Sega CD Backup

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ripping to bin-cue    restoring from bin-cue    ripping to iso-mp3    restoring from iso-mp3

 

Part 1 - the iso (audio is later)

Programs used:

WinISO v5.3

1. You need to make a full image of the disc first. Go do ripping to bin-cue and come back when you're done.

2. Start WinISO. Go to Convert > BIN to ISO...

3. Click the button next to the Please choose source file... box. Select the bin file from the image you made and click Open. 

4. Click the button next to the Choose output file... box. Enter the name of your game and click Save. The .iso ending will be added automatically.

5. Click Convert. We're just working with the data track for now, so uncheck the boxes next to all the tracks listed except Track 1.

6. Click the button next to the Select a directory... box. Select the directory to save to and click OK.

8. Click Convert.

7. Close WinISO. Go to the directory where your new iso is. Right click on the file and select Rename. Delete the 00 WinISO placed in the name and hit enter.

Now you should have a proper iso of your game's data track. Next is the audio tracks.

Notes:
It's also possible to use IsoBuster or BINChunker/Fireburner to extract and iso from a disc image, but they seem to produce iso that are larger than they should be. I'll write more about how I tested these programs some other time. If you try to create and iso directly from the cd (like the guys from Darkwater), it doesn't seem to turn out exactly right either. I don't think there would be any problems using most of these files if they're larger than they should be, as they seem to just have a block of 0's added to the end, but I still prefer to do things as well as possible.

On to the audio.

 

Part 2 - mp3's

Programs used:

Exact Audio Copy V0.9 beta 3
win32LAME v17 (lame and RazorLame 1.1.4 package)

1. Start Exact Audio Copy

2. The first thing is to set up the file naming system so the mp3's will be named properly. Check the various artists box, then enter the game name in CD Title box (make it the same as your iso file).

3. Go to EAC > EAC Options... Under the Filename tab, check the box next to Use various artist naming scheme. Enter %C %N in the box. Click OK.

4. Click on Track 02 and hit Shift+End. Click the WAV button.

5. Open the folder to where the wav's should be created and click Save.

6. When the extraction finishes, click OK. If the program doesn't report any errors, click OK and close EAC. Else, click Review Tracks. Click on the part of the track where there was a problem and and listen to it a few times to see if there are any noticeable problems. If you can't notice any problems, it's probably alright and you can move on. If there really is a problem, I dunno what to say. Maybe try to rip the cd on a better drive, like a cd-r/w drive, or a different copy of the same cd or a different program. It's up to you if this doesn't work, but I'd rather not have a backup of a game if there are errors with it.

7. Start winLAME.

8. Open the folder with the wav's EAC makes. Select all the wav's and drag them to the main window of winLAME.

9. Go to edit > LAME options.

10. Go to the Expert tab. In the Custom options: box, type --r3mix and check Only use custom options. Click OK.

11. Click Encode.

When winLAME finishes, you'll have a set of high quality mp3's for your backup.

Notes:
More info about the --r3mix setting can be found at r3mix.net. If you're too lazy to go look there, it basically produces vbr mp3's averaging 170 kbit/s (my example rips ranged from 130 to 200). While 130 or 200 may seem low or high, the encoder tries to maintain a constant quality, using as many bits as are needed while not using any more than that, for a good quality to size ratio.

Oh, and AudioCatalyst is crap. Don't use it.