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Does burning a DVD/CD slower help assure it will not have errors?

If I have 16x speed DVDs and I burn them at 12x or 8x speed, does this help assure the data burnt to the disc will not have errors/flaws?

Open source / freeware application for Windows 7 to create ISO images [closed]

I'm looking for a freely available utility I can run on Windows 7 to create CD/DVD ISO images from actual CDs and DVDs.

Any suggestions?

What tool can I use to to rip DVD movies? [closed]

What tool can I use to to rip DVD movies? I have used "Dr. DivX" long back. Is there any better tool to rip DVDs?

DVD ripper for Windows [closed]

I am looking for a good DVD ripper software for Windows. Looking for something that will easily rip the raw bits DVD to hard drive without any loss of quality.

Looking for something that will easily copy the VOB files to a server location for use with the Window Media Center DVD Library feature.

What is the purpose of this 4 pin cable with 3 wires that came with an old IDE DVD-ROM drive?

Stumbled on this cable today, it has 4 pins, of which only three are actually in use. It was found with a quick installation guide of an old DVD-ROM IDE drive and nothing else except some screws, so I'm not even sure it actually belongs to this. My best guess is that it's a power cable, but according to Google, it doesn't looks like one that comes with an IDE drive.

Best Mac OS X DVD Ripper [closed]

I want to rip a DVD on OS X, but don't know what software to use. Is there free open source software? What is the best software for ripping on OS X?

How to convert or burn a .DMG image file on Windows?

What software can be recommended to burn a Mac created .DMG file on a Windows operating system? Ideally it should be free, or at least reasonably priced.

Or, as an alternative, an application convert it to .ISO or something equivalent?

I'm looking for reassurance I won't be wasting several (more expensive than normal DVDs) dual layer DVDs to get this done right. As the .DMG file is 7 GB.

Is writing dvd's at a lower speed better for reliability?

I've written quite a few DVD's. At 16x, I've gotten occasional errors (using the same brand of media all the while) - about 1 in 25 fails to write. I recently started writing at 4x, I'm finding I've gotten no errors and no unreadable disks. I'm starting to think I should write all my important dvd's at this low speed.

I've also written dvd's only to have them pass the initial "verification", then about a month later, try to use them only to find that parts of them have become unreadable.

(None of the dvd's are scratched or physically damaged)

Does writing at a lower speed increase reliability of dvd's ?

Built-in disc burning software in Windows 10

I upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10 recently, and am looking to burn some .iso files. In Windows 7, there was a default program that I could use. I have dug around a bit, but cannot find one in Windows 10 so far. Although, a bunch of search functionality seems to be disabled on my machine, so I may just be searching incorrectly.

Is there a disc image burning program bundled in Windows 10 like there was in Windows 7?

Image of what I see:

Access to CD/DVD Drive is Denied through Windows 7 Explorer (Permission Problem)

A while ago I started having trouble with my optical drives. Both of them keep showing up in Explorer as CD/DVD drives on boot, but as soon as I put a disc in either one, it suddenly turns into a hard-drive—“local disk” is displayed in the Type column, though the File System column remains UDF/CDFS. (I though that maybe it was a permission issue on the registry key in HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet..., but I’m not so certain because of the next test.)

Here’s a screencast of My Computer; when I put in a disc, the DVD drive magically turns into a hard-disk and cannot be opened.

When I try to open a disc (of any type), I get an access denied error message. If I open an elevated command-prompt, I am able to access the files. Also, if I kill Explorer and run it from an elevated command-prompt (thus giving Explorer elevated permissions), then I can access the files from Explorer.

I’ve tried uninstalling and reinstalling the devices without success. The security dialog indicates that there are none set for the drives (no owner and no permissions). I tried setting the owner, but am only able to do so if there is a disc in it (it complains if it is empty), but the settings do not stick (if I immediately open the security dialog after setting it, it is empty again). I tried setting permissions, but that gives an error.

I’ve included a screencap-flowchart of the security dialog of one of the drives below.

I suspect that the problem is with the registry entries related to optical drives in HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet. For example, the Properties subkey in HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} is conspicuously absent. Worse, I cannot figure out what should be in it or import one from a backup hive because the Properties subkeys in …\Class have some sort of “super-admin” permissions—I cannot even view the permissions or owner on these! It does say however that I can change them, but I don’t know what account owns or has permissions for them (my guess would be TrustedInstaller—or something).

(Yes, I made sure that there are no upper- or lower-filters, and yes, I ran sfc. I also made sure that in the policy editor, “devices: restrict CD-ROM...” and “removable storage access” are not set.)

