Archiving Sigma 1700 cd roms

[cfh]

I have archived the Sigma CD ROMs that I have. I was paranoid
the originals would get scratched. Yea sure you can make a copy
but then you have the same problem. So wanted a way to digitally
pack them into a single file and store.

I ended up using Nero to do this. But instead of an ISO formatted
file, it's "nero" format (.NRG). Does this seem like a reasonible
solution to this problem? (In that only Nero can be used to created
a new CD-ROM from this file.) The .nrg file does zip down to a fairly
small file size (which is nice, easy to put on a server for remote
backup). This also makes it easy when a friend ruins their CD,
i don't have to snail-mail them a new one.

[jay]

You would need to use FTP or similar as a CD sized file is usually quite big ie 660mb.....and most ISPs block email attachments over 10mb (many 5mb).

ISO is more universal than the NERO format and if you are trying to save your buddy time/money in recovery then you might be the catalyst in getting him to spend $45 on purchasing a online copy of Nero assuming you sent him the NRG.
On the otherhand since you have Nero you could always load up your NRG file and then write out a ISO as needed.

What is your catalyst for wanting to keep NRG vs ISO ? are they faster or smaller ?

[cfh]

After the CDroms are read by nero and saved in their single file format,
and then WinZip'ed, they are 8meg to 40meg in size. So maybe
not email-able, but i do have them on a webserver so they can
be downloaded. 40 meg is big, but it's not that big.

Why nero? because i didn't have any software that would write
ISO format. I have nero and reading a CDrom to a single file
was a piece of cake to do.

[jay]

I have never tried to create a ISO with nero but I have opened ISO files and written them with Nero....I prefer it to Roxio.

[cfh]

Well i have Nero Express and it doesn't seem to support writing
anything but their NRG files.

[brichter]

Hey, Clay, my version of Nero Express (6) supports burning ISO images... 


You have to choose "Data", then "Data Disc", not "Copy Entire Disc" when you first start the project, if you choose Copy Entire Disc, you can only save to .nrg format.


Choose data, then data disc, drag the files from the CD to the "add files" window.
Select the image recorder as the destination, click "Burn", and when it opens the "Save As" window, .iso will be an option.
 

[cfh]

yes Nero burns ISO, but i need to *save* a disk as an ISO file.
I can't seem to make Nero Express do that. It will only
save the disk as a NRG file (nero's special format).
Not that it's a bad thing, but just the person using the
file must have nero to re-create the CD.  I just thought
ISO was more universal, and in the long run would be
better.

[brichter]

Using my procedure will save your disk as an iso file.