IsoBuster by Smart Projects
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Peter@smart-projects.net
URL : http://www.smart-projects.net
URL : http://www.isobuster.com

Author of :
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Custom CD Menu
QuickLaunch
Various other neat CD-R apps which unfortunately I cannot release to the world (...)

FAQ
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Q1.  The Application loaded but NO drives were present in the Selection Combobox ?
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IsoBuster uses different ways to communicate with the CD-ROM devices in your system.
Under Win95, 98 and ME this will be Aspi (Adaptec), under NT (4.0, Win2K) this will be SPTI (Scsi Pass Trough Interface) by default.  If both methods are present on the system IsoBuster allows t o switch between them by means of 'Options \ Communication'.

When not all devices or no device at all are found something is most likely wrong with these communication interfaces.  Try to upgrade or install Aspi (See Q2) to work around these issues.  Contact me if you think you've found an issue with Isobuster.

Q2.  How do I upgrade or 'fix' my Aspi layer ?
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- The original layer belongs to Adaptec.
  On their site you can find updates !
- Or ... You can install another application that installs the layer for you.
  e.g. Adaptec Write Software (before 4.1), CloneCD, CDRWin, .
- Or you can go for other Aspi layers, just pray they are compatible (...)
  e.g  Ahead's wnaspi32.dll (although Ahead's dll is no more than a shell around Adaptec's Aspi or SPTI (depending of the system) (16/10/2000, this might change in the future ?). - Or find updates (or links to) on these excellent sites :
  http://www.cdmediaworld.com
  http://cdr-info.com
  http://www.cdfreaks.com
  http://www.cascade2000.net

Q3.  What File Systems are supported ?
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For now :
- CD-i (derived from ISO9660)
- ISO9660 (99 % of the 'normal' CDs out there)
- Joliet (an extension of ISO)
- Special care for C32 CDs

Q4. What about Multi Session ?
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All Multi Session CDs are supported.  As a result you can see the file-systems per session and can retrieve files you long thought were lost.  Even better, if the last session can't be closed (writer problem), that session is still accessible.

Q5. What's the difference with Windows access to the CD ?
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IsoBuster communicates directly to the Drive and doesn't use Windows' 'input' on the CD content.
Both the access and interpretation of the file system are done by this application.
Resultantly this app can read all sectors how and when it wants.
It can 'see' CDs that Windows can't
It can retry as often as it wants and interpret errors how it wants.
IsoBuster can read/extract a lot more than Windows can ... think VCD, SVCD, CD-i, ... .
Downside ... IsoBuster needs to deal with all the different Drive 'Issues'.

Q6.  What kind of drives are supported ?
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All Atapi drives that are conform MMC/SFF8020i (rev 2.6) should work fine.
This means 99 % of the drives manufactured during the last 5 years.
Before that ... you still have a GOOD chance your drive supports the MMC commands.
IsoBuster should now interpret the gross of all CD-ROM drives out there !
Lots of effort is done to assure this.

Q7.  What about IDE <-> SCSI ?
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Both kind of drives should work fine, yet let me know when there are problems reading the CD.
I already invested considerable time to make sure SCSI is supported too.
Mention all details that might seem important.

Q8.  I can select a drive but can't see the file-system on my CD ??
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A 1000 possible issues ...
- Or the CD has a file system this app can't deal with ...
- Or the drive doesn't understand the ATAPI commands ...
- Or the CD is beyond recognition (scratches, bad sectors, ...)
Still ... All info is welcome.
Specify CD title, OS it was meant for, Drive characteristics and name.
IsoBuster also mentions the error it encountered.

Q9  I have a CD-i disc that can't be read ?
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I tested IsoBuster on a range of 200 different CD-i titles.
They all worked well except for two titles.
After investigation it turned out that the CD-ROM drives just couldn't read the requested sectors,
because the sector-layout was FAR beyond specifications  or because they contained audio tracks.
e.g. 'Uncover Tatjana' could be read on my Sony drive, but not on my Philips drive.
e.g. 'Het Nationale Muziekkado' couldn't be read on either drive.
Error : 05/64/00 : 'Illegal Mode for this track' (says it all ...)

