I have been wanting ImgBurn to be able to rip non-protected CD and DVD ISO images in addition to being able to burn them, but that feature is not in there yet and I don't know if it will ever be in there, so I have been trying to find a FREE supplemental app to provide that ability. Well, I think I've found one.

It is very simple and easy to use, and it can rip full, bootable CD's and DVD's into ISO's that you can later burn with ImgBurn. It does not burn DVD ISO's on Windows XP, so I'm only going to use it as a ripper and use ImgBurn as the burner. The app is a nice little ISO ripper / ISO reader / ISO maker and I'm glad it is not very big.

The program is called ISO Recorder, and it can be downloaded here:

http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm

I hope it helps folks who are ImgBurn fans to be able to have a full ISO ripping and burning solution between the two tools.

Happy burning,

BK

Thanks for the tip, BK - gonna download it now

Well what do you know? After doing some hardcore Google page cache viewing, I found 2 more:

The first one is called LCISOCreator and all it does is make ISO images from CD's and DVD's. It can be found here:

http://www.lucersoft.com/freeware.php

It's a single 53,248 byte executable and it seems about as idiot proof as it gets.

Another possibility is called CD2ISO, though I have not yet tested it. I found it in the Google searches too.

http://www.dubaron.com/cd2iso/

Looks like there are at least 3 freeware options to complement ImgBurn. Please share the joy...

Unfortunately the ISO Recorder will only record to CDs (not DVDs) so you need another application like ImgBurn to burn the image.

I personally didn't like the ISO Recorder application when I tried it a while ago because it doesn't rip multi-session DVD+RW media in the same way as most other ISO ripping tools - it only rips the files in the last session, whereas other tools I can think of such as IsoBuster (freeware/shareware) and UltraISO (shareware) rip the whole thing.

Since I use multi-session DVD+RW for backups all the time, this tools doesn't work that well for me.

But IsoBuster which is freeware, unless you want some of the more advanced features, will also rip an ISO image - it is not as user friendly for this purpose however.

Personally I mostly use UltraISO which isn't free, but at $30 for a lifetime license it's very cheap and it's an excellent ISO editing tool IMO.

Those two other ones listed there handle it amazingly well.

I will test them on a multi-session DVD+RW when I get home. Those two tools are amazingly small!

Yeah, I got so frustrated by ImgBurn's inability to truly rip disks, I just google-searched like a nut and found those. I'm glad I did.

ImgBurn is a very useful tool, so firing up one of these just to RIP a CD/DVD to an ISO image seems a small price to pay.

I didn't think people did much Multi-Session anymore...

Well, I do. It works really well on DVD+RW media (not DVD+R, DVD-RW or DVD-R - just DVD+RW) because the disc looks almost like a single-session disc and most applications treat it as such.

But there are exceptions, and the ISO Recorder tool was the first one that didn't work properly with my DVD+RW multi-session discs.

So why do I use DVD+RW multi-session?

I backup my documents once a week (using Nero BackItUp) to DVD+RW and when a disc is full (after 3-4 bakups) I transfer the files to permanent media (DVD±R) and in order to do that I need to read all the files off the DVD+RW disc, but reading the files would take an extremely long time because there are tens of thousands of files and the slow seek speed kills reading performance, so ripping the disc as an ISO image is much faster.

I could burn my backups directly to multi-session DVD±R discs, but I don't like the reduced compatibility of such multi-session discs, and I have found no tools that can rip such discs properly (with the possible exception of PlexTools on Plextor drives whcih might be able to do it.)

Cool beans, man.

Hey, that LCISOCreator app is bone-stock easy to use. Wow.

Well, I shall try them all

I tend to use DVD-RAM for incremental backups, so the multi-session thing isn't such an issue for me.

These two tools (cd2iso and LCISOCreator) are not smart enough to handle multi-session DVD+RW media correctly, unfortunately. Only the last session is read and it is read incorrectly.

