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**Praetor** · 04-13-2005, 12:21 AM

Section 04 -- VFAQ
ATIP? What? Why does this matter?
Think of ATIP as a signiture of a disc ... just because it says "Sony" or "Memorex" on a disc does not mean either of those companies made that disc (and in this case, neither Sony nor Memorex actually make their own media).

Example: A generic CD I have hanging around with a "Memorex" label on it. Doing an ATIP dump, I get the following
Manufacturer: CMC Magnetics
Recording Layer: Dye (Short strategy; e.g. Phthalocyanine)
ATIP: 97m 26s 66f
Capacity: 702.83MB (79m 59s 73f / LBA: 359848)
So, according to the ATIP, it was actually a company named CMC Magnetics that made the disc!

How is this relevant? For people interested in making backups or archives and/or simply interested in data integrity will definitely want to pick media that ismade by a reputable company and will pay little attention to the company that may have stamped their logo on the disc/packaging. Some good manufacturers of CD media include:

Ritek, Taiyo Yuden (TY), Mitsui, Mitsubishi Chemicals, Moser Bayer India

For DVD media, the process is roughly the same ... I've got a disc here labeled with "Precision Digital" and doing a dump, the following information is revealed:

Disc & Book Type: DVD-R, DVD-R
Manufacturer Name: SKC Co. Ltd
Manufacturer ID SKC Co. Ltd
Blank Disc Capacity: 4.38GB

So here, I've got a disc actually made by SKC Co

For DVD media, some reputable brands include

Taiyo Yuden (TY), Mitsui, Mitsubishi Chemicals, Moser Bayer India

How do you do the ATIP Dump thingy???
There are numerous programs that can tell you this information

There are other tools available but those seem to be the more common ones

Ok so how do I make sure I buy only good media?
Do your background research or trial-and-error! There are forums and websites out there that attempt to idenfity the ATIP information on discs in a consumer-friendly manner (i.e., "The <model> discs sold at <store> happen to be <ATIP>") ... if you cant find any ... just buy one, test it and if it's good, then grab a whole bunch!

So what happens if I have "crappy" media? Is there anything I can do?
Burn slower! Regardless of how good quality your discs are, if you insist on burning full-tilt speed every time, you're going to have errors on your burns ... maybe you dont think you have them (i.e., you dont have windows giving you CRC32 errors) ... but you know how with some of your CDs, you can read them faster? Or how that one disc just copies so slow? Thats poor burn quality. In extreme cases, things like videos can become out of sync!

Ok what do I do with this Image I have?

ISO. You can burn this with any burning application simply because it is universally compatible. If your application requires you to specify some additional information. ISO files are "Mode 1" and have a sector size of 2048 bytes
BIN/CUE. Most mainstream applications allow you to "burn the CUE file" (which in effect loads the BIN file so yes you need the BIN file). If you dont have the CUE file you can make one from the BIN file (no you cannot make a BIN file from the CUE file). A quick tool to do so can be found here. If you're too lazy to make a CUE file, for the most part data images are "Mode 1" and media images are "Mode 2"; both modes have a sector size of 2352 bytes.
IMG/SUB/CCD, MDF/MDS, BWT/BWA. This is a format dedicated to storing images of protected discs. Any program designed to handle protected media can handle this format (load the CCD file although realistically it doesnt matter). CloneCD, Alcohol120 and BlindWrite can handle this format. If you're missing one of the files for these specialized formats, for the most part, you are out of luck (unless the CD/DVD itself doesnt have any protection so it does not matter)
Lastly you can get a virtual drive and mount the images as if they were real CDs/DVDs Nero, Alcohol, Blindwrite, CloneCD, CDRWIN5, Padus etc all have virtual drives of varying capabilites although the nest is probablyDaemonTools

I downloaded this image and it's just a bunch of 001,002,003 files! What do I do?
Pay for whatever it was you downloaded. Of course, if it's legit and youdid pay for it ... then there's probably a tech support or a FAQ on the site you got it from.

Should I use DVD+R or DVD-R Media?
For the most part, it doesnt matter. If you're dealing with older hardware like home theater systems you may want the added compatability that DVD-R media provides however if you're interested purely in PC applications (i.e., data archival), the higher speeds provided by DVD+R may be more useful to you.

