jbredmound Posted July 5, 2003 Share Posted July 5, 2003 I have wondered CNet, the forum, and several of my favorite sites, and I am not finding alternatives to Roxio (except Nero, which is $50).Easy CD Creator is on the blacklist, now. I never did much burning, so it just sat there, waiting for me. Since I have started burning data CDs, the thing has shown itself to be a piece of junk.I'm really just looking for something that will burn my backups reliably, slowly, quickly, or otherwise.Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prelude76 Posted July 5, 2003 Share Posted July 5, 2003 burn backups, as in hard drive backup, or as in backup of a CD? for copying a CD, i think CloneCD is the best. not sure which is best for hard drive backup, but i think Norton Ghost and Drive Image get mentioned a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzButt Posted July 5, 2003 Share Posted July 5, 2003 I would certianly agree that Roxio is a piece of junk. It does do somethings but even the built in burning software in WinXP is better.I would fork over the $40 for Nero. You can also try Nero for free in demo mode. CDRWin is another to get since Nero cannot handle cue/bin files. I don't have much experiance with CDClone though.Good luck,Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted July 5, 2003 Share Posted July 5, 2003 In Windows, I would have to agree with Chris ... I really like my Nero ;)Always stable and does an excellent job. I am using Nero 5.x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrainey Posted July 6, 2003 Share Posted July 6, 2003 I searched for Nero at Pricegrabber.com - several places had the OEM version of v5.5 for well under twenty bucks, including shipping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzButt Posted July 6, 2003 Share Posted July 6, 2003 Plus. it can do DVD's if you ever upgrade to DVD's.I had Nero 5.5.2 something that came with my Lite-ON CDRW. I recently bought a TDK DVD+R that only came with the limited Nero Express with worls but not for a power user like me. I uninstalled the Express version TDK wanted installed and reinstalled the Full Nero Verison that came with the Lite-On then upgraded to the latest version care ov the Nero Website. Now I have full DVD burning and all teh CDR burning I had previously. Ona slightly seperate note I now own the InstantCD+DVD that also burns. Infact it burnt a 2 hour DVD I can play in my Sony Home DVD player. It will do CD's too but I have not tried that feature.Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus K Posted July 6, 2003 Share Posted July 6, 2003 Nero cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khisel Posted July 6, 2003 Share Posted July 6, 2003 Why are the participants in this thread so down on Roxio? I have it installed on four machines that I use and it works fine. How can it possibly be classified as "junk"? It works well for me and has for many years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havnblast Posted July 6, 2003 Share Posted July 6, 2003 Roxio is evilNero and cloneCD is pretty much all ya need - well worth every penny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucekrymow Posted July 6, 2003 Share Posted July 6, 2003 Hi, khisel ~Speaking only for myself, Roxio has performed poorly and been unstable, especially when used with XP. It would often freeze for no reason or fail in the buffer underrun protection. There seems to be consistent OS issues with the drivers and continue to do so as they remain behind even after the prog is long gone - something that Roxio even concedes. I would have to admit that Roxio has enabled excellent coaster creations. Nero takes a little more initial learning, but I have never, not even once, had a compilation of data, music or hybrid fail on 98, ME, Win2K or XP during any burn process. Nero is one of those few programs that one can say it is worth every nickel and never left w/ buyer's remorse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greengeek Posted July 6, 2003 Share Posted July 6, 2003 Nero is my favourite too for regular data CDs. For direct CD copying I use BlindRead/BlindWrite, copies anything the others won't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbredmound Posted July 6, 2003 Author Share Posted July 6, 2003 Thanks, everyone (especially Gus with the link). We're picking up Nero with the next paycheck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus K Posted July 6, 2003 Share Posted July 6, 2003 I consider Roxio and Norton as the same type of software. For many they work well, but when they don't, they usually trash your whole system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrainey Posted July 6, 2003 Share Posted July 6, 2003 I agree completely with Gus K. I have friends who use Adaptec/Roxio and have no problems. Other friends have had major problems. Speaking from personal experience, it's been about 50/50 with half a dozen machines whether it works or whether it trashes the system or just fails to function correctly.I wound up a couple of years ago trying out NTI CD-Maker. It may or may not have all the features of the others, but I've never had a problem and I've stayed with it. Costs about the same as Nero. I just copy CD's and make data CD's, don' t do anything fancy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b2cm Posted July 6, 2003 Share Posted July 6, 2003 Nero is really the best all-around CD-burner, especially compilations. (And Roxio is, well, good for installing/upgrading Adaptec ASPI drivers.)CloneCD is best at copying protected CDs. I use it to make images of protected CDs that I mount on D-Tools (a virtual CD/DVD utility). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul D Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 The surprising thing is that Roxio make average mastering software (it has never caused me any trouble, but Nero is better) and an absolutely terrific packet writer (DirectCD) while Ahead Nero make excellent mastering software and an abysmally poor packet writer (InCD). