Howto Duplicate Audio CDs using cdrdao in Ubuntu

This guide aims to show how to duplicate audio cds from the command line using one of my favourite programs: cdrdao.


Identify your drive

First of all cdrdao needs to know where to find your drive and the following command will give you the required information. I show the results from my own computer, your results will of course differ slightly:


$ sudo cdrdao scanbus
[sudo] password for andrew:
Cdrdao version 1.2.2 - (C) Andreas Mueller
SCSI interface library - (C) Joerg Schilling
Paranoia DAE library - (C) Monty

Check http://cdrdao.sourceforge.net/drives.html#dt for current driver tables.

Using libscg version 'ubuntu-0.8ubuntu1'

1,0,0 : Optiarc , DVD+-RW AD-5560A, DD11

So the scsi address for my drive is 1,0,0 for bus,id,lun and since this is a single drive computer it will be both the source and destination drive in my command line. The results of this command give a hint as well concerning the driver that cdrdao will use. Have a look at the URL given and see if your drive is mentioned there but you will probably find that the generic-mmc driver will work well enough with most modern drives.

All the other settings

With the drive and the driver successfully identified it remains only to decide on a few other elements to form our command line:

* Write speed: There are a thousand theories regarding the correct speed to burn an audio cd. I prefer to burn slowly so I have selected a speed of 8.

* Buffers: This specifies the number of buffers available to prevent under-run. Each buffer holds 1 second of audio data so divide the buffers by the write speed to give the maximum time for which reading of audio data may be stalled. With buffers of 128, as I have selected, and write speed of 8 this gives 16 seconds before under-run will occur..

* Error Checking: It is possible to set error checking for the digital audio extraction and I prefer to set this to maximum. This slows the whole process down a little but guarantees better quality.


So now all the settings are decided and it is time to assemble the command line.

If you really want you can type out the whole command line each time you want to duplicate an audio cd but there is a easy way. First create the following file:


$ sudo gedit /etc/cdrdao.conf

Next open it with your favourite text editor and then simply add all the settings that we have discussed above into this file in the following format:


#---- cdrdao.conf ----#
write_buffers: 128
write_device: "1,0,0"
write_driver: "generic-mmc"
read_device: "1,0,0"
read_driver: "generic-mmc"
read_paranoia_mode: 3
write_speed: 8

Now when you wish to duplicate an audio cd place the source cd in your drive and use the following command:


$ sudo cdrdao copy

And the rest of the process will continue with the only intervention required by you being the replacement of the source cd with a blank, writeable cd when prompted. How cool is that!

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Other useful commands:
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The man page for cdrdao is well written and quite comprehensive and I strongly suggest that you read it well. Below are a few 'high points', options that may be useful with the syntax above:

* --keepimage: If you are using the 'copy' command the cd image is automatically removed at the completion of the write process. This option allows the image to remain and to then be written to another cd if you wish.
* --simulate: Used in the writing process as: 'sudo cdrdao write --simulate'. This will perform the write process fully but in simulation only. Very useful to test settings.
* --blank-mode minimal: Add this option in to blank your cd quickly. If you wish to blank the cd completely use the option '--blank-mode full'.