Does anyone know what the owner and permissions are supposed to be for optical drives and how to reset them?

What is the replacement of the floppy

While CD (and to an lesser extend DVD) disks have reached the price-point of the floppy, they have one significant downside, it is WORM (Write-Once Read-Many) media, allowing it to be used only one single time, and you need to be explicit in writing the data to the actual media (you need to burn it.)

While CD-RW solves the "use only once" problem, it is still EWORM (Erasable Write-Once Read-Many) media, which still means you need to be explicit in writing the data to the actual media (you still need to burn it.), and also, you still need to be very explicit in erasing it. (simple delete is not possible.)

Okay, we can use a CD-RW in Packet Writing mode, however the downside to that, is that this mode is not very universal, and also, not the native mode of the media.

Now, while USB-sticks and SD-cards may not have the poblems of the CD, they have a whole other kind of problem: their PRICE! USB-sticks and SD cards are generally 10 to 100 times as expensive as diskettes per piece.

SD-cards, in addition have an added problem, because they need a reader to operate. While it is a very standard thing, it is not default equipment on the computer like the CD drive or USB port (or historically the diskette drive).

You wouldn't give out an USB stick or SD card with a 100 kB text file, not caring weither you would get it back or not.

So, to recap:

• CD & DVD are basically WORM media.
• SD cards and USB sticks are relatively expensive.
• SD cards also needs special readers.
• Diskettes have a very low data-rate
• Diskettes have a very low storage capacity.

Now, is there a media out there that solves all these problems, or is there a way to get (very) small USB sticks or SD cards for a very low price (as they're the closest thing to diskette).

How do you keep the DVD drive from opening when you get the message "please insert a disk into drive"? [duplicate]

In Windows Explorer, when I click on the drive that happens to be my cd/dvd drive, I get the message "please insert a disk into drive", which might be OK, but then the DVD drive opens and I have to close it. I consider this very rude and I do not like it. Is there a way I can keep the DVD drive from opening when it is empty and Windows tries to access it?

How can I copy files from a scratched CD/DVD?

I have so far tried the following software solutions without success.

• Windows Explorer Copy (default)
• TeraCopy
• Roadkil's Unstoppable Copier

Unstoppable Copier stops copying as a whole, it keeps continuing the same file after 20 minutes, despite any settings. I have spent much time Googling, but the one program ("Unstoppable Copier") that people recommended, did not to the trick as it keeps choking on the same file despite a setting of "Fasteset Data Recovery", "Maximum Retries 0" and "Undamaged Files First".

The back side of the DVD has some scratches. What options do I have? I have access to both Ubuntu and Windows 7.

How to determine the physical location of data on a disc?

Does anybody know of a way to find out where, physically on a CD or DVD a given piece of data would be located?

I am trying to watch a DVD at the moment, and am about half-way through, but it keeps dying at a specific spot in the film, presumably because of a scratch. I have a repair kit, but I don’t know where to focus my repair because there are several scuffs and scratches on the disc and I have no way of knowing which one is causing the issue.

Obviously, cleaning all of them is inadvisable because not only does it waste the consumable materials in the kit, but not all of them are a problem, and by working them, some may become unreadable. Moreover, just because I am half-way through the movie does not mean that it would be half-way from the hub to the edge for several reasons:

• Discs have more data towards the outer edge than the inner edge (circles are more mathematically complicated than rectangles)
• The disc is not completely filled up (and even if it were, the movie itself would be be using it all, there are extras and such)
• Because in this particular case it is a commercial DVD, it is also dual-layer which further complicates manual determination

As such, I am trying to find a program that can let me identify a file (or part thereof), cluster, etc. and show me a picture of where on the CD/DVD it would be located. That way, I can look at the disc and fix any scratches that correspond to that distance from the hub.

For example, the image below might indicate where on a disc a couple of files or range of clusters would be located, so by looking for anomalies in those areas (rotating as necessary), the correct one can be identified.

I’m sure it can be done since at least one form of copy protection (DPM) uses it and DVD-lab Pro includes a “DVD Topology” feature to do this.

Where is the serial number of the DVD/CD writer stored on the CD?

I was reading the Wikileaks FAQ (archived here), it says:

Many CD and DVD writers will include the serial number of the DVD or CD writer onto the CD/DVDs they write. If the post is intercepted this information can in theory be used to track down the manufacturer and with their co-operation, the distributor, the sales agent and so on. Consider whether there are financial records connecting you to the CD/DVD writer sale if your adversary is capable of intercepting your letter to us and has the will to do this type of expensive investigation. Pay cash if you can for the CD/DVD writer.

Where is this number stored? Is it accessible in software by the device that wrote the CD?