There are many different tools and software to clone CD’s in Linux, I personally find myself using the Terminal and Gnomebaker to make clean working copies of my CD’s.

I use the Terminal because the DD command has so many options and tools and it just works. So here goes.

1. Insert the CD you wish to copy.
2. Fire up the Terminal.
3. Run the following command. sudo dd if=/dev/cdrom of=/path/to/output/file.iso Just changing the device reference and output file to meet your needs.

This process should only take a few minutes, in a I copied Windows XP Pro for personal archiving and this was the results.

100067+0 records in

100067+0 records out

512346112 bytes (512 MB) copied, 204.212 seconds, 2.5 MB/s

Please note that this was using a 24x rom so if your drive is faster then it will go faster.

So now that you have the iso file, how do you get it to another disk. Well this is where I find the tool Gnomebaker a simple point and click iso burner. Yes there are others but this is the one I personally find just works.

1. Fire up Gnomebaker.
2. Insert blank CD in drive.
3. Select Tools – Burn CD Image – Locate the iso file – Ok – Start.

The burning process for me on the same 24x rom took 4 minutes 38 seconds.  So for 8 minutes of my time I made a perfect working 100% copy of my disk.

Have Fun.