Backing up Sat Nav Discs.

[thegeeman]

Hi

I am just about to take delivery of a new car on friday. Problem is that the sat nav disc is missing. A friend has an original sat nav disc for his car and has agreed that i can loan the disc to make a back up. Unfortunately, i do not have the disc until tuesday but wanted to know the process before then.

Forgive me but i do not know what legal copyright constraints/encryption, if any, may apply to sat nav data and this post is not intend to be 'warez' orientated.

So has anyone successfully backed up the data on a sat nav disc? If so, what process did you follow?

Many Thanks

[hech54]

What you are asking about is illegal since you do not own the disc...plus if it is a sat-nav CD (not DVD)....mine has proven impossible to copy.

[ArthurDaley]

We would need details about the nav system, version etc. You did not say whether it was a CD or DVD. I know someone else who made a backup of their car nav and it was a double layer DVD. So if it is a DVD, make sure you have a double layer one ready in case. (if in UK, probably buy from www.svp.co.uk)

[thegeeman]

Hi

Thanks guys. The sat nav is for a Mercedes E Class W211, year 2004. It is a DVD disc and not a CD. Current version is V6. The data size is apparently just a little over 2gig so dont see why i would need a dual layer (unless there is some particular reason behind it?).

I know A-Ray scanner will pick up what encryption is there but not sure if the likes of Alcohol 120 would back it up and 'skip' any potential read errors/encryption etc. Never backed up a sat nav disc before hence the post. I believe a 'key' point is to ensure the back up works ok, when made, is to be burnt at as slow a speed as possible, preferably 1x.

All help would be greatly appreciated.

[SLK001]

Your best bet would be to refuse delivery until the car is complete. Give the dealer 7 days to correct the situation, or take your business elsewhere.

[jameshgross]

SLK001 - excellent advise. We should all demand good service or take our business elseware.

[thegeeman]

Thanks SLK001. You're right!!

He has however reduced the price in light of no disc by £600 to allow for this. A brand new disc from the dealer is £255. I know i'm still saving but i was just looking at other avenues. I think i may just keep an eye out for one on Ebay. They pop up occasionally; new, original & sealed.

I think i may have come up with a solution to the backing up anyway, for those that may be interested. Obviously there are a number of ways that i've looked at and they not the same for everyone. Please note that you may require dual layer discs.

Method 1.

1. Download freeware of A-Ray Scanner to get which type of encryption is on the disc;
2. Alcohol120 to burn on the fly and go to 'Customise' option to ignore/bypass the encryption named as per above-ensure it is set to book-type for dvd-rom in Alcohol first. Downside is having the appropriate drive to begin with to enable book-typing.

Method 2.

1. use dvd decrypter, book type it to DVD-Rom and create iso image with decrypter and burn.

Key thing with both methods is to burn at the SLOWEST possible speed.

Please note that i have NOT tried these methods yet. However, they have been 'supposedly' proven to work through scouting numerous forums and reviewing as many threads as i could.

If someone has a definitive, 99.99% sure way, rather than those listed above i would be grateful if you could post.

As with anything there are the usual pitfalls/anomolies that i've picked up:

Each manufacturers disc may not be the same and the levels of encryption differ (SafeDisc version 2 is easily bypassed, yet version 3 is somewhat more diffcult);
drive dependent (ability to book-type);
good media (apparently Verbatim DL seems to be the choice of the majority);
Also avoid using a disc from a 'newer' version on a temporary basis as it apparently flashes the drive with the upgrade and when you put your 'older' and earlier version disc back in, the drive it will not work.

[DavidGeorge]

I've been unable to burn a 2-layer car Satnav DVD from ISO & MDS files.

Can anyone confirm this is because the original image file specifies the 2nd layer starts at a point that's not a multiple of 16?
The image specifies a 2nd layer start point of 1,261,441 but ImgBurn won't accept this and requires using the next higher multiple, i.e. 1,261,456.
Burning using that latter break point produces a disk the car won't read.

Is this because the disk manufacturer has used a non-standard break point to prevent duplicating, or am I doing something wrong?
(I haven't tried Verbatim disks yet but suspect that they wouldn't work anyway as the problem is the disk's structure).

[hech54]

It has nothing to do with ANYTHING you know about burning music and video CD and DVDs. Either specific lead-in data on an original disc vs a copy is missing (see CANNOT BE DUPLICATED) or the disc itself is unique (something sandwiched between the layers of the disc).
You are dealing with DATA discs here....the rules you are familiar with are GONE.