98 CD Starting to Flake

[Mortis]

Greetings... I searched past posts but was unable to find what I was looking for... so:

My win98 cd seems to be starting to flake out. I re-formatted a cow (UD Cruncher) and it took 3 attempts to get through (I tried a different CD-Rom, so pretty sure not that). I want to back-up my 98. I realize I might have to attempt several times- try it and then try install to make sure a good copy... not a biggy- cd's are less expensive than Win98 . As far as copying- here is my question. Can I just copy the 98 contents to my harddrive then burn to cd... or is it more complicated then that?

Thanks All,
Mortis

[jkrohn]

Well I know that if you copy the entire CD to your HD you can do an install minus the CD with windows 95. Had to do this on my old computer since for some reason it would never load CD drivers from DOS. I say give it a try, might still work

Jkrohn

[eweruk]

Should be ok, can you do CD to CD burn? I think it should be legal cause you are doing it for backup purposes.

[JohnE.]

It's as easy as that

Make a Mode1 Data CD with the "single data track only" option which is the standard for commercial CD's

A better alternative would be to make an ISO image of the disk and burn the image file to disk. That way the volume label, manufacturer ID, dates and times, etc. will be exactly the same as the original.

What burning software are you using?


JohnE.

[lynchmob]

I make a copy of every cd I own.I dont like to be left hanging should somthing accidentally happen to one of them.Like you said,cds are cheaper than Win98.Create an image of the cd on your hdd and make a cd from that image.
lynch

[Mortis]

How do I do an ISO Image? I have default burn software that came with XP Pro... now that I think of it, can I do the same with my XP Pro cd.

Can I do this with default burn software? I have backed up most of my games (most heavily played games so as not to ruin orginal cd) but had to use copy protection software. Wasnt sure if 98 was the same. Curious about the ISO image thing (is this the same as creating an image like lynch suggested).

Thanks all!
Mortis

All windows CDs are bootable. Simply copying the contents to a hard drive and burning a cd will not give you the option to boot from the CD. Imaging it with WINISO or using the free ISO imaging program from Microsoft for windowsXP may do the trick.

I'd just clone the CD using cloneCD. Try it.

[JohnE.]

Yep, the same as creating an image like lynch suggested.

I'm not familiar with WinXP's burning utility so don't know how/about using it to make an ISO. I'd check into the free ISO imaging program from Microsoft for windowsXP that shahani mentioned.

Come to speak of it, I'd like to find out more about that myself... anyone have a link?

You won't have to use anti-copy protection software for any Microsoft OS disks as you are allowed to make one backup copy for your own personal use.


JohnE.

[Mortis]

Thanks all for your assistance. I downloaded and installed clonecd and it went smoothly... appreciate all the input.

Mortis

[lynchmob]

The terms I used in my post were the ones used by EZ CD-Creator.I thought that would help as one can find these options easily in that program's menu bar under file>create image and file>create cd from image.
lynch