Can a disk image act just like a CD?

[tdog]

I have a "learning language" cd which I bought and enjoy the software very much, however it requires that I have the original (or backup) CD in the drive while I am running the program. When I use this with my laptop the whirring disk noise interfears with the recording portion of the program. Not to mention that it sucks up the battery.

I would like to create a "disk image" .dmg or .cdr which the program will recognize as the original CD so that I can use the program in silence, and without having to lug the CD arround with me.

I have tried simply creating .dmg and .cdr files and mounting them but that doesn't seem to work. Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?

[MBHockey]

I use Toast to do this, and it works a lot of the time. Somtimes the disc is really smart though and knows what you're doing

If you have Toast, put in the CD and go to File --> Save as Disc Image.

it will save it as a .Toast file which will require Toast to mount it. However, you can change its association (Right Click --> Get Info --> Open With --> change it to Disc Copy --> hit Change All). Now all you have to do is double click the disc image and OS X's disc copy will mount it with no problem.

Hope this helps

[scaryfish]

Hmm.. that's odd. As far as I know, under Mac os X there is no way to distinguish between a physical CD in the drive and a disk image - both are just mounted under /Volumes

How did you make the disk image? The way I'd do it is:
in Disk Utility, go to Images > New image from ... (name of CD here)
Make sure you choose DVD/CD Master for the type, with no encryption.

If that's what you've already done and it doesn't work, then I'm at a loss..

[MBHockey]

I've noticed that my method doesn't work for some new games; I don't think he will have a problem if he uses Toast.

I can't vouch for any other method though; i have only used Toast to make disc images.

[acme.mail.order]

Is it the Rosetta Stone? The latest Mac version has figured out how to tell the difference between a CD and an Image, probably checks the /dev tree for a physical device.

If you can get ahold of the previous version it works well with normal disk images, as does the Classic version.

[tdog]

Quote: Originally Posted by acme.mail.order Is it the Rosetta Stone? The latest Mac version has figured out how to tell the difference between a CD and an Image, probably checks the /dev tree for a physical device.

I am using the Rosetta Stone. What a shame. That "security" feature prevents me from really being able to get the most out of the software on my laptop.

fyi... To make the image I did use "disk utility" and created a new image with the (master cd/dvd) option. Here is what I see when I follow the /dev tree (running "mount")

# this is the disk image
/dev/disk2 on /Volumes/TRS Italian Explorer (local, nodev, nosuid, journaled, mounted by todd)
#this is the actual cd
/dev/disk3s1s2 on /Volumes/TRS Italian Explorer 1 (local, nodev, nosuid, read-only)

It looks like I need the (s1s2) type of syntax.

[quietforce]

Quote: Originally Posted by tdog I am using the Rosetta Stone. What a shame. That "security" feature prevents me from really being able to get the most out of the software on my laptop. fyi... To make the image I did use "disk utility" and created a new image with the (master cd/dvd) option. Here is what I see when I follow the /dev tree (running "mount") # this is the disk image /dev/disk2 on /Volumes/TRS Italian Explorer (local, nodev, nosuid, journaled, mounted by todd) #this is the actual cd /dev/disk3s1s2 on /Volumes/TRS Italian Explorer 1 (local, nodev, nosuid, read-only) It looks like I need the (s1s2) type of syntax.

Has anyone figured out a way around this? I'm having the exact same problem.

[sthatche]

I too have been looking for a work around - as I travel and don't want to have to take the language cd with me on trips. In doing some digging I realized that the original cd only needs to be in the drive when the rosetta stone application starts - I have successfully started the app with the cd in the drive and then removed the cd while mounting the cd image and the application continues to run successfully. So whatever check is occurring appears to happen only 1x when the app is initialized. It is very frusterating to see copy protection schemes continue to inconvenience those of us that pay for the software.

[Simpsonianbanana]

The "s1s2" shouldn't be the problem, I think it's more likely the fact it's not read-only, or because it's journaled, or simply the "mounted by todd" message.

I have always used Toast for things like this, and it has always worked...

Normally a CD-Checker would do something like this.
Check CD of NameX exists.
Check NameX/Directory/RandomFile.sys Exists
Check NameX is not writeable.
Open Application.

Good Luck..

[TrumpetPower!]

It'd be worthwhile seeing if ripping it with cdrdao (a free Unix program available via DarwinPorts or Fink) does the trick. It does a raw read / dump of the ones and zeros on the disk.

No guarantees at all, but, even if it doesn't work, you'll still have a great tool for duplicating CDs (including audio CDs).

Cheers,

b&

[voldenuit]

I would contact the editors of the software and make it extremely clear to them that they just lost a loyal customer unless they provide you with a working solution for your problem. Heck, I'd even ask for my money back because it is not usable.

Make brainless protections as expensive as possible to their customer support.

Was the also working backup CD made taking any extra precautions or is it just a straight copy ? If so, there's probably no need to use more sophisticated tools such as the one suggested by TrumpetPower. Perhaps you should try a read-only disk-image. There might also be a no-CD crack floating around.

[mark hunte]

Quote: Originally Posted by MBHockey you can change its association (Right Click --> Get Info --> Open With --> change it to Disc Copy --> hit Change All). Now all you have to do is double click the disc image and OS X's disc copy will mount it with no problem. Hope this helps

Why did I not think of that, thank you, It always irritated me that toast would launch to open these.

----Update

I just did the reverse, changed a .dmg to be opened with Toast, Mounted it, and it opened as a CD.

[jchong]

I Just bought a Japanese lessons disk. Has anyone come up with a solution to create a disk image for Rosetta Stone language cds?

[mnewman]

I just purchased an upgrade from the Classic version to the OS/X version of Rosetta. It seems it is no longer possible to create a disk image of the language data CD with Disk Utility. It always fails with an IO error.

[saunderscc]

I hate the fact that I have to have cart around the language "data" cd to use this $500 software package. To make matters worse, the levels 1 & 2 are on the same cd. If I lose that cd, 2/3 of the software is useless.

I am very interested in figuring out how to create a disc image or working backup copy of the data cd's. The version I have is RS 2.1.4.1A OSX. My understanding is that this uses something called SafeDiskLT as protection.

Unfortunately, I'm new to the Mac and all attempts I've made to archive the cd via windows solutions (Alcohol120%) has failed. Frankly, I'd be most pleased with suggestions on how to create a disc image on my MacBook so I don't have to haul around the discs and unnecessarily putting them at risk of damage or loss.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers!
CCS

[mnewman]

I've got RS 2.1.3.0A OSX. I was able to make a usable copy of the language CD using Toast Titanium:

Create a folder with the exact same name as the language CD.

Copy all the language CD files into that folder.

Copy the folder into the Toast window, specify an ISO 9660 image and burn away.

It takes RS a while to recognize the CD, but it does work and now my original CD is safely put away.