Best way to copy CD to ISO

LinuxGeek · 04-11-2006, 05:58 AM

Hi,
I was wondering what the difference between using dd and k3b to copy a CD/DVD to create an ISO image. I tried out both dd and k3b and they created .iso images of different sizes. When I mount them using the loop back device, they have the same files but running kdiff3 shows me that some of the files are different. I verified that the files where not copied correctly using dd but where copied corrently using k3b. Although the individual files was identifical, running md5sum on some of them gave me an Input/Output error in the iso image created using dd. What does k3b do differently from dd? Here's the dd command that I used:

dd if=/dev/cdrom of=/mnt/sda3/tmp.iso

gilead · 04-11-2006, 06:36 AM

I've never had a problem with using dd to create an iso. I borrowed the following from http://www.troubleshooters.com/linux/coasterless.htm:

Code:

#!/bin/bash
#
# See <http://www.troubleshooters.com/linux/coasterless.htm>
# Reads directly from the CD or DVD device specified on the command line and dumps it to STDOUT
#
# Typical usage:
#                copy-raw-cd.sh /dev/dvd > /tmp/dvd-contents.iso
#
# To use this script to check the md5sum of the CD, do the following:
#                copy-raw-cd.sh /dev/cdrom | md5sum
#   compare the result with:
#                md5sum /tmp/dvd-contents.iso
#

device=$1

blocksize=`/usr/bin/isoinfo -d -i $device | grep "^Logical block size is:" | cut -d " " -f 5`
if test "$blocksize" = ""; then
	echo catdevice FATAL ERROR: Blank blocksize >&2
	exit
fi

blockcount=`/usr/bin/isoinfo -d -i $device | grep "^Volume size is:" | cut -d " " -f 4`
if test "$blockcount" = ""; then
	echo catdevice FATAL ERROR: Blank blockcount >&2
	exit
fi

command="/bin/dd if=$device bs=$blocksize count=$blockcount conv=notrunc,noerror"
echo "$command" >&2
$command

LinuxGeek · 04-11-2006, 08:24 AM

I tried using the script provided above this is the output that I'm getting:

421232640 bytes (421 MB) copied, 1085.77 seconds, 388 kB/s
dd: reading `/dev/cdrom': Input/output error
205680+0 records in
205680+0 records out
421232640 bytes (421 MB) copied, 1085.78 seconds, 388 kB/s
dd: reading `/dev/cdrom': Input/output error
...

I tried it again with k3b and it worked without any problems. Any ideas on how k3b does it behind the scenes?

johnson_steve · 04-11-2006, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LinuxGeek

dd: reading `/dev/cdrom': Input/output error

That's a hardware error. check your dmesg - I'll bet you'll find more. there is probably something something going wrong with the cd or the drive.