Hey everyone! I'm trying to come up with a method to create a non-copyable CD. My plan is to write important files to the initial sectors and then put a useless file in the sectors located further towards the edge of the disk. After that, I want to damage that sector using a precision laser or needle. The goal here is to have a program that checks whether it can see that sector; if it can, it means a copy was taken, but if the sector is damaged and not visible, it indicates that the copy is the original. So, I'm really curious about how to write to specific sectors on the CD. Are there any tools out there designed for this purpose?
3 Answers
This reminds me of some old-school DRM techniques from the floppy disk days! They would intentionally create errors on the disk that the original disk could read, but copies would fail if they tried to read that damaged part. However, CDs work differently than floppy disks—instead of writing to physical sectors, they use a different track structure that doesn't lend itself to that kind of manipulation easily.
Honestly, I find it hard to see how a disk can be made completely uncopiable. If data can be read from it, it can usually be duplicated. Programs like PowerISO can create an ISO image that essentially backs up the disk. I've done some digging, and it looks like there's no straightforward software that enables you to write to specific sectors on a CD either. You might be able to research that further, but it sounds like a complicated venture!
This seems like an unusual project! Just to clarify, you're looking for a way to physically prevent copying data off a CD, right? In that case, while optical media's not the main choice anymore, there were some methods in older times for copy protection. For example, some PS1 games had certain patterns that non-compliant disks would miss. As for tools, I don't know of any software that will let you choose specific sectors to write to directly, but it might be worth looking into software that allows low-level CD writing—a bit challenging but possibly doable with the right tools.
Yeah, the methods they used back then relied on how the disks were read by the hardware. It's tricky since a writable CD is read as a whole and doesn’t allow for sector-by-sector custom writing like that.
Exactly, the tech just doesn't allow that kind of manipulation in retail CDs. Your best bet might be to look into unique file systems or encryption to make access harder.