PSX Ripper Programs- Which one is the best/easiest to use?

[Red]

Hey guys,

I'm finally getting around to ripping my old PSX games to play on an emulator and was wondering which ripper program is the best/easiest to use to rip my games into the .BIN .CUE format? 

Free is best, but I don't mind paying for a good, easy to use program.

Thanks.

[Ginsu Victim]

It doesn't have to be BIN/CUE. Imgburn is a great free tool (formerly DVD Decrypter)

http://www.imgburn.com/

[Red]

It doesn't have to be BIN/CUE. Imgburn is a great free tool (formerly DVD Decrypter)

http://www.imgburn.com/

Isn't Imgburn just a burner?  I didn't know it could rip games as well, can it?  If so, I already have it and I have used DVD Decryptor for my PS2 games.  Thanks.

[Ginsu Victim]

Front page of Imgburn.com

ImgBurn is a lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application that everyone should have in their toolkit!

It has several 'Modes', each one for performing a different task:

Read - Read a disc to an image file
Build - Create an image file from files on your computer or network - or you can write the files directly to a disc
Write - Write an image file to a disc
Verify - Check a disc is 100% readable. Optionally, you can also have ImgBurn compare it against a given image file to ensure the actual data is correct
Discovery - Put your drive / media to the test! Used in combination with DVDInfoPro, you can check the quality of the burns your drive is producing

[Red]

Front page of Imgburn.com

ImgBurn is a lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application that everyone should have in their toolkit!

It has several 'Modes', each one for performing a different task:

Read - Read a disc to an image file
Build - Create an image file from files on your computer or network - or you can write the files directly to a disc
Write - Write an image file to a disc
Verify - Check a disc is 100% readable. Optionally, you can also have ImgBurn compare it against a given image file to ensure the actual data is correct
Discovery - Put your drive / media to the test! Used in combination with DVDInfoPro, you can check the quality of the burns your drive is producing

Thank you very much.  I'll have to give it a shot since I already have it. 

And when you said it doesn't have to be .BIN .CUE, what other format(s) would you recommend?  I'll be playing the PSX games via an emulator.  Thanks.

[Ginsu Victim]

I'm just saying that most PSX emulators support multiple formats, like .bin .iso .mds etc

[massive88]

Alcohol 52% also works well, and can be used a virtual drive as well - http://trial.alcohol-soft.com/en/index.php

[Ginsu Victim]

That was going to be my second suggestion.

[SavannahLion]

Alcohol 52% also works well, and can be used a virtual drive as well - http://trial.alcohol-soft.com/en/index.php

Doesn't Alcohol trigger overly zealous disc protection "tools"?

[Red]

One more question, I ripped a PS2 CD game with ImgBurn and it made it into a .BIN .CUE file., which would be fine if it were a PS1 game, but I need it to be an ISO for the PS2.

Is there any way to make ImgBurn rip PS2 CD games into an ISO?

Thanks.

[Ginsu Victim]

CD games in bin/cue are fine. It's DVDs you don't want in bin/cue.

[Red]

CD games in bin/cue are fine. It's DVDs you don't want in bin/cue.

Is there any way to make ImgBurn rip PS2 CD games straight into ISO instead of .BIN .CUE?   I can't seem to find that setting.  I want to load the PS2 CD game onto HD Loader, so I need it to be an ISO.  Thanks.

[Ginsu Victim]

When you set the filename before ripping, you should be able to change the extension.

[jharris]

And when you said it doesn't have to be .BIN .CUE, what other format(s) would you recommend?  I'll be playing the PSX games via an emulator.  Thanks.

Generally speaking you should choose a fairly popular format that creates a single file (eg, ISO, CCD, NRG). If the game uses CD audio to play music then your game needs to be backed up to CDRWin's BIN/CUE format. That's because the CUE file tells the emulator what audio tracks to play. No specific reason really (that's just the way the most popular playstation emus work).

[SavannahLion]

If the game uses CD audio to play music then your game needs to be backed up to CDRWin's BIN/CUE format. That's because the CUE file tells the emulator what audio tracks to play. No specific reason really (that's just the way the most popular playstation emus work).

The specific reason is that ISO isn't meant to back up CD's with audio tracks. Not saying it can't, just that it isn't meant to be used that way.

To me, it's the number one most annoying aspect of backing up discs. Almost all of my tools are meant to be used with DVD's, for the damndest reason most of the "modern" tools refuse to backup CD's to the older (ie BIN/CUE) formats. 

[jharris]

Interesting. I knew I would get corrected by someone back when I wrote that post.  The bin/cue question seems to be a common one among people looking to play backed up playstation games from a virtual drive. Basically the OP has to find out if his favorite game requires CD Audio and if so then he needs to rip it in the appropriate BIN/CUE format. Otherwise he can use whatever popular format he pleases (as long as it is recognized by the emulator).