The Complete Guide To Producing , Extracting, And, Burning XBOX ISO Image Files (PC & MAC) Options

[HSDEMONZ]

SECTION 1.1 Produce a perfect working XBOX ISO backup of a Burned ISO Backup 1:1

POST MARKER: ONETOONEBACKUP

It has been a common misconception that a properly BURNED ISO BACKUP could only be duplicated by placing the existing BACKUP in the XBOX, and using FTP to Draw the contents to the PC, and REBUILD using recommended methods. This is simply not so.

UDF Method has long held the advantage of being the only way to burn an XBOX Backup that will RE-READ in a PC. Which is still TRUE… in UDF you have full READ access to the files, to do with as you wish (such as make a duplicate backup). Well… you can Burn your PROPER GDF ISO’s, and even your alternative ISO formats like XISO formatted ISO’s, and make a copy using only the PC.

In the past… MY COMPUTER would scream…



One of these ERROR MESSAGES…and that would be enough to keep us from duping our backups! Some assumed since we saw the same error messages with RETAIL XBOX Disks, the same Read Issues would apply to our backup!

It is actually a fairly EASY process to duplicate your existing backup without the use of your XBOX. The Process is essentially a 1:1 process. (1:1 RecordNowMax will Read in RAW Mode, and Write in Raw ISO Mode)

You will need RecordNowMax (others may work… untested for this feature)

Place the XBOX Burned Backup in the PC, in one or your DVD readers. Then open RecordNowMax (or earlier versions), and RIGHT-CLICK on the drive that contains the BACKUP DISK



And Select EXTRACT TRACKS… (ISO/WAV/MP3). In the next Window, you will see the drive properties open, and details about the backup! Click on 01 – ZONE. (for DVD) or 01 – Data track One (for CDR) Then Select a Path, as you will need to tell RecordNowMax where to put your new ISO file.(make sure the place you send the new ISO is big enough!)



Read Speed… well… set it to MAX. If you have problems… then by all means drop it. I’ve done plenty of Re-RIPs, using MAX speed setting, and have had No Problems. When you are ready… CLICK EXTRACT Button…
(if you have alot of scratches or blemishes on your disk.. you should lowers your READ SPEED to reduce errors)

You will now see that the Bottom part of that window is showing the STATUS of the track EXTRACTION



This will take a few minutes! Enjoy a coffee! Do NOT be surprised if it doesn’t READ (RIP) at the full rated speed of your PC DVD drive. It’ll get faster toward the end of the disk, unless of course your have marred or scratched the disk!



When done.. close RecordNowMax, remove the BACKUP DISK from the PC. You now have a Perfect copy of the Backup Disk!



This works for DVD-R, DVD-RW, CDR, CDRW. There is no reason it wouldn’t also work with DVD+R and DVD+RW. From here.. you can simply re-burn with almost any ISO burning program! Or, you can play around with the Files, by using any number of file extractors.. the best being XDFSExtractor!

NOW... I've chosen to detail the method so that you would have a NEW ISO on the HD of the PC. However.. it is just as easy to place your BURNED BACKUP into a DVD ROM Drive on the PC, place a BLANK in the DVD BURNER.. and do a striaght COPY! Work fine! I chose to not speel this out in more detail.. because I'd rather give you a chance to not produce a bad copy.. incase there is something wrong with the original! Any serious scratch.. etc.. and you could end up with a buggered copy on DIRECT COPY! By all means.. save a step if you want.. and do the direct copy! However... everything in the GUIDE is about producing the BEST Possible BACKUPS Possible! I've also assumed that anyone with any Burning software knows how to do a basic COPY. So I won;t DETAIL that process! 'nuff said!

Go have a Beer… It’s Miller Time!

*Note: to be fair.. a burned disk prepared in UDF format is Fully and easily readable on ANY PC. This method of Backing Up a backed up ISO will NOT give you the same seemless access, but will give you the same options… with a little more work!

This post has been edited by HSDEMONZ: Aug 22 2003, 03:08 AM

[HSDEMONZ]

Some NOTES:
=========

POST MARKER: BACKUPBURNDUDS

Many people have problems getting SOME of their burns to read PROPERLY in the XBOX. They may burn dozens of disks, and find a % of the simply don't read 100% fine in the XBOX.

After even more research.. both personal, and in the forums... I investigated further. Finding some interesting facts regarding the readability of apparent DUDS. I was fortunate that I throw out almost nothing!

