Beta testers wanted: ArchivSector-OD v4.0, free tool with own disc writer

[ArchivSect1986]

Hi everyone,

I'm the developer of ArchivSector-OD, a free, open-source Windows program for archiving discs: Blu-ray/UHD and DVD backups (with MakeMKV), game disc dumps (with Redumper), filling discs to 100% (TargetFill), and burning.

Version 4.0 is now in beta, and the big change is that it has its own disc writer. Instead of handing the burn to Windows or ImgBurn, it talks to the drive directly (the same MMC commands ImgBurn uses), writes the whole disc, and verifies it sector by sector afterwards.

What the writer handles:

• CD-R, CD-RW
• DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW
• BD-R, BD-RE (full 25 GB, no spare areas)

Anything it can't burn (DVD-R DL and BD-R DL for now) goes to ImgBurn automatically.

Also new in 4.0:

• A Burn tab: write one ISO or a queue, build an ISO from a folder, copy a data disc to an ISO, verify a disc against its ISO
• Write speed choice
• Drive info: what your drive supports, the disc's maker code and who made it (e.g. MKM-A02 = Mitsubishi), its write speeds and exact size
• Erase for CD-RW/DVD-RW

Why I need testers: so far the writer has only been tested on my own drives (ASUS BW-16D1HT, FW 3.02), where every disc type above burned and verified except DVD+R DL, which hasn't been tried yet. I'd really like to know how it does on other drives: LG, Pioneer, LiteOn, external USB burners, older DVD writers, anything.

If you try it, please post:

• Burn > Drive info > Copy report (gives your drive model, firmware and the disc's details)
• What you burned and whether it verified
• If something failed, the log for that day from %AppData%\ArchivSector-OD\Logs

It's a beta, so please test with blank discs you don't mind losing, or a BD-RE/DVD+RW (stopping a burn on those is harmless). Your v3.4 setup can stay as it is: unzip the beta into a new folder.

Download (pre-release): https://github.com/ArchivSect1986/ArchivSector-OD/releases
Full list of changes: https://github.com/ArchivSect1986/ArchivSector-OD/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md

Thanks! Happy to answer questions here.

[ArchivSect1986]

Beta 2 is up: https://github.com/ArchivSect1986/ArchivSector-OD/releases

New in this one:

• BIN/CUE burning with the own writer (session at once): data and music tracks, Redumper-style dumps, track gaps, .wav music. Verified sector by sector, music lined up for the drive's offset.
• Copy disc: data discs, music CDs, and CDs with data + music tracks, with one drive or two, up to 10 copies.
• Erase for BD-RE and DVD+RW, and the drive cards now follow the tray when you use the drive's own eject button.

BIN/CUE testing on other drives would be especially useful, game dumps with music tracks most of all. Same as before: Burn > Drive info > Copy report, plus what you burned and whether it verified.

[ArchivSect1986]

Beta 3 is up: https://github.com/ArchivSect1986/ArchivSector-OD/releases

New since Beta 2:
- DVD-RW: quick erase in about a minute (no more hour-long full erases before burning), full erase with a progress bar
- Copy disc now copies Enhanced CDs / CD-Extra (music + data session), burned in two sessions by the app's own writer
- Copy disc reads CDs about 7x faster
- Fixed an erase that could freeze and stop when another drive was in use

Testers with DVD-RWs, Enhanced CDs, or drives other than ASUS are especially welcome. If something goes wrong, the Drive info "Copy report" and that day's log help a lot.

[ArchivSect1986]

ArchivSector-OD v4.0 Beta 4 is out (pre-release, free and open source, Windows 10/11 64-bit).

This beta is mostly about music CDs and Xbox 360 game backups:

- Music CD mode: burn WAV, FLAC, MP3, M4A/AAC or WMA files as an audio CD, with track names, CD-Text and 2-second gaps or none
- AccurateRip check for music CDs you've read, track by track
- Secure read: the CD is read twice and any sector that differs is re-read until one version clearly wins
- Read offset set automatically, so a BIN/CUE read matches AccurateRip exactly
- PS1 games and Video CDs read and copied as BIN/CUE (keeps the XA audio and video sectors)
- Xbox 360 backups of games you own: .dvd layer break files, XGD2/XGD3 layer breaks found by themselves, the security data checked before burning, and help with BurnerMAX for XGD3
- Live log in the Burn tab, an 80 MiB read-ahead buffer for the built-in writer, and the tray cycled before verifying
- Burn queue: drag and drop, real speeds, kept between runs
- Copy disc now keeps CD-Text and hidden tracks before track 1

Download, SHA-256 and full changelog:
https://github.com/ArchivSect1986/ArchivSector-OD/releases/tag/v4.0.0-beta4

Video walkthrough (build an ISO, burn a 25 GB Blu-ray, verify):
https://youtu.be/Wm3A2HwkNi0

Known issues: DVD-R DL still goes to ImgBurn; BD-R DL is written by the built-in writer but hasn't been tested on a real disc yet; an XGD3 disc can't be verified in every drive (an ASUS BW-16D1HT misreads past sector 2,086,912, the burning drive reads it fine).

Feedback and bug reports are welcome, especially from other drive models. Drive info -> Copy report in the Burn tab gives me everything I need about your drive.