Sega CD Backup
No console game can be burned by dragging the files onto the CD. They are not PC games. Inside those rar files you'll find what they call 'CD images', that is, a binary dump of the CD's data. You need to feed your burning app with that image so it can re-build the CD's structure. How to Burn Sega-CD / Mega-CD Games on Mac OS X Using Toast 8 1. Click on 'Copy' from the left menu bar. Click on 'Multi-Track CD-ROM XA. Addendum 2: But I use Mac/.NIX and can’t burn CCD+IMG+SUB files!!! Dual Boot or run a Virtual Machine that allows access to your disc burner. Burning Saturn games doesn’t have to be difficult, but one of the most famous lines in data management has always been “Garbage In, Garbage Out”.
ripping to iso-mp3restoring from iso-mp3 mac burning
Note: This was written byhotFusion (hotfusion@mac.com). He gets all the credit for this one, and I have left his text essentially unchanged. If you have any questions about this, you should ask him. I make no claim for whatever he says here.
Guide for restoring SegaCD backup images on the Mac OS
This guide assumes you are using the most recent version of Toast 5 (which statistically is the most widely used CD burning software on the Mac platform) and have your backups stored in the .iso/.mp3 format. It also assumes you are restoring backups on Mac OS X. I do not posess any backups in the .bin/.cue format so I do not know how one might restore those but I think the procedure is probably very similar.
1). You will need to decode your .mp3s into .aiffs or .wavs. The easiest way to batch process mp3s is using mAC3dec (http://sourceforge.net/projects/mac3dec). Simply open mAC3dec and drop all you mp3s onto the window and select AIFF as the format and 44.1 kHz as the Sample Rate. Click start and AIFF versions of your .mp3s should appear in the same directory as your .mp3s.
2). Find your .iso CD image and launch Toast. In the Toast main window, click and hold the Other button and select 'Disk Image'.
3). Drop your .iso image onto this window; its name should appear when you do.
4). With the image loaded, click the Audio button in the toolbar just above your .iso image's name.
5). Drop your .aiffs into the Audio CD window that comes up. Double check that they are in order (they should be) and select the 'Pause' button in the top of that window and select 'Set to 2 sec.' (this should already be the case, but double check).
6). Now click the 'Other' button WITHOUT holding down the mouse this time, it should take you automatically back to the 'Disc Image' window. Hold down the Option key and click the 'Record' button. You should receive a warning box about single session ISO disks, click ok (or yes, depending on what the button says, I forget).
If everything goes to plan you should have a working physical CD backup of your Sega CD games that can be played in the Model 1 or Model 2 drive. I can't actually vouch for the model 2 as I own a model 1, but the model 2 is a later version so I see no reason why it would not work. Congratulations!
I was a bit reluctant to try the swap method - i thought i'd probably balls up the burning of the disc (i'm on a mac, and tutorials are much harder to find), and i didnt want to screw up my saturn motor by cocking it up multiple times.Sega Cd Disc Burning
I thought i'd give it a go anyway, and wadda know it worked perfectly!! i couldn't believe it, first time of ever trying and i pulled it off. i thought id just write a post to say exactly what i did, so if any of you are mac users or not sure whether to try it, you can read these steps.
Burning the disc:
Once I'd unRar'd the .rar file (using unRarX, free from http://www.unrarx.com/ ), it left me with a bin and cue file. I opened Toast Titnium 8, selected copy from the 4 options on the left and chose the sub heading Bin/Cure files, then hit the select button on the right hand side, and you can pick the bin or cue file. I think it may have come up with a notice about audio tracks, but i just OK'd through any message and it was fine. I chose to burn the disc at 1x speed
Swap Method
This is well documented, I have a model 2 saturn, and just cut an elastic band into a smaller piece and tied it round the little tower inside the saturn.