Overview

churches and software distributors (like me) need to periodically duplicate discs. What if you have something you have made in ISO format? well, this is the tool you need.

I have only one drive, so this has not (yet) been tested on more than one drive, but it should theoretically work. The big question on windows machines is, how menay drives can you do simultaneously?

how it works

the first task is to execute gen-duplicator-batch-files.exe (this is done during installation, but you should also do it if you add or remove or change a drive). it is a c++ program that generates 2 batch files, duplicate-folder-to-discs.cmd and duplicate-iso-to-discs.cmd. the folder one burns a specified folder on the command-line to all the available burners simultaneously. the ISO one burns the specified ISO file on the command-line to all the available burners simultaneously.

The next task is to run duplicator-GUI.exe which is the front end for the 2 batch files. this GUI saves you from having to do all this on the command-line (although if you prefer command-line, you still can if you have batch-mode stuff you need to do).

the next step, is to follow the numbers in the program.

features

• includes and installs a copy of cdrtfe cd burning program (Open Source Software)
• using cdrtfe's GUI, can read data disc to ISO.
• using cdrtfe's command-line tool mkisofs.exe (maybe through makeiso.cmd), you can make your own custom ISOs, bootable or otherwise using a folder tree and optional boot floppy image.
• cdrtfe makes a good cd burning program (does not burn multisession DVD's yet though, no TAO there yet because cdrtools does not support it)
• supports burning to all optical drives simultaneously. If you need to reduce the number of drives due to system load, you can edit the 2 generated batch files.
• supports burning folders or ISOs. it creates an ISO out of the folder.
• user-friendly, simple front-end.
• ejects media after done

Downloads

due to bugs in the previous version, I recommend you install over the top of 1.0.

don't click on these downloads. right click and pick save target/link as. the idea is not to open/run them, but to save them as a file. if you have chroms, I think it's going to download anyway, which is good you may need to move them from the download folder into a folder you prefer to work in. If you don't know where you downloaded this to, you shouldn't be using this stuff because it is too advanced.

03/31/2011  03:38 AM         7,067,335 duplicator-1.3-setup.exe

SHA512 duplicator-1.3-setup.exe
bfeae65e5c0fd30b e7fce6ea0fcb7a12 9767b1c5f34b2792 5e0113c82eac9d72
1ec27b6ffcb38e47 b831a428df5a964d 25279f93bf06fda4 8ca9e228c406dceb

MD5 duplicator-1.3-setup.exe
b0c3e43356ae63359c173c480ef58265

03/31/2011  07:14 PM        13,982,914 duplicator.zip

SHA512 duplicator.zip
79741263ef1347be eca94dc30df7ae5e ce7277da18c68779 c5f624dd93b2ee47
14437360e25c05f7 f7a9e6763131f7f1 380a0be8acd85d95 87ab4463d7aeeb0d

MD5 duplicator.zip
92e4e24ab5d947cb67a4098268870afc

system requirements

• at least 1 optical drive (a burner)
• at least 1 core per optical drive (at least I think that will be the requirement, have not tested, someone send me results so I can post them here)
• the PSU upgrade will be $180-300 total to an Antec 80 plus certified 1200W (so get a 1200W). the certified 80 plus PSU will save on electric bills.
• i7-980x 3.33GHz or the 4.5GHz (which is even better, provided you can build a system around that), or AMD Phenom II X6 3300MHz. If you are capable of getting a d-al-proc workstation motherboard, and a case that handles lots of bays, this would be optimal. the i7-980x is reportedly the fastest processor around, but the 4.5GHz is usually liquid-cooled.
• for a 1200W supply, 5 optical drives (blu-ray burners) and one or two cards, and an NVidia Geforce GTX470 video card.
• The hard disk should be a 10,000rpm or 7200rpm drive, or a RAID striped system you are reading from
• 16GB-24GB RAM minimum, assuming a 64-bit system. this will make for about 16GiB-24GB=8-12GiB RAM for disk cache and system memory equivalent for 32-bit system. a DVD, once read in, holds about 4.7GB (that's about 5GB) and a DL DVD about 8.5GB. let's hope that the system caches this.
• 64-bit OS (required for accessing the massive amounts of memory that is required)

Overall, for a 4.5GHz single-proc box you could be looking at $6-7 grand.