using- HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE-8481B

ive looked at every thread on the internet on how to make a back up copy of this game and i was wondering if someone could help me step by step with this because im totely clueless, and have already wasted like 10 discs trying to get this to work, another thing what type of cd do i have to use to burn it? can i use cd-r? or does it have to be dvd because all i got is cd burner ;/ thanks for all the help in advance people =) =)


Also: this is from a-ray

and does the type of image file matter for what your doing, like .iso etc.. and the dao sao stuff? please help im really lost =(

Is your original disc a cd or a dvd? If it's a dvd, it won't be possible to make a working physical copy on any system. The best that you'll be able to do is make an image that can be run when mounted on a virtual drive.

Wow you lost me lol, the original disc? Pretty sure people have done the sims 2 before, i just don't know how because im new to this, now can you explain more on this virtual drive, this will be very helpful to me =P thanks

ok im getting alot of errors now, and its taking for ever to make the image 33 minutes now and its only at 0.7% burning at 4X ;/

The errors are normall that is the copy protection part I would change the read speed to 8x or 12x its only for the first 0% - 5%.

hey thanks, so what should i write it at then ;/ ?

i read the thread an i followed the steps of writing,now i have backedup the 4 cd's...can anyone tell me how should i write them?i am using alcohol120%....if it is not a problem i would apreciate a step-by-step guide to write it because i am a newbie too....thx for the hel guys...

pretty sure you don't need to backup with any special software for just the download discs? but you do for the game, correct me if im wrong ;/

2:11 minutes now and im only at 2.2% lol is this normal or what? and how long does it usually take people to make this image?


also aroudn what number do the errors stop ;/

Don't talk about downloaded Games/Disc's here its not aloud! It took me 15 mins to copy a Safedisc 3/4 protected game. (9 mins to read, 6 mins to write).

wierd took me like 3 hours, on 8X to read and amount 10 minutes to write, now maybe this isn't aloud but is there certain cd-drives that work and can i burn it using a cd-r?

also are you supposed to save it as a certain image, i used .iso and i get an error saying that i need to reinsert the cd-rom =(

Why not use alcohol's native (default) format which is mds/mdf?

Not at all. Different drives have different error skipping capabilities, that's all. Some drives can rip a safedisc protected cd in ~2.5 min reading at max whilst others will need anything up to 8 hours.

hey thanks, i have a wierd question now, i burnt in on the native mds format, and it only works on my computer for some reason, the computer i burnt it on, i tried it on only 3 other computers and it gets a cd-rom error, and clear up other stuff there is no virtual drives which it could be loading from, also it takes like 3 times of clicking the icon for it to actually load, like it will start and exit without notice =(. any ideas how to fix this...thanks

Do the other computers have an ordinary cd/dvd rom drive or do they only have writers?

the other computers have cd/rw drives


also it only works on the dvd-rom drive, havent tried it on a cd-rom drive yet

Then they can't pass the atip check that is part of the copy protection. You'll need some form of atip hiding utility such as alcohol's Ignore media type or CloneCD's hide cdr media to run the back-up copy on those systems 9unnecessary when running the game from an ordinary cd/dvd rom though).

hmm thanks, and also, i accidently read it at 48X and wrote it at 8X do you think that might be a reason that sometimes it loads on the computer that it does work on and sometimes it doesnt o.O

also, is there any "real" way to make a back up disk that is just as good as the one that i bought? that would work on any other computer, because i don't want to have to download alcohaul just to play the sims 2 ;(

I have just made a backup of sims 2 dvd with no problems and works perfect
I used clone cd /alcoholer
setings:- for clone cd
DVD/gamedvd gamedisk,
read sub-channel data on,
read sub-channel audio data on,
auto fast error,
read speed for data 4 x,
read spead for audio 4 x,
Best audio extraction,
write speed 4 x,
amplify weak sectors,

read and burnt on pioneer 108
installed and ran the game with SafeDisc 4 Hider running

I havent read all the above postings but someone might find it helpful
quite pleased i have managed to make a working backup, the last game I bought the bains they wrecked the disk in 2 months will be able to keep the origanal disk away from the jam eaters little fingers