Actually, 9 out of 10 chances when you have problems reading CD titles, the CD contains Audio tracks !!??
Besides a unique file-system these CDs have a unique Table of Contents (TOC) which fools the gross of al CD-ROM drives.  When audio tracks are present, the CD-ROMs often treat the data as audio in the pre-gap which leads to all sorts of data corruption.

Q10  What about interleaved files ?
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Not implemented in this application.
I haven't seen such a CD yet
(I know this 'feature' is integrated in the CD-i specification,
 but the CD-i's I've tested never did have such files)
If this app detects such files, it will add a little square on the left side of the file icon.

Q11.  What about Mac CDs ?
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Mac CDs that have an ISO file system should be recognisable ?
(lots of Mac CDs will thus not qualify)

Macintosh files are often split in two ... the executable part and the assets part.
Both files have the same filename and are located in the same folder.

Both can be seen and extracted 
but at this point this app doesn't automatically merge them.

Q12.  What are those different Extraction types ?
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- 'Extract' will extract the user-data portion of the sectors and hence extract the exact and complete file.
- 'Extract and Run' will do the same as Extract (to a selected location) and next automatically start the file
- 'Run' will extract the file to the 'temp' directory and automatically start the file.

- 'Extract but FILTER only M2F2 Mpeg frames' will extract the User data portion of a file but ...
  Will check every sector and look for an Mpg 1 or Mpg 2 signature.
  If the signature isn't present, the sector is not integrated in the file.
  Resultantly, you get a CLEAN Mpg stream (same result as the util dat2mpg.exe)
- 'Extract RAW' extracts all sectors Raw
  (So all overhead is extracted too, yet there are situations where this proves handy)
  (Same as files in *.ISO images)

Q13.  If I Extract the VCD *.dat file, the resulting file is smaller than when I extract with Windows ?
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Yep.
Windows, for some stupid reason, copies all sectors raw and adds a header to the file saying so.
This is why you afterwards need tools such as dat2mpg to convert it all again.

Q14.  Mpg frame-rate related issues ....
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If you extract the mpg from a whitebook VCD 2.0, the mpg will be accepted by all VCD creating Write Software.
If you extract mpg that is not conform VCD 2.0 (e.g. from a CD-i), a lot of VCD creating apps will complain.
However, some of them still allow you to create a VCD from the stream (Yippee) (e.g. WinOnCD, Adaptec VCD Creator 4.0).
Downside is that CD-i players check for CD format and then determine how the mpg format should look like.
Resultantly, the CD-i player will most likely freeze on this kind of mpg on a CD-ROM.
HOWEVER ... The whole intention of converting to CD-ROM is for the benefit of being able to view the mpg on PC ...
And PC Mpg decoding soft has NO problem with this !!

So, you are now able to 'back-Up' all your favourite CD-i movies to CD-ROMS that can be seen by Windows.

Q15.  Resulting file contains 0 bytes
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If you choose 'Extract but FILTER only M2F2 Mpeg frames' on a file that does NOT contain mpg data, there is nothing to extract ... .
Furthermore ...
'Extract but FILTER only M2F2 Mpeg frames' Extracts mpg data that is formatted as such on the CD (e.g. VCD, SVCD, DVCD), located in M2F2 frames.
*.mpg files on a normal or standard CD will MOST LIKELY not be formatted as such !
These files need to be extracted using the normal 'Extract' option !!

Q16.  What about the famous 'mixed form' files on CD-i
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No Problemo !
This app reads all sectors raw and extract the user data portion
based upon its own interpretation of the sector's form.

Q17.  What is that 'Frame' thing you keep referring to ?
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A CD contains frames (or blocks), each containing a certain amount of data.
CDs generally contain 333.000 - 360.000 frames
DVDs a lot more ......... .

1 LBA (= Logical Block Address) = 1 Frame.

Q18.  And what about DVD ?
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No Problemo
Most DVDs still contain an ISO File Structure although they also should contain a UDF file system

Q19.  Does this app interpret UDF File Systems ?
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No ...  But who knows what the future will bring ...

Direct CD, Packet CD, HyCD, InCD, ... Formatted CD-Rs and CD-RWs contain a UDF File System.
They are not supported (yet)

Q20. Can a CD (or DVD) contain more than one file system ?
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Oh Yes !
Trick is that all those File systems must point to the same files and directories.
Sometimes there are deviations where both File systems are different (bad mastering software).
e.g.
DVDs must contain UDF but in most cases they also contain an ISO File System.
Joliet is an extension of ISO and can contain long file-names.
(Most CD-ROMs these days contain the Joliet extension on top of ISO9660)

In case of Multi-Session, each session contains File systems too.

