Alcohol 120

[dyurko]

Sorry if this has been asked and answered before.
Does Alcohol 120 or any other program make a perfect 1:1 backup of PC games?

I'm considering purchasing Alcohol 120 to use for backing up my games.
I've been using Farstone's Virtual Drive and Gamecopy, but it doesn't copy 1:1

I still have to put in the original CD or use a NO-CD patch.

Thank you in advance for the information.

[Crypton]

It can make 1:1 copies, if you have a high end cd-rom/dvd-rom drive, however, some protection cannot be copied 1:1 no matter what you use, but you can make working images using Alcohol 120% and instead of buring the image to cd/dvd as you nomrally would, just store the image file on the cd/dvd in image format ;) this way you always have a copy that can be emulated using Daemon-Tools

DT4 is just around the corner, and will resolve alot of issues with playing backups.

Alcohol 120% is worth buying.. So is Daemon-Tools, registered users of Daemon-Tools will get version 4 Pro free, and Pro has more features than the standard release of DT4, registration is only $15 USD.

[dyurko]

ok. downloaded both. I am able to emulate/mount and run a game from the Hard drive after using "image maker wizard without having the DVD game in the drive. And Daemon Tools can mount and run this same game. But when I use "image burning wizard", it burns to a cd/dvd in normal format, not as an Image file (.MDS).
Burns it like a copy program, but not a 1:1 copy.
I can actually load/reload the game but it asks for the original DVD.

Daemon cannot mount it.
Should I be using the "image burn wizard"? Or is there another option I should be enabling/using to copy back to a cd/dvd in "image file (.MDS)" format?

Thanks again for all your help.

[Crypton]

No, only use Alcohol 120% to make a working image, after verifying the image works, you will need to create a custom CD and place the image files on it and save it.

There are plenty of free tools around that allow you to make iso images and put your files on. One such is CDBurnerXP Pro http://www.cdburnerxp.se/download.php

You can use it to create a new iso image and drag and drop files to it, then save the iso, then burn either with the program itself or with Alcohol 120% using the burning wizard, select the iso containing your image files.

Daemon-Tools only mounts image files, they must be in image format to mount them, if you use Image Burning Wizard in Alcohol 120% it put them on the CD as if it were the origional CD, thus can no longer be mounted and a large change the copy will no longer work.

[dyurko]

I was able to copy and paste the game.mds onto a DVD. Then I was able to mount the .mds file from the DVD using Daemon tools.
Isn't it easier just loading the original game and using a NO-CD/DVD patch?
Or are there certain games out there that can't be patched like that and have to be emulated with either Alcohol 120 or Daemon tools?

Thanks again for any info, just trying to learn/understand more.

[Crypton]

yes, some games atm just do not have a nocd, and some are very hard to crack. But basically what I was mentioning, is puting on DVD like that so you can have a backup copy of the image that works in case something was to happen to the origional, then since it works, you can always copy the image to your hard drive and play.