I've searched this entire site looking for an answer as to why it does this, and all the posts are for PS2 consoles. Im trying to write Civilization 4, sim city 4 and others to my HD and they take forEVER and every block is disc read error... I've scanned them all with A ray and got the protection names,, am i doing something wrong here? Or is this just the way the newer games are? please help this is frustrating..
continue from above.. its been 45 minutes now and i only have 1% done.. I went on the online manual and it says that disc read error is normal but the whole darn disc? WHAT??
The copy protection places the errors on the disc.
If you are attempting to copy any game protected with safedisc the only reliable methods is to use alcohol or make an image with discdump and burn that image with in either dao16 or dao96 mode.
No matter which program you use to make an image of the cd, don't be concerned about either the fact that initially the cd reading proceeds at snail's pace or that the program reports numerous read errors. This is normal for all safedisc protected cds because, as part of the protection, the cds have numerous bad sectors in the first 10,000 sectors or so (generally between 550 and 600 for safedisc 2). Once the reading program has finished reading those sectors, normal extraction will resume and the remainder of the cd will be read in a few minutes, at most (even on a slow reader).
ALCOHOL 120%
1. After starting the program and inserting the cd to be copied into your chosen reader (note: for the time being, use your writer as the reader; owing to a minor bug in the trial program safedisc reading speed is appalling with my Ltd-163 but is quite acceptable with my Ltr-24102b; the programmer is aware of the problem and is working on fixing it), click on Copy Wizard.
2. At the next screen select your reader and reading speed and select Safedisc 2 as the Datatype to set the appropriate reading method. Then click next.
3. At the next screen, you will be asked to specify an image name and a destination directory. The defaults already selected are OK so just click next.
4. At the next screen, select your recorder, make sure Bypass EFM Errors is unchecked (otherwise, correct write settings for safedisc 2 will already have been set by the program), and then click Start .
5. Reading will then commence and on the screen displayed there will be an indication of progress and of the reading errors encountered.
6. When reading finishes you will be prompted to insert a blank cd into your writer. Do so and writing will commence as soon as the blank disc is detected.
7. When writing is completed the burnt cd will be ejected and a message that writing is completed will be displayed. Click OK on that message box, click Finish in the main program and you're done.
