Thank you Thomas for suggesting things to try.
> ... spoil your joy of success
Let us not digress too much - remember my definition of success:
# cdrecord dev=3,0,0 speed=2 driveropts=burnfree image.iso
>>> try to burn it via growisofs
>> I have no idea how long it took
> Probably rather 4 to 5 hours
I agree, but should only take 30 minutes, with no errors.
> Does it mount?
Yes, I can see all of my files on the Windows machine too.
> Can you read all 7634768 blocks?
Wow, dd is really slow. I am still waiting for results.