Command Line CD Copy

by Sonny Nguyen on Apr 22, 2004

Have you ever wondered how to backup your audio/data cd using linux? Sure you can use a windows machine running Roxio, but why should you pay for something that you can do for free (using Fedora)? Now, you may asked "Why not start XWindows and run the Xcdroast program?". Xcdroast program is a great problem for people who have the luxury of running XWindows. If you are at a pinch and you need to backup your data/audio Disk, then command line is the best solution.

Here is what you will be using...

Available via Fedora (core 1/2)

• cat
• cdrecord
• cdparanoia

What you will need to know

• Temp space (My example will used /tmp.)
• CDR device (My example will used /dev/cdrom.)
• CDR device number (Run "cdrecord --scanbus". As an example, I will use dev=0,0,0)
• CDR speed (This is up to you and your CD Burner. As an example, I will use speed=2)

1) How to backup a Data CD

a) Backup Data CD to hard disk

root@localhost> cat /dev/cdrom > /tmp/FILE.iso

b) Burn CD image back to blank CD

root@localhost> cdrecord -v speed=2 dev=0,0,0 /tmp/FILE.iso

c) Don't forget to delete your CD image.

root@localhost> rm /tmp/FILE.iso

2) How to backup a Audio CD

a) Backup Audio CD to hard disk

root@localhost> cd /tmp
root@localhost> cdparanoia -v -B

b) Burn wav files back to blank CD

root@localhost> cdrecord -v useinfo speed=2 dev=0,0,0 fs=4096k -dao -eject -pad -audio "`ls /tmp/*.wav`"

c) Don't forget to delete your wav files.

root@localhost> rm /tmp/*.wav

There you have it.