What is an ISO?

[IgoByte]

Hi folks,

I can't believe that I don't know this yet, but better late than never, right?

So, what's an ISO?

Also, I've been trying to make back-up copies (for myself) of the couple of games that I have (AOE, C&C Red Alert), so I can leave the originals alone and play with the copies (because I've had some originals ruined in the past), but I can't seem to do it. How would I go about copying something like this? I use both Roxio's Easy CD Creator 5.1 Deluxe and Nero 5.5 I think...

Thanks in advance...

 

[Palek]

An ISO file is a CD-ROM image file, it is basically an exact replica of a CD-ROM track. You can create an ISO image of a CD with CD burner software. Then you can use that ISO image to make a copy of your CD. If you ever get into Linux you will most definitely come across an ISO file as that is how most Linux distributions are made available on Linux distro sites. Once you grab an ISO file you can burn it directly onto a CD, however you have to be careful with dragging and dropping because some programs will just write the ISO image file onto a data CD instead of recreating the CD track.

CD copying functions are usually included with most CD-burner software. Check out the documentation of your software!

 

[IgoByte]

I will. Thank you.

 

[IgoByte]

OK

Now I seem to have learned how to make ISOs and how to burn them on CDs. Three CDs later, I'm still encountering the same problem as I did before. I can install AOE2-AOK from the burned CD, but I can't play it. It tells me to insert the correct CD.

Any remedy for this caveat?

It's no big deal, because I can always use the originals to play the game(s), but I'd really like to know how to do this stuff.

 

[GhettoFob]

Some cds have protection that prevents/makes it more difficult to copy. Look for a program called clonecd, I've found that to be the best cd-backup program.

 

[Duck0fD3ath]

Are there any programs that allow you to extract the files from the ISO onto your hdd instead?

 

[GhettoFob]

i know isobuster can do that

 

[nirgis]

Disk Juggler is also a useful program when it comes to images, extraction, and burning