GD-R dumping

[Cut Into Fourteen Pieces]

Apologies for the series of dumping trouble threads, but I think this will be the last one for awhile.

I've successfully dumped a pressed GD-ROM using the instructions in https://wiki.redump.info/index.php?title= … ing_Guide, so I know that my hardware is working correctly. I'll be posting that one later today.

I also have a GD-R prototype, and while I can dump the LD area of that one, attempting to dump the HD area fails *badly*, and I'm wondering if there is something about GD-R discs that makes the GD-ROM process not work (i.e. maybe I need a different audio trap disc, etc.).

I do this:

- Insert audio trap disc.
- Stop drive.
- Pin-eject tray*.
- Insert GD-R and press tray back into drive.
- dcdumper [drive letter] -c446261 -df -ft -t0 -p20

It is very obvious almost immediately that the drive is unhappy with what it is being asked to do. It spins up, spins down, spins up, etc. a few times. dcdumper generally reports a couple of read errors, and then the drive stops responding entirely. The only way to get it to respond again is to physically cut power to the drive (e.g. by powering off the attached PC, or disconnecting power to the drive if it's powered externally). The disc is still spinning, which I learned because if I pin-eject the tray, I can hear it spinning down. If I do that *without* cutting power, the eject button on the drive starts working again, but the drive is completely unrecognized by Windows until power to the drive is cut and restored.

I'm going to dig my Dreamcast out of storage next week and give the old-school dumping method a try using the ethernet adapter, but I'm wondering if anyone here has successfully dumped a GD-R using the GD-ROM instructions? I only have the one, so it's technically possible there's a problem with the disc, but it looks fine.

* I'm using the pin-eject method because the "take the top off" method scares the crap out of me. In my drive, at least, the disc is held against the spindle by a second spindle that's attached to the top of the case. If the top of the case is not screwed on, the disc could come loose at full speed and send GD-ROM shrapnel everywhere.

[iR0b0t]

So you were able to dump a retail disc but having issues with a prototype disc? What kind of a prototype disc is that, a recordable disc?

[Cut Into Fourteen Pieces]

Correct. I successfully dumped a "not for sale" pressed GD-ROM demo version of Demolition Racer. The prototype I'm having trouble with is a recordable GD-R.

[iR0b0t]

Recordable GD-Rs won't probably have the protection mechanism. I would suggest you try to dump that disc at least partially by using a swapping trick and using a standard 1 audio track trap disc. If you can read it like that without errors then at least the question about disc's structure quality is out of the way.

[F1ReB4LL]

As far as I remember, they have the pre-recorded ring area as well, so the katana devkit only burns SD and HD areas and the dumping process should be the same as usual.

[iR0b0t]

Sounds reasonable. Maybe those recordable discs don't have a long lifespan. Some of the GD retail discs are sometimes very hard to read too.