04-13-2005, 12:21 AM	#5 (permalink)
Praetor Administrator Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Canada Age: 26 Posts: 19,953	Section 04 -- VFAQ *ATIP? What? Why does this matter?* Think of ATIP as a signiture of a disc ... just because it says "Sony" or "Memorex" on a disc does not mean either of those companies made that disc (and in this case, neither Sony nor Memorex actually make their own media). Example: A generic CD I have hanging around with a "Memorex" label on it. Doing an ATIP dump, I get the following Manufacturer: CMC Magnetics Recording Layer: Dye (Short strategy; e.g. Phthalocyanine) ATIP: 97m 26s 66f Capacity: 702.83MB (79m 59s 73f / LBA: 359848) So, according to the ATIP, it was actually a company named CMC Magnetics that made the disc! How is this relevant? For people interested in making backups or archives and/or simply interested in data integrity will definitely want to pick media that ismade by a reputable company and will pay little attention to the company that may have stamped their logo on the disc/packaging. Some good manufacturers of CD media include: Ritek, Taiyo Yuden (TY), Mitsui, Mitsubishi Chemicals, Moser Bayer India For DVD media, the process is roughly the same ... I've got a disc here labeled with "Precision Digital" and doing a dump, the following information is revealed: Disc & Book Type: DVD-R, DVD-R Manufacturer Name: SKC Co. Ltd Manufacturer ID SKC Co. Ltd Blank Disc Capacity: 4.38GB So here, I've got a disc actually made by SKC Co For DVD media, some reputable brands include Taiyo Yuden (TY), Mitsui, Mitsubishi Chemicals, Moser Bayer India *How do you do the ATIP Dump thingy???* There are numerous programs that can tell you this information Alcohol120% (CDR+DVDR) CD-R Identifier (CDR) DVDInfo [DVDR] DVD Identifier There are other tools available but those seem to be the more common ones *Ok so how do I make sure I buy only good media?* Do your background research or trial-and-error! There are forums and websites out there that attempt to idenfity the ATIP information on discs in a consumer-friendly manner (i.e., "The <model> discs sold at <store> happen to be <ATIP>") ... if you cant find any ... just buy one, test it and if it's good, then grab a whole bunch! *So what happens if I have "crappy" media? Is there anything I can do?* Burn slower! Regardless of how good quality your discs are, if you insist on burning full-tilt speed every time, you're going to have errors on your burns ... maybe you dont think you have them (i.e., you dont have windows giving you CRC32 errors) ... but you know how with some of your CDs, you can read them faster? Or how that one disc just copies so slow? Thats poor burn quality. In extreme cases, things like videos can become out of sync! *Ok what do I do with this Image I have?* ISO. You can burn this with any burning application simply because it is universally compatible. If your application requires you to specify some additional information. ISO files are "Mode 1" and have a sector size of 2048 bytes BIN/CUE. Most mainstream applications allow you to "burn the CUE file" (which in effect loads the BIN file so yes you need the BIN file). If you dont have the CUE file you can make one from the BIN file (no you cannot make a BIN file from the CUE file). A quick tool to do so can be found here. If you're too lazy to make a CUE file, for the most part data images are "Mode 1" and media images are "Mode 2"; both modes have a sector size of 2352 bytes. IMG/SUB/CCD, MDF/MDS, BWT/BWA. This is a format dedicated to storing images of protected discs. Any program designed to handle protected media can handle this format (load the CCD file although realistically it doesnt matter). CloneCD, Alcohol120 and BlindWrite can handle this format. If you're missing one of the files for these specialized formats, for the most part, you are out of luck (unless the CD/DVD itself doesnt have any protection so it does not matter) Lastly you can get a virtual drive and mount the images as if they were real CDs/DVDs Nero, Alcohol, Blindwrite, CloneCD, CDRWIN5, Padus etc all have virtual drives of varying capabilites although the nest is probablyDaemonTools *I downloaded this image and it's just a bunch of 001,002,003 files! What do I do?* Pay for whatever it was you downloaded. Of course, if it's legit and youdid pay for it ... then there's probably a tech support or a FAQ on the site you got it from. *Should I use DVD+R or DVD-R Media?* For the most part, it doesnt matter. If you're dealing with older hardware like home theater systems you may want the added compatability that DVD-R media provides however if you're interested purely in PC applications (i.e., data archival), the higher speeds provided by DVD+R may be more useful to you. __________________ ASUS P5K Premium WiFi-AP, Q6600@3.7 / ASUS P5ND, E6400@3.8 4GB OCz Platinum XTC 8500 / 4GB CorsairXMS2 6400 5x500GB Seagate 7200.10 / 2x500 Seagate 7200.10 OCz 8800GTX 768MB @ 630/800 / 2x Galaxy 8800GT SLI Last edited by Praetor; 09-03-2006 at 01:11 AM.