calvinrsmith
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hot to make an iso file
How can I make an iso file from a cd without a burner?
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Yes normal cd-rom drives can read a cd. And CD-R drives can also read a cd. The problem is that a normal cd-rom drive doesn't read a cd -- it reads the data from the table of contents, then jumps over to the location of the file and reads that.
A CD-R drive (since the table of contents is written LAST) -- reads from block 000001 then block 000002 then block 000003, and so on sequentially, saving each piece of data in sequence to an ISO image file. So the image file is identical to the original cd-rom.
Since the basic cd-rom drive looks at the table of contents first, it doesn't save blocks that have no data in them thereby making it impossible to save block 000002 if nothing is there.
Even with your cd-r drive you can't make iso images of working copies of some software like Dungeon Keeper 2. Some games have errors written on the cd as a means of copy-protection. You could probably do it with a cd-duplicator (for a street price of $1200 for the duplicator itself).
Satisfied with this answer?
What you could probably get away with doing is get ez-cd software or GEAR cd-r mastering software which allows you to make an ISO image from the hard drive. I'm certain it wouldn't work nearly as well as a cd-r drive for the original as the volume label, serial number, and everything else wouldn't be there for it. But what you could possibly try is copying the entire cd to your hard drive, then use the cd-r software to save the iso image file to the hard drive too. That's the only way I can come up with to make it happen. EZ-CD sells for $99 for the software alone, and if you must spend money, you might as well spend the $200 for a cd-r drive (which comes with the software already)
A CD-R drive (since the table of contents is written LAST) -- reads from block 000001 then block 000002 then block 000003, and so on sequentially, saving each piece of data in sequence to an ISO image file. So the image file is identical to the original cd-rom.
Since the basic cd-rom drive looks at the table of contents first, it doesn't save blocks that have no data in them thereby making it impossible to save block 000002 if nothing is there.
Even with your cd-r drive you can't make iso images of working copies of some software like Dungeon Keeper 2. Some games have errors written on the cd as a means of copy-protection. You could probably do it with a cd-duplicator (for a street price of $1200 for the duplicator itself).
Satisfied with this answer?
What you could probably get away with doing is get ez-cd software or GEAR cd-r mastering software which allows you to make an ISO image from the hard drive. I'm certain it wouldn't work nearly as well as a cd-r drive for the original as the volume label, serial number, and everything else wouldn't be there for it. But what you could possibly try is copying the entire cd to your hard drive, then use the cd-r software to save the iso image file to the hard drive too. That's the only way I can come up with to make it happen. EZ-CD sells for $99 for the software alone, and if you must spend money, you might as well spend the $200 for a cd-r drive (which comes with the software already)
By using CDRWin from Golden Hawk Technology you can make an ISO image.
Well, there you go -- still you can't use cdrwin to read from a basic cd-rom drive.
/flames off.
OK, I downloaded cdrwin and yes, the newest beta was able to read off any of my cd-rom drives. I apologize SF 168. However, it saves a file on the hard drive when using the disk duplicator feature and saves it as a .BIN file. So I can't tell if it's a true ISO image, or what. And I still don't know if cdrwin will work without an actual cdr drive installed in the machine - the docs say you have to load aspi.sys before running it -- you might want to play with it a bit to see if it does what you want, and if your software works with the bin file.
OK, I downloaded cdrwin and yes, the newest beta was able to read off any of my cd-rom drives. I apologize SF 168. However, it saves a file on the hard drive when using the disk duplicator feature and saves it as a .BIN file. So I can't tell if it's a true ISO image, or what. And I still don't know if cdrwin will work without an actual cdr drive installed in the machine - the docs say you have to load aspi.sys before running it -- you might want to play with it a bit to see if it does what you want, and if your software works with the bin file.
ASKER
I'm looking for a way to make an iso file without a cd-r drive. Normal cdrom drives can read a cd so why not have a program to dump a cd to a file?