Regarding tracking BIOS numbers - some time back Adobe (puleez no screams,
I know!) introduced a feature for allowing you to download pdf's which can
only be read on one system. I don't know what it used as the key - but it
worked. I didn't try diligently, because I wasn't that interested in the
idea anyway, but I definitely could not read it on another computer. I
don't remember if I tried moving the hard drive to another machine.
There is no hidden file anywhere, so it is using a number perhaps from the
the registry. This may not be hardware dependant, but unless you wipe the
system it will report the same number. I don't remember all the tricks I
tried - but I remember being convinced it wasn't worth it for me, trying
to figure out.
As for the IBM disks themselves, I came in late on this thread, so forgive
me if I am restating the obvious. One of the oldest, and easiest ways to
crack, ways to "lock" a disk is with a hidden file. I one had a piece of
software that just used a tiny hidden file to keep track of the number of
copies you made. I assume you have checked for one on the standard data
areas of the disk. A more sophisticated method back then was to do the
same but place the data in the boot sector. There should be some old
protection cracking programs out there that would allow you to look for
this data. I haven't a clue where you would look for such....
Finally, multi-session CDW's use a trick by putting the address of the end
of the data as an entry in the Table of Contents (TOC). When you add a
session, the first part of the new data is an extension to the TOC
starting at, wonder-of-wonders, that address stated in the TOC. So it
daisy-chains the TOC. So long as you tell the writer that this session is
to be a multi-session write, it continues doing this until you "close"
the disk. Newer CD drives are smart enough to cope with this system and
even read "open" disks. But many older drives just can't cope - my
Creative Labs 6x is an example of the latter. But I think this
methodology would have few benefits for protecting your disk from copying.
Bob Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Trillium Technologies Ent.
General Santos City, Philippines
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