gHacks technology news » cd burning

Guides For DVD Burning Software ImgBurn

Martin — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:12:44 +0000

The developers of ImgBurn have just released version 2.5 of their lightweight DVD burning software which added some interesting features to the already excellent software program. The biggest quirks that new users can have with the DVD burning software is the user interface that makes it sometimes hard to understand how to perform a certain operation in the burning software. It can be quite confusing finding out how to burn a video_ts folder, disk images or bootable operating system disks even with the wizard displayed in the beginning that aids the user in some of the possible operations.

One great way of finding out how to perform a special operation in ImgBurn is to take a look at the guides that have been created by the developers. These guides explain how to burn a certain type of disk. They include guides on how to burn bootable Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating system disks, audio CDs, DVD video, image files such as ISO or IMG and double-layer or Bu-Ray disks.

Even users with past experience with other DVD burning software might need to take a look at the guides to ensure they are performing the right steps to burn the disk the right way. All ImgBurn guides can be found on the ImgBurn website.

DVD Burning Software Imgburn Updated

Martin — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 08:00:02 +0000

I started using Nero Burning Rom back in the days of the – super expensive – CD burners. It was an excellent CD burning software program but deteriorated into a resource hungry collection of applications and background processes. That’s when I decided to skip Nero and uninstall it from the computer system. I did find ImgBurn after evaluating quite a few DVD burning software programs and kept the program ever since. ImgBurn is everything that Nero once was probably with the exception that the user interface can confuse beginners a lot. The excellent tutorials and howtos on the other hand explain how to perform a certain DVD or CD burning operation in the computer program.

ImgBurn was recently updated to version 2.5 and the developer has published a huge list of changes, fixes and additions to that version. The program stays the same at its core which means it is still the lightweight DVD burning software that can be installed or used as a (unofficial) portable version instead.

Below are some of the more important changes introduced in this version of ImgBurn:

An ‘Advanced’ input mode to build mode where you have total control over the layout of the disc and can add new folders, change names etc. (i.e. you’re no longer limited to burning an existing folder structure on your hard disc as-is)
ImgBurn now adds itself to the context menu’s ‘Open With’ submenu for files it’s associated with.
Support for burning CCD files.
Support for building images using the ‘MODE2/FORM1/2352′ data type. (previously it only supported ‘MODE1/2048′)
A check to ensure all the DVD Video files in a sequence are present. (i.e. it’ll prompt if VTS_XX_1.VOB and VTS_XX_3.VOB are present but VTS_XX_2.VOB isn’t)
Detection of attempts to build Vista style OS installation discs (via the ’sources\install.wim’ file) and the relevant prompting for conflicting settings, failing to make it bootable etc (same as an ‘I386′ install disc).

The new version of the DVD burning software can be downloaded directly from the developer’s website. It has a size of only 2 Megabytes, comes with many language translation files (e.g. German, Chinese, Russian, French and Spanish) and is compatible with all Microsoft operating systems from Windows 95 to Windows 7.

ImgBurn via Download Squad

Tags: burn cd, burn dvd, cd burning, dvd burning, dvd burning software, imgburn, nero, portable software, windows software

Easy CD Burning in GNOME

Jack Wallen — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 15:43:44 +0000

The ability to burn CDs is one of those issues that often perplexes many new users (to any operating system). For Windows users it’s about finding software to do the job. For OS X users it’s about knowing where to add a burnlist. For Linux users it’s just knowing that your operating system can in fact burn CDs (and what application does the job).

The good news is that burning CDs in Linux is very simple and doesn’t require the addition of third-party software. Let’s take a look at how to handle this job in a default GNOME 2.24.2 installation.

Where is the application?

Menu Entry

In the latest GNOME there is an application for burning CDs but you don’t really need to know where it is or what it is called. Why? If you click on the Places menu you will see an entry titled CD/DVD Creator.

Once you click on this entry a special Nautilus window will open that allows you to drag and drop files into the window for burning.

The Burn Window

Once this new Nautilus window is open you can drag and drop files from other Nautilus windows. Once you have added the files and/or directories you want to burn onto CD you just have to insert a blank disk into your drive and then click the Write To Disk button in the burn window.

Options

When you click Write To Disk you will then need select your device (if you have more than one), give the disk a name, select the write speed, and click Write.

A progress window will open during the writing of the disk. When the disk is complete the CD will eject and you’re finished.

Simple!

Final Thoughts

One of the only downfalls to this system is you can not burn ISO images. For that you will want something like K3B (check out my gHacks article “Burn CD and DVD Images with K3B“). Other than that, the GNOME CD/DVD burn process is as simple as it gets.