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irkregent Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 The surprising thing is that Roxio make average mastering software ... and an absolutely terrific packet writer (DirectCD) while Ahead Nero make excellent mastering software and an abysmally poor packet writer (InCD).So it's not just me, eh? I found the later releases of InCD 3.x to be quite troublesome, especially on my Windows 2000 machine at work. Surprisingly, I've had no trouble whatsoever with the first 4.0 release. In fact, it's been so good I'm hesitant to upgrade to the recent update, which is against my usual mode of operation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 I would agree that DirectCD is much better than InCD. But EasyCD Creator has been good and bad in my experience. I would say Nero seems to work better and is not as big a resource hog. CDRWin is not too bad either, except it has an even more unfriendly interface than Nero. On the Linux side, K3B is pretty good. It looks like a clone of Roxio EasyCD Creator but is more stable and actually works quite well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus K Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 In fact, it's been so good I'm hesitant to upgrade to the recent update, which is against my usual mode of operation.If it ain't broke... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imranj Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 I know of Three CD Burn Managment progs...........AchoholNeroClone CD.......................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ThunderRiver Posted July 13, 2003 Share Posted July 13, 2003 In my experience,Nero Burning Rom = quite easy for people that have had experience with CD burning in the pastRoxio = very eye candy + nice GUI, but too integrated with Windows. You are better off with NeroCloneCD = sophisticated CD ripping programCDRWin 3.9 = another sophisticated CD ripping program for cue/bin imagesMicrosoft CDImage = internal use only, but quite useful for creating ISO images.Alcohol = never tried.. ever wondered why it is named such way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted July 13, 2003 Share Posted July 13, 2003 Or in Linux one line CD ripping: dd if=/dev/cdrom | cdrecord dev=0,0,0 -fs=8m -data - :DRequires two CD devices, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul D Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 "Roxio = very eye candy + nice GUI, but too integrated with Windows."What do you mean by that? The mastering software stands alone, no different to Nero, and if you're referring to DirectCD, that's the whole point of it or any other packet writing program. In fact, the problem with Nero's InCD is that it doesn't integrate well with Windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsden11 Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 <<the problem with Nero's InCD is that it doesn't integrate well with Windows.>>How do you figure that?I just drag and drop in Windows Explorer and it is done. Are you suggesting that Roxio is better at hand holding? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul D Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 That's exactly what I'm suggesting.After using DirectCD for two years I got a new burner which came with Nero, so I uninstalled all the Roxio software including DirectCD and installed Nero/InCD. After struggling with InCD for 3 weeks, I bought easyCD 5 just to get back to DirectCD.InCD would not read or write to CDRWs I had previously formatted and used with DirectCD, so I couldn't use anything on my old CDRWs.If I used InCD during a Windows session, I could not use Nero in the same session, because once you've activated InCD it takes control of the burner and doesn't let go. The only way to get back to Nero was to reboot.I am now back with DirectCD v3. It reads and writes to all my CDRWs regardless of what packet writer they've been used with before - DirectCD v1, InCD or DirectCD v3.DirectCD does exactly what a packet writer should do. It works when it's needed, and disappears when it's not. It is a great application. InCD sucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irkregent Posted July 17, 2003 Share Posted July 17, 2003 Regarding problems with InCD: Have you tried the latest 4.0 version of that software? I had a lot of trouble with the later v3.x releases, but I've found 4.0 to be very stable and well-behaved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus K Posted July 17, 2003 Share Posted July 17, 2003 I think Paul's mind is pretty much made up. He is using a product he likes that suites his needs best.At the risk of sounding ignorant, what are the uses and advantages of packet writers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted July 17, 2003 Share Posted July 17, 2003 I think Paul's mind is pretty much made up. He is using a product he likes that suites his needs best.At the risk of sounding ignorant, what are the uses and advantages of packet writers?Think of packet writing as giving you the ability to use a 700 MB floppy disk. Once you format a blank CD-R/RW for packet writing you can drag 'n' drop files to the burner in Window Explorer, or save from any application's Save dialog box. If a friend has a CD burner and has installed the same packet writing software, you can take it to their machine and add more files to it. Backup software can also write to it in lieu of tape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul D Posted July 18, 2003 Share Posted July 18, 2003 One can only hope! Because for me InCD really took the edge of the Nero package. I realise a lot of people don't use packet writers much because of fears about the stability of CDRW disks among other things, so they can probably get by with a sub-standard packet writer. But I use mine a **** of a lot. I have about 10 CDRWs in use, 4 of them regularly and often, and they are getting quite old - the oldest would be well over two years now. In that time I have lost one file. Not one CD, one file.You're probably right about v4, and I've also heard reports that DirectCD under its new name in EasyCD 6 is pretty troublesome, so it would seem the worm may have turned full circle.But I am perfectly happy with DirectCD, EasyCD 5 and Nero 5. All 3 work for me, so I have no need for EasyCD 6, InCD 4 or any new version of Nero at this stage.Gus - A packet writer is not a replacement for mastering software, it's a supplement.Under normal circumstances you use mastering software (Nero, EasyCD etc) to burn static data to CDR (write once) disks on a one-time basis. You use a packet writer (DirectCD, InCD) usually with CDRW (rewriteable) disks because the application is pretty well invisible and the disk becomes just like a Hard Drive or a floppy - accessible through Windows Explorer or any other file manipulation application. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus K Posted July 19, 2003 Share Posted July 19, 2003 I'm a satisfied Nero user for my burning needs, but have never even tried InCd.I'm still a bit confused. How is this packet writing different from using XP's built in ability to burn things, either by using 'send to' or simply dragging and dropping a file to the burner? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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