually ticked anyway for me. Especially after choosing one of the presets. It makes no difference though. It gets stuck at 60.5% every time with read error after read error. I checked the disc and it's immaculate, too.

Personally I don't trust alcohol to not fuck with the redbook so it's been CloneCD/DVD for me with my game discs (bin/cue/ccd/sub). Very protected games tend to be more post-redbook though

I've given up at this point. Nothing I've tried works. And I can't even do it on my main PC with ImgBurn and copying/pasting the files directly off the disc. 🙁

leileilol wrote on Yesterday, 16:37:

Personally I don't trust alcohol to not fuck with the redbook so it's been CloneCD/DVD for me with my game discs (bin/cue/ccd/sub). Very protected games tend to be more post-redbook though

Alcohol doesn't handle multi-bin sets correctly either. I'll have to give CloneCD a shot sometime.

I'll give CloneCD/DVD a try next. 😀

If you are using Alcohol 120% Retro Edition on windows 98, it is missing a few features so I wouldn't count on it as a ripping and virtual drive option for copy protected discs. Most importantly it doesn't allow you to rip to or mount disc formats with subchannel data (e.g. mds/mdf and ccd/cue/sub). Those disc formats are typically required to enable copy protection emulation.

NeoG_ wrote on Yesterday, 21:48:

If you are using Alcohol 120% Retro Edition on windows 98, it is missing a few features so I wouldn't count on it as a ripping and virtual drive option for copy protected discs. Most importantly it doesn't allow you to rip to or mount disc formats with subchannel data (e.g. mds/mdf and ccd/cue/sub). Those disc formats are typically required to enable copy protection emulation.

Ahhhh. I see. Yeah, I'm using Retro Edition for 98. I didn't realise it was missing features. Thanks for the heads-up. 😀 Apart from trying CloneCD, which I'll do next, is there a version of Alcohol that's recommended?

DustyShinigami wrote on Yesterday, 22:12:

Ahhhh. I see. Yeah, I'm using Retro Edition for 98. I didn't realise it was missing features. Thanks for the heads-up. 😀 Apart from trying CloneCD, which I'll do next, is there a version of Alcohol that's recommended?

Since I'm on a K6/2+ I don't have a lot of power to spare, I opted to use unprotected disc images and patched executables to reduce the CD emulation overhead. I make the images on a modern computer in bin/cue format.

So unfortunately I don't have a good solution for you off the top of my head

Okay, thanks anyway. I'm about to try CloneCD. I don't know/think there's a version for Windows 98, although I'm happy to be proven wrong. So if it works, I'll use it on my main rig for dealing with any awkward discs.

EDIT: Hmm. It's got to that same point again, at 60%, and is struggling to go any further. 🙁 Though it is trying to write some dummy sectors, so we'll see.

I've used everything from CloneCD to Alcohol 120% to Blindwrite...Blindwrite being the most technical...I find that sometimes I have to make multiple attempts to figure out which one will work properly to make an image. I had the most success with using old versions of Alcohol and the current version of CloneCD, though sometimes they still need to be used in conjunction with the copy protection emulation in the Daemon Tools if mounting the iso.

You could try using CLONYXXL to help you determine the type of copy protection before attempting to use an appropriate ripper. There might be other programs similar to that out there that could help too.

There's no magic bullet that I've found and you have to do some work to get into a rhythm, so be prepared to dedicate some time to this venture. Go down the rabbit hole but stop before you buy rare and expensive CD-ROM variants that can supposedly read copy writed discs much better than the rest...unless you've got the money...

Shagittarius wrote on Today, 00:05:

Go down the rabbit hole but stop before you buy rare and expensive CD-ROM variants that can supposedly read copy writed discs much better than the rest...unless you've got the money...

... you've piqued my interest. I have a lot of optical drives and it would be nice to know if some were "special". Where would someone find a list of such drives? A quick google search did not turn anything up.

By chance I ended up with a drive about 10 years ago that was one of the unicorns that could read Wii discs. Pretty sure it came out of some random Dell tower I was given. That was an interesting find, and it actually did read the couple of Wii discs I tested. Pretty neat, heh.

Shagittarius wrote on Today, 00:05:

I've used everything from CloneCD to Alcohol 120% to Blindwrite...Blindwrite being the most technical...I find that sometimes I have to make multiple attempts to figure out which one will work properly to make an image. I had the most success with using old versions of Alcohol and the current version of CloneCD, though sometimes they still need to be used in conjunction with the copy protection emulation in the Daemon Tools if mounting the iso.

You could try using CLONYXXL to help you determine the type of copy protection before attempting to use an appropriate ripper. There might be other programs similar to that out there that could help too.

There's no magic bullet that I've found and you have to do some work to get into a rhythm, so be prepared to dedicate some time to this venture. Go down the rabbit hole but stop before you buy rare and expensive CD-ROM variants that can supposedly read copy writed discs much better than the rest...unless you've got the money...

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll look into those if all else fails. So far, at least, it's put together an image of the disc. I just need to test it out. 😀

Ozzuneoj wrote on Today, 00:11:

Shagittarius wrote on Today, 00:05:

Go down the rabbit hole but stop before you buy rare and expensive CD-ROM variants that can supposedly read copy writed discs much better than the rest...unless you've got the money...

... you've piqued my interest. I have a lot of optical drives and it would be nice to know if some were "special". Where would someone find a list of such drives? A quick google search did not turn anything up.

By chance I ended up with a drive about 10 years ago that was one of the unicorns that could read Wii discs. Pretty sure it came out of some random Dell tower I was given. That was an interesting find, and it actually did read the couple of Wii discs I tested. Pretty neat, heh.

Here's a great read about a particular scheme, it also recommends the best drive is the Plextor PlexWriter Premium (1) (not Premium 2).

https://gbatemp.net/threads/creating-ba ... emium%202).