File Systems can often also be interpreted in different ways (several ways to go about it).
Choosing a certain path can lead to different results than when another path was chosen.
E.g. 'same' tables stored on several locations and different address notations (Intel <-> Motorola)

This app for instance interprets ISO in a different way than Windows does !
Mainly for the benefit of reading CD-i and/or giving you the opportunity to read the data anyway if Windows (once again) refuses.

In the TreeView on the left, IsoBuster will add an icon for every (known) file-system it encounters.
In effect you will have multiple pointers to the same files and directories.
Pick the File-system you want (e.g. Long file names <-> short file-names) and explore the CD.
If one reference doesn't work, you have the option to explore via another file-system.
This is a real plus over Windows, since Windows sticks with one file system and doesn't even bother to post an error message when it encountered problems during file-system interpretation.

Q21.  Why do I get the DOS file-names when I browse the CD ?
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IsoBuster looks for all file-systems it knows.
Standard, 'all' CDs contain an ISO file system
ISO9660 is limited to short file-names.
Extensions such as Joliet however contain the long file-names.
IsoBuster als scans for Joliet and add a root in the TreeView on the left

Q22.  File retrieval from CDs that weren't closed properly by the Write application.
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This app can see and retrieve files from CDs that are not closed properly (e.g. after Buffer Underrun).
Limitation in this case is the drive in which you want to 'see' the CD.
A writer has no problems reading these sectors, but a normal CD-ROM might fail !!
In case of Buffer Underrun, the File system most likely will point to files that weren't recorded or were only partly recorded.
Extracting these files will fail with errors such as : 05/21/??, 05/63/??, 06/3B/0F, ... .
In all cases, Isobuster will read as much as possible and in all cases interpret the data that could be read !!!
(Unlike Windows which just stops on the first error)

Q23.  Mpg seems screwed up or is causing mpg player to crash
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When data is extracted using 'Extract but FILTER only M2F2 Mpeg frames', each frame is checked for a certain signature before it is copied to the resulting file.
Sometimes frames (as part of files that are not really mpg) contain this signature (accidentally).  Hence the app thinks it is extracting mpg and the result is not what you expected. (although not encountered yet and probably unlikely to happen)
Even though mpg is only extracted from Mode2Form2 frames.
Also,  I did see some strange mpg formats on certain CD-i's (Not movies !) which caused problems with my mpg player as well.
If the mpg is stored in a 'unique' way you can run into all sorts of unpredictable problems, with any app !
A lot depends of the quality of the codecs on your system, since CD-i for instance seems to be able to handle some very different mpg formats.

Q24.  File size on HD is different from what this application says !
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In an ISO file system, all file-sizes are stored as if the file is residing in Mode1 or Mode2Form1 frames.
This means, 2KB per frame. This is needed to be able to calculate the amount of frames that needs to be read !
However, on CD-i and CD-ROM XA discs certain files (e.g. *.dat and possibly *.rtf on Video discs) can reside in M2F2 frames.
So, more user data per frame.  Result is a larger file on HD than what IsoBuster says !

Q25.  Can't read certain files from DVD-ROM discs ?
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Device reports errors : 05/6F/xx
The DVD standard allows protection on some DVD files ...  
The DVD will not return the data of the blocks where the file-data is stored unless the drive is first told to give the data anyway.
The way to 'tell' the drive to return the data is 'kind of' secret.
Isobuster (at least for now) can not read these files either.
The moment you start your DVD decoding software and start playing a DVD movie, the drive is 'unlocked' by this software ... .
Once 'unlocked' we have to deal with yet another issue ...
Besides 'locked', these sectors are scrambled as well !

Q26.  'Device Reported' Error messages ...
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When Isobuster can't access certain data, it will display the error message it got from the drive 
(after depleting the retry-mechanism).
These error codes can differ depending on the manufacturer, although they all should be conform MMC2.
E.g. : 05/21/00 : 'Logical Block Address out of range'.
E.g. : 03/11/00 : 'Unrecoverable read error'.