As an afterthought to the RE-READ / DUPE of DUPE section just added... I found I had more questions. Turns out that MOST "NOT PERFECT" burns... ones that would work kinda sorta sometimes were burned JUST FINE. Problem is two fold... quality of blanks, tolerance levels of the various XBOX Readers. All of the DUDs I've ever produced, that were iffy but playable, and even some that wouldn't boot in XBOX at all... were all PERFECT Burns by PC standards.

They could all easily.. and FLAWLESSLY.. be read and REREAD perfectly using RECORDNOW MAX to produce a new WORKING ISO! (*NOTE: ISO produced in this manner by RNM will be BYTE Identical to the original, so if it was original XISO produce, the new one is XISO'd, and if it was GDF'd, the new one is GDF'd!)

From there... the files can be extracted with listed methods, then safely FTP'd to an XBOX. All games and EVOX duds would play properly 100%.

So.. next time you think you have burned a DUD / Coaster.. keep it. It may not be your IDEAL backup... but at least you will be able to send it to the XBOX via FTP and play there!

Worked with ALL Media Blanks! Multiple Brands, multiple original burn techniques!

This post has been edited by HSDEMONZ: Aug 22 2003, 03:22 AM

[madmatt]

question about burning to cdr, I have a sony cdrw that doesnt deem to write via DAO with fireburner (I get a sense error of some sort). Will this method work using track at once?

[HSDEMONZ]

Excellent question...

Don't Know! Let us now if it works!

[HSDEMONZ]

I just got this PM.. and thought I'd share the answers with ALL....

QUOTE

PM:[tagnetti] Hi , I want to thank you for your great guide, I have been thinking of doing something similar and I know its a good bit of work.  I have burned over 100 dvd's with games and am using the UDF technique. I had a few questions if you don't mind , based on some great points you made in your tutorial. The reason I use UDF is to put more that one game on a DVD, Is that possible with creating an ISO?  Would I just create an ISO from data as you demonstrated with CLone CD?

Sure... place all of your games for your multiDVD in a common DIR, and GDFIMAGE it to a proper ISO. You can also use XISO or XBOXIsoTool to do the same. GDF is preferred and RECOMMENDED!

QUOTE

Also, you mentioned the seek times with UDF. I notice this and it is with SEGA as you said and Hunter the Reckoning in horrible. Is there a way for me to evaluate the potential for this by looking at the files. Is it just tons of directories you think?

100's or 1000's of FILES would be a GREAT benchmark in determining a POOR choice for UDF burning. However, please consider that now we know that Burned ISO's CAN BE READ in PC's (mention earlier in this GUIDE) so there is little reason to continue using UDF. A proper burned ISO simply provide the BEST game Experience PERIOD!

QUOTE

One last thing, In Shenmue II. AS you said it is too big 4.9 gigs. Is there an easy way to split this on 2 disks? I was kind of confused in your TUT on whether or not this was a good or bad example of splitting and if so where should I split., In the scenes directory perhaps?

Hmm... It really doesn't matter how or where you split.. as long as you rebuild it properly later! If you rebuild a game, but don't put the files in the proper DIRs on the XBOX.. it'll never work anyway! Now if you're asking what to remove, or how to downsample to make it fit on ONE disk... there are plenty of threads that have covered this at some level.

QUOTE

Listen , In know you are busy, but I too am way into this and have a great time working with it. If you have a few minutes I'd appreciate it. TOM

No problem.

[rmarshall2001]

Hi

You recommended the Pioneer DVR-A04/104 to the Games, is the Pioneer DVR-A05/105 better in any way. It's the updated version but sometime that not always better. Also did you recommend using a 3rd party firmware updated (hacked)

[HSDEMONZ]

I recommednthe AO4 /104 even over some of the new burners. It was my Hope that A05/105 would continue the path that started with the A03...

However.. some early indicators seem to point to a firmware issue. I would wait a few weeks to see what happens with the A05, and see if it's current problems are fixable with the NEW firmware.

I would still recommend the A05.. if only because PIONEER has an excellent rep.. and they will release FIRMWARE updates to fix problems.

As for Hacked Firmware.... I've used hacked firmware for many devices for years now. Sometimes it pays off.. sometimes it doesn't. You also run into the problem of screwing things up completely by using a cracked/hacked firmware.

