How can I create an image of a CD, DVD, or Blu-ray Disc with ArcaOS?

An image file of a CD or DVD (or Blu-ray Disc) is commonly called an ISO file or ISO image. It is so named for the ISO 9660 filesystem used for CD media, but the term also applies to the other optical formats.

Sometimes, it is useful to not only burn ISO files to disc but go the other way around, for purposes of transmission or more portable archival storage.

DVD Tools as provided with ArcaOS does not include a direct ISO creation utility, however, the full DVD/CD Toys suite, does. This applet is called Save Image, and works similarly to the Copy Disc applet in both DVD Tools and DVD/CD Toys. (DVD/CD Toys includes a number of very useful features for handling audio discs as well as other handy functions.)

For occasional use or for those who are comfortable at the command line, ArcaOS does include CDRTools, which includes readcd.exe. To use readcd.exe to create an ISO image, open an OS/2 window and type:

readcd dev=0,1,0 -f=<filename.iso> -retries=32 <Enter>

where the value for dev corresponds to the address of your CD, DVD, or Blu-ray drive (you may get the address by using the Device Info applet in the DVD Tools directory) and <filename.iso> is the full path and filename of the ISO file to be created.

DVD/CD Toys is much more user friendly, and if image creation will be a regular activity, it is highly recommended.