Q27.  'Device reported' Error message when reading from CD Image on HD ??
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Isobuster is a multi-layered application, designed that way that functionality can easily be used in other 'Smart Projects' Applications.
At this stage you should think of it as a Front-End (Iso interpretation), a Middle part (Command sequences) and a Basic Engine (CD-ROM access).  
(In reality there are a lot more layers (objects, C++)).
When doing File access, another 'Middle Part' is linked in the code that does the actual File access.  However, this 'Middle Part' behaves as if it were a CD-ROM accessing Command sequence.  The Front-End 'hardly' knows it is reading from a file instead of a CD.
Hence the term 'Device reported' instead of maybe 'Error while reading from CD-Image File'.

Q28. 'Device Reported' Error message xx/xx/xx ... means ... WHAT ????
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As explained in Q26 and Q27, these messages are reported by the CD-ROM/DVD drive.
To know exactly what they mean you should look them up in the command spec for that particular device.
Fortunately they have to be conform to MMC(1,2,3).
I'll see if I can't provide some good links to 'free' MMC downloads ... .
Check out this FAQ a bit later.

Q29.  Can I edit Image-Files with IsoBuster
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Nope, you cannot.  The reason is complex as re-creating an image file sometimes is.
Reasons are  If a file changes size, it might very well be that the complete image has to be re-calculated.  Depending of the type of image file and depending on the app that's going to be used to write the image-file, EDC and ECC code needs to be changed/added per block.  The Iso and File-system might need complete re-doing  and what about the possible UDF file system then ?  Or what about changing one session and pointers to the files from other session 
And I can think of a few more issues that would occur.  Therefore I haven't even started considering editing Image files.

Q30.  Why are there multiple file-system icons in the window on the left ?
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IsoBuster scans for all file-systems it knows.
When it finds such a file-system it adds an icon  in the TreeView on the left.
You can pick whichever file-system you like to retrieve the file(s) and directories.

Q31.  What do all those icons mean next to files and directories ?
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IsoBuster handles a lot (not to say all) exceptions that ISO and Joliet know.
Different from Windows IsoBuster indicates these exceptions to help TroubleShooting.
Should something go wrong with such particular files / directories we (possibly) know where to start looking for the problem.

Icons NEXT to the file and Folder icons :

* Next to the root icons in the Treeview Window :
- Red icon with words ISO in it : The Iso File-System
- Blue icon with 3 >>> arrows : The Joliet file-system
- Red-Blue icon with 3 >>> arrows : A Joliet file-system (marked as such by its escape sequences) but STILL contains short file-names

* Next to the icons in the ListView (right) Window (possibly also in the left window)
- Blue arrow shaped icon with an 'E' in it : The files/directories are preceeded with an extended attribute list

- Blue plus + icon : This file is described by more than 1 records.  The file is most likely split up in parts over the CD.
  Typically on packet written CD-Rs that were converted to ISO.
  IsoBuster handles these well !
- Little square with red 'i'.  Interleaved files.  
  Extraction of these files is not supported by IsoBuster yet.  
  They 'can' exist on CD-i discs but I have NEVER seen such a CD.

Q32. I extracted an iso or tao or whatever file from a track, session or complete image using IsoBuster, How do I write this to a CD-R.
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Frankly,  I don't know.  Well  I do know but I don't know what you went through to extract the file, how the CD layout looked like, did you extract it from an image file (and what kind of image file) or directly from CD  ?

The file/track/image extracting functionality is there for engineering and I leave it at that for now.  If you don't know what you're doing, please turn to excellent image extractors outthere  Ddump, BlindRead,  etc.

I'm not saying there are numerous was ('cause I know there are) but again  for now  turn to the image extractors of this world.  Know that this is not IsoBuster's reason for existance  File and Directory recovery is 

Q33.  I want to re-create a CD (possibly change a few files) but want to safeguard bootability  Any idea how I can do this ?
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Yep, I know how to do this   I intend to write a paper explaining this.  Turn to the website for this paper.  (today 16/10/200 the paper doesn't exist yet but will follow soon).

Q33.  I opened an Image file and don't see all the tracks ?
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Correct !  IsoBuster is not able to detect multiple sessions or tracks in image-files.  This kind of functionality will get in there eventually but not for all image-file types simply because most of them don't contain this kind of information.