The only free tools I know of that handle this properly are: IsoBuster and DVDisaster. Both of these tools can do other stuff as well, and the user interface for creating an ISO image is not as easy as for the two small tools that BeardedKirklander presented above, but they are more powerful.

Sorry Drage. Guess they'll work for most things, just not a few of the more advanced uses.

Don't be sorry - it's not your fault.

For peope who only use single-session discs, any of these small tools (ISO Recorder, cd2iso, LCIsoCreator) should work well and be easy to use, so thanks for making us aware of these tools.

I wish there was some way we could convince LUK to update ImgBurn to handle that stuff. But I guess IsoBuster will do the trick, so not all is lost.

Hello,

I propose using ISO-burner utility. It is really easy to use, free and never failed me. If you wish you can give it a glance too
http://www.ntfs.com/iso-burning.htm

Options are always nice to have. Thanks.

I don't get it!!
Why abandon an application that already gets the job done?
DVD Decrypter still rips and burn ISO files and it's still free.

Why use ImgBurn if it is deficent in it's ability to accomplish the desired tasks?

For me, ImgBurn is not an option, DVD Decrypter does what I need, which is to rip and burn.

There is simply no easier way to make a backup copy of a disc.

what? you guys don't like using Build Mode or something?

Build mode is not the same as a true RIP of a disk to an ISO image, I believe.

If your image is so large that it takes up 7 gig, perhaps use a dual layer DVD?

Because ImgBurn uses an enhanced version of DVD Decrypters burning back-end, and is also still developed i.e. get's bugs fixed and features added. If DVD Decrypter is working fine for all your needs, then that's just great, but please understand that there are others that on the other hand prefer to use the enhanced version of DVD Decrypters burning backend instead, and dosen't think that it's the end of the world to go use something else for the ripping part. For ripping DVD-VIDEO's, then i also use DVD Decrypter, with RipIt4Me as it's frontend, to defeat ARCooS protected titles.

From a pure ISO / ripping standpoint - for DATA ONLY - I wish that LUK would update ImgBurn to include the improved code. He has chosen NOT to enable a ripping feature - even for data only - because it was the ripping / decrypting that got him noticed by Sony. Discussion has been that he only has to avoid DECRYPTING to stay clear, that he could work on ripping Data to ISO without any of that decrypting stuff, but he chooses not to so there is a clear separation between what got him in trouble and what he is doing now.

It's all a big mess, but if you go visit the forums on his site, it seems clear that there are updates in ImgBurn that provide superior output to the code that was in Decrypter in terms of burning images.

There is a LOT to like about ImgBurn, even though it cannot create a data rip ISO. But I can understand how some folks might balk at using it because it is in fact an incomplete solution, sadly.

I'm just trying to help bring some freeware solutions to light to help supplement ImgBurn, since so many people do think so highly of it.

I believe the only major flaw in the package is the lack of a true ISO rip. Isn't the burning portion of the code superior to what DVD Decrypter offers?

My view on this issue is that ImgBurn is an burning application, and hence, image ripping is not a missing feature. Also, i 100% respect LUK!'s decision about not including any kind of sector-to-sector image ripping capabilities, as it's his decision, and only his. Many people has asked him why he dosen't just include data image ripping capabilities into ImgBurn as that wouldn't be illegal, but as he says, unless a legal expert comes forward and says that it's 100% allright to include it legally, and also which also promises him to provide all the needed cache needed to go to court, if one day some giant corporation does decide to sue him, then he will add it! It's easy for us others to say that there will 100% be no legal issues about implementing it, when it's not our a**'es that's on the stake here!

Personally i am just totally greatfull to LUK! for making such a great burning app, and as there are so many other apps out there that specialices in the disc ripping field, then i really don't see the big problem here.

Just my 2 cent's.

Well, I don't know. The fact that he added a Build mode that includes the ability to burn VIDEO_TS folders to make a working DVD Video disk would seem to fly in the face of all that a little bit.

But hey, it is his program, and if he wants to exclude data-only ISO creation, that's his call.