EX. Had a Toshiba DVD Drive that was flashed with a hacked BIOS (corrupted) and the drive wouldn't take a reflash to fix! Toshiba wouldn't fix it under warrant...

Like anything... I can tell you how it's been sucessful for me... andf 1000's of others... but if it doesn't work, you may not be able to roll it back.

My A04 has been flashed and reflashed over 8 times now no problem. Your mileage may vary.

[vo243]

HSDEMONZ, question to your awesome guide. I'm playing around with doing the daemontools iso->CloneCD method to try cheaper media for DVD-RW, but I cannot get CloneCD to read my mounted image. I get error like: Generic STEALTH DVD is not compatible with CloneCD Read Mode "Normal"! and Reading failure errors (STEALTH DVD is the default name, I just left it). Any ideas? Have you tried this combination? Would this be possible or is CloneCD bailing because my source iso is mucho bigger than a standard CD?

CloneCD Version is 4.2.0.2, and Daemon-Tools is 3.26.

[HSDEMONZ]

I honestly don't know HOW you are getting this error...

Do you want to produce CDRW? or DVD-RW? DVD+RW?

The Daemon Tools method is for CDR burning ONLY! To Burn to CDR, use the GDF>DAEMON>CLONE>FIREBURNER Method as I noted.

If you want to do CDRW, DVDRw, etc use the standard methods noted in the guide!

BTW... Unless you are running the CLONE DVD software.. and I doubt you are... CLONE is for CD SIZE files.

This post has been edited by HSDEMONZ: Dec 11 2002, 05:20 AM

[Josep]

well, marks method for burning cd-r's does NOT work on imations...xbox1.0

[HSDEMONZ]

In YOUR case! Imations worked fine for me on both a PHILLIPS and a THOMPSON!

People posting MEDIA LISTINGS that "work" or "don't work" is just plain USELESS!!!.

Each XBOX is it's own beast.. with it's own set of likes and dislikes!

This post has been edited by HSDEMONZ: Jan 5 2003, 10:25 AM

[Josep]

QUOTE (HSDEMONZ @ Dec 11 2002, 04:36 AM)

In YOUR case! Imations worked fine for me on both a PHILLIPS and a THOMPSON! People posting MEDIA that "work" or "don't work" is just plain useless. Each XBOX is it's own beast.. with it's own set of likes and dislikes!

you keep saying this, is it really true? and if so? HOW!? cause last time i checked there were 2 different versions of the xbox, link me to something that tells me otherwise cuz i'm confused when you say that;)

[HSDEMONZ]

There ARE 2 different "VERSIONS".. but each one has some variations within! Different HARDdrives, DVD Readers, and Fans / NO Fans.. etc.

Not really appropiate to this forum tho...

As for the MEDIA... like I said... you can have the same 2 READERS.. and get 2 different results from the same SINGLE burn! Some people have so much trouble with this.. they go and TWEAK the DVD reader (not recommended)

Do some reading... the facts about the variations are all over these forums.

[gilimeno]

Hi all,

I would like to share with all of you my experience from the guide of burning a .mpg-file to CD-R media.
My xBox: Thomson dvd-drive and evolution-x

I've tried 5 different brands of CD-R and none of them works. I've followed exactly the instructions and programs from the guide with no errors/conflicts. I've tried the same procedure to a CD-RW with successful result. So, I'm one of the owners of a bad-CD-R-compatible-Xbox.

So, those of you who haven't got any success of burning to CD-R, you´re not alone...

By the way, the guide IS excellent. Unfortunately, my goal of producing a readable CD-R-media failed... Maybe, all the five CD-R media are bad quailty, I don't know.

Question: Is there another method of burning a video-file (.avi, .mpg) to CD-R for Xbox to read ? If so, please share your knowledge.

Thanks.

[vo243]

QUOTE (HSDEMONZ @ Dec 11 2002, 04:19 AM)

I honestly don't know HOW you are getting this error... Do you want to produce CDRW? or DVD-RW? DVD+RW? BTW... Unless you are running the CLONE DVD software.. and I doubt you are... CLONE is for CD SIZE files.

Yes, I was working at doing DVD-RW. My point here is to try to get the image file to be more "stable" than using the normal Recordmax/ISO combination.

Clone DVD is not available yet generally from Elaborate Bytes, so you are correct in that I was trying to use Clone CD to read DVD sized ISO images. It might sound stupid at first, but frankly I was trying to see if it would work. Experimentation is the name of the game.