Tags: backups, cd burning, GNOME, Linux, nautilus, writing cd

Burn CD and DVD ISO Images with K3B

Jack Wallen — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 00:11:56 +0000

You just downloaded the newest version of your favorite Linux distribution but you remembered the first time you did it you were in Windows where you had Nero (or some similar application) to help you burn the ISO image onto a CD or DVD. Now you’re in Linux…what do you do? Simple. You turn to one of the best burning applications available – K3B.

K3B (KDE Burn Baby Burn) is a CD/DVD authoring software written for the KDE desktop that supports nearly every feature you have come to love with such tools. K3B takes this one step further by being free. And unlike many other similar tools, K3B can burn bootable ISO images so you can keep that free-install smell on your PC at all times.

Burning an ISO image with K3B is quite simple. The first step is to start the application. K3B is generally found in the Audio or Multimedia menu entry within the Start (or “K”) menu. Once K3B is open you will want to either click on the Burn CD Image (or Burn DVD ISO Image) button or click on the Tools menu from the menu bar.

K3B Main Window

If you go the Tools menu route you will see an entries with the same title as the buttons (”Burn CD Image” and “Burn DVD ISO Image”).

When you select to burn an image a new window will appear. In this new window you have to click directory button in the Image To Burn section and locate the ISO file you want to burn.

The Burn Image Window

Once you have located the image K3B will run a checksum on the image to make sure it matches. When the checksum is finished, and you have inserted the proper medium in your drive, you can click the Start button to begin the burn process.

If you are unsure of your setup, or if you are low on burnable media, you can always select the Simulate button (under Settings) to simulate the burn process. If the process will run successfully you can then uncheck Simulate and run the process as normal.

Final Thoughts

K3B is one of the finest CD/DVD authoring applications available. And having the built-in ability to burn ISO images helps to stand above many other (more costly) alternatives.

Tags: burning iso, cd burning, dvd burning, iso, K3B, Linux

Ashampoo Burning Studio Free

Martin — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:06:09 +0000

What are the main requirements of a burning software? It should obviously support all operations that a user would need. It should also be fast, resource friendly. Free would be nice as well. Lots of different CD burning software programs are available these days on the Internet, from CD Burner XP over Deepburner to IMGBurn. Most of them handle the basic burning operations just fine but many are unfortunately making them more complex than they should be. Others use to many resources, have an irritating user interface or crash to often to make them the burning software of choice.

Ashampoo Burning Studio Free is an old version of the burning software of Ashampoo which has been released to the public. Everyone can download and use it without having to register or pay money for it. It starts up reasonably fast without splash screens and long loading times. All operations are selectable from the main menu. Some operations are further divided, the Burn Files and Folders category contains options to burn a new disk or update an existing one.

Burning Studio Free supports CD, DVD and Blu-Ray disks. Here is what you can do with the burning software:

Burn files to disk
Burn or rip music.
Burn movies
Copy a disk
Create or burn disk images
Erase rewritable disks
Backup or restore files

The list is pretty comprehensive. The most popular image formats (img, iso, cue/bin) are supported by Burning Studio Free which should be sufficient for most users.

Most impressive is the responsive interface which is much faster than that of Nero and similar applications.

If you are looking for a fast, responsive and high-quality burning software that does not cost a dime you should take a closer look at Ashampoo Burning Software Free. It might exactly be what you are looking for.

I switched immediately from IMGBurn to it. IMGBurn was unfortunately rather complex to use. One example. To burn mp3 to disk one had to create a cue file before that was possible. Ashampoo simply takes the mp3 and burns them right away.

Tags: burn files, burn movies, burn music, burning software, burning studio, cd burning, dvd burning, shampoo burning studio, video dvd

Disc Burning Software cdrtfe

Martin — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 19:05:06 +0000

Windows users can pick from a wide variety of commercial and free disc burning software applications. The free versions are usually trimmed down versions of their commercial editions. The Open Source disc burning software CDRTFE which is an acronym for CDRTools FrontEnd is a frontend for some of the classic Linux cdrtools.

The disc burning software can burn audio and data CDs and DVDs. The disc burning software is compatible to all 32-bit editions of Windows and can either be installed or run as a portable application. The major selling point of cdrtfe is the clean interface that provides all disc burning options in tabs in the main window.

Not all tabs are equally important. The four most important ones are Data CD, Audio CD, CD Image and Video DVD. Files can be added easily using the Windows file browser. One important tip is that the size bar at the bottom does not change automatically depending on the files that are added to the disc burning software. A right-click makes it possible to change the size from 650 Megabytes to dual-layer DVDs with 7.96 Gigabytes.

