Hardware unit to duplicate GD-ROMs, not used for development but useful for duplicating discs for testers.
You can see a video of the GD-X Duplicator by Adam Koralik here 1:
The GD-Writer is used by developers to burn GD-R discs which are a writable version of the Dreamcast GD-ROMs.
You can see the GD-Writer in action in this video by Adam Koralik 2:
In order to use the GD-Writer hardware you would need to run a program called GD Workshop on your dreamcast DEV.BOX.
In order to help prevent alpha and beta games being leaked to the public, Sega made sure that an additional disc was required to run developer burned GD-Rs 3.
This additional disc was known as the Sega Dreamcast System Disc 2.
In order to run any developer-burned games you would need to insert the disc into either a standard dreamcast or development kit which would then ask for the burned disc to be inserted.
This additional layer of security helped game development studios put their mind at ease when sending prototypes or final review candidates to third parties such as games magazine publishers for review.
The GD-R discs are writeable versions of GD-ROMs and are burned by developers using their Dreamcast development kits DEV.BOX
using a program called the GD Workshop
.
GD Workshop (GD-R Burner/Virtualiser)
You can find out about the GD Workshop in this post.
This is a Set4 #SegaDreamcast development kit. It preceded the more familiar Set5 (HKT-0120) units and shipped in this rudimentary beige PC ATX mini tower. There is no GD-ROM drive but a GD-M emulator board is inside as well as a 4GB HDD and SCSI interface... pic.twitter.com/PSGpdyeztc
— Shane Battye🎄 🎮 (@shanebattye) October 7, 2020
Sega #Dreamcast https://t.co/bkqq4OInS8 HKT-0120 boot animation pic.twitter.com/1l96Ze6w2s
— Shane Battye🎄 🎮 (@shanebattye) March 11, 2019