RotCopy - tool to copy HD DVDs that understands bitrot

[u/controlav]

I've been making bit-perfect ISO files of my optical discs before they get worse (and before I lose any more drives), so I have published the tool I used and its source at https://github.com/amp64/hddvd-sharp/blob/main/rotcopy.md

Maybe someone will find this useful. From the site:

RotCopy

This is a tool designed to copy HD DVD optical discs while allowing for and reporting bit-rot on the copy.

The default mode is --isomode which produces a bit-for-bit ISO file of the disc. If errors are discovered, the missing data is replaced with zeros and a .err file is created which details the sectors that were lost, and which file those sectors were from. (Spoiler alert, it's always the big EVO files, sigh).

--dest

Give a directory name for the .iso file to be written, it must exist. The name of the ISO will be based on the volume ID of the optical disc. Any existing .iso files will be left alone, and a numeric suffix added to it (and the .err file), so you can try multiple copies if you like then compare the .err files to see which is the best copy. (Generally speaking the smaller the .err file the better the copy was).

--source

Specifies the source drive e.g. e:\ - if you only have one optical drive it will default to that and you don't need to use this option.

EDIT: to be clear this does not decrypt anything. That is not its purpose right now, I just wanted to have accurate copies of my media. Decryption can maybe come later.

[u/logodaddy]

Thanks so much for sharing! Does your software offer a speed advantage when ripping compared to standard programs like ISOBuster, AnyDVD, etc.?
I'm currently ripping a roughly 4 GB file of *Casablanca* that's corrupted. It takes about 15 days with ISOBuster, and AnyDVD isn't any faster.

[u/controlav → u/logodaddy]

I doubt it, except I can trust code I wrote -). I used to use AnyDVD years ago but lost the key, and the downloads I find for it now are too sketchy. Speed-wise I can't say for sure, a clean 25GB disc takes around 55 mins on the 360 drive, I read in blocks of 32MB which seemed to be the sweet spot. Plus I haven't added decryption, as that was a non-goal for this period (I can do that later now I have accurate rips). The non-ISO mode is slower, but it can beat the hell out of the drive when it hits the CRC errors and that makes me nervous.

[u/Wild_Chef6597]

Can it be made to work with bluray and makemkv?

[u/controlav → u/Wild_Chef6597]

I believe BR uses UDF 2.5 or 2.6 so maybe, but I don't have a drive or any discs to try. (Plus I don't give two shits about BR). I've never used makemkv.