There are unfortunately a few disadvantages that might not play a role for most users but surely will disappoint a few. The only supported image format is ISO which means that other image formats like img are not supported by ctrtfe. Users who will only burn data and audio CDs and DVDs but no images will be perfectly happy with the disc burning software while those that work with multiple image formats will have to find another tool or a possibility to convert image formats into ISO.

Still; cdrtfe is a feature rich portable Open Source disc burning software. Everyone else should take a look at the free burning software recommendations to find a suitable CD and DVD burning software.

Tags: burning software, cd burning, disc burning software, disk burning software, dvd burning, free burning software, windows cd burning, windows software

Free CD and DVD Burning Software

Martin — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 09:38:29 +0000

There are actually several impressive programs out there that can be used as a replacement for commercial CD and DVD writers such as Nero Burning Rom. They are interesting not only for users who do not buy a commercial products but also for those that feel that those commercial applications have become so bloated with features that their responsiveness has gone down the hill.

The list of free CD and DVD burning software tries to list all applications that can be used as an replacement. Those programs had to meet some requirements though. They had to be free, be able to burn CDs and DVDs, be able to burn images like iso and be able to burn files from the hard drives which includes audio and video CDs and DVDs.

The requirements have reduced the field quite a bit because several applications support only a few of them. Burrrn for instance is only able to burn audio CDs. It’s an excellent program but it can’t burn anything else but audio CDs. The same can be said for ImgBurn which does a very good job when it comes to disc images but can’t burn files from your hard drive.

It basically comes down to the following programs: Infra Recorder and CD Burner XP

All two open fast and are very responsive to user input. I tried to write a short description of each application below concentrating on strengths and weaknesses.

CD Burner XP

CD Burner XP looks clean and crisp and supports many features when it comes to burning CDs and DVDs. As with Infra Recorder it only supports a limited amount of image formats, those are iso, nrg and bin. Besides that it’s complete. You can burn audio and video CDs and DVDs with ease.

It supports multi-sessions and bootable media and even Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, and Double layer DVDs.

Infra Recorder:

Infra Recorder can be installed as a desktop or portable application and supports most operations that I require. A major drawback in my opinion is the missing support for several disc image formats such as img, mds and nrg. It only supports iso, bin and cue images.

It can create Video DVDs and Audio CDs as well as Data DVDs and CDs which will be sufficient for most users I think. I personally would not use it because of the lacking support for several image formats though.

Conclusion:

Both applications are fine programs and both lack support for several important image formats. I personally prefer Infra Recorder though because it does not open a “what do you want to burn” popup at startup. It all comes down to personal preference at the end I think.

I personally think that both can replace commercial products such as Nero unless support for image formats such as nrg or mds is needed.

Tags: cd burning, windows software

How to Speed up CD and DVD burning

Martin — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 07:44:42 +0000

Many users just buy blank CDs and DVDs without thinking much about the manufacturer who created them – most want it cheap which has the result that their system has to cope with different media. They notice that their system burns some CDs and DVDs faster without knowing why. Your burner might have the specification to burn DVDs with 8x speed but your burning software offers you only 4x. This article explains why that is the case and what you can do to never make this happen again.

The firmware of your burner has information on various manufacturers and their products including the maximum speed of the media. If a CD or DVD is used and no information can be found the burner will not use the maximum speed but a slower speed and increase that over time – this means of course that the process takes longer even though the burner and the blank disc are capable of faster speeds.

Fixing this is probably easy. The first step would be to make sure that your burner has the latest firmware installed; The firmware page collects and tracks firmwares of various burners, check them out. Make sure you read the instructions on that page before you proceed, your burner could stop working if the upgrade fails.

You should check the website of the manufacturer of the burner for firmware upgrades as well, it is always better to use the offical source if available.

If you can’t find an upgrade for your burner or the upgrade did not help in your special case you can do the following to speed up the process:

Make sure that your burner is connected correctly to your system, if it is possible make him secondary master.
Check the current transfer mode (DMA) of the burner. (Hardware Manager)

You can also check blank DVDs and CDs and find out which are best suited for your burner and purchase them from then on. DVD Identifier checks DVD and displays information about the manufacturer of the blank discs, nero cd speed does the same for CDs.

Once you know the manufacturer of the media and checked that you can burn with max speed you start buying only media from that manufacturer from then on. Please note that the name of the company on the blank media not necesarily reflects the real manufacturer.

Tags: cd, cd burning, dvd, dvd burning, speed up

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