Burn Your CDs/DVDs With Free CDBurnerXP

If you’re looking for value in a CD/DVD burner (and what can be better than free), then CDBurnerXP (last updated November 24, 2010), is definitely a significant freeware application.

The fairly simple interface makes it a breeze to use for even the most inexperienced user, although it should be said that some users have mentioned that the interface has some confusing aspects.  Hmm, I don’t see it.

I have burned dozens of CDs/DVDs in the last year using this free application, and in every case, CDBurnerXP did the job flawlessly.

If you’re looking for a free CD/DVD burner application to do what it says it will do, with an easy to work with interface, then CDBurnerXP could be the program you’ve been looking for.

The following screen captures illustrate just how “one click simple” it is to burn an ISO for example, using CDBurnerXP.

Now, how hard is that?

Quick facts:

Burn audio-CDs with, and without gaps between tracks

Burn on the fly (you don’t have to image the disc in advance)

Rip Audio-CDs to a Hard Drive

Obtains track-information (ID3-tags) from the Internet

Burn and create ISO-files

Create bootable discs

Drag-and-drop

Multilanguage interface

Customizable with many settings

Data verification after burn,

Simple cover printing

Supports most IDE, USB, FireWire and SCSI drives

Free – (for both personal and corporate use)

No adware, malicious components, or restrictions

System Requirements: Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Win 7 (64 bit compatible)

Additional Requirements: .NET Framework 2.0

Download at: Cdburnerxp

Bonus: A portable version of this application is also available. Click on “more download options”, on the download page.

If you found this article useful, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

Bad CD or DVD? Recover the Data with Free CD Recovery Toolbox

How many coasters do you have that started life as critical backup CD/DVD’s, or the CD/DVD’s that you entrusted to store a lifetime of photo memories? Well if you’re like most of us, you may have more than one.

As a long term file storage medium, CD/DVD’s are, in effect, all-purpose, durable and, generally inexpensive. The difficulty in relying on this storage medium however is; they aren’t always as reliable as we sometimes seem to think. Hint: Check your backups from time to time, to ensure they can still be read.

Recently, I experienced CD failure when testing a system using a special boot CD called, “The Ultimate Boot CD”, which ironically failed to boot despite the decisiveness of its name.

There I was stuck with an unreadable CD; but being the “geeky” kind of guy that I am, and having been through similar situations in the past, I’ve learned to double up on all my diagnostic tools. Later, I confirmed that the unreadable CD had not been burned correctly – the deadly “bad burn”. So you’re not alone in turning what you may consider to be, unusable/unreadable CD/DVD’s into expensive coasters.

But there is a solution that can help you to recover damaged data that you may have considered unrecoverable. Stepping into the picture is CD Recovery Toolbox (last updated May 12, 2010), a free CD/DVD file recovery tool.

This small, free application was designed to recover damaged files on CD, DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-Ray disks. It can recover files that have been lost as a result of physical damage to the disk, (scratches, chips, and so on), or as a result of a bad or, inaccurate recording.

The program scans damaged CD and DVD disks and produces a listing of files and folders on the media, which it can recover. Be aware however, that depending on the degree of damage, there may be files that the application cannot recover.

In testing this product’s file recovery ability on a severely scratched and chipped disk, I’m happy to say, that it recovered 934 files out of a total of 936, that Windows could not read, and it did this in less than 2 minutes

Data recovery is generally a complex process, but even beginners will have an easy time with this application based on it’s step-by step wizard, which makes the use of the tool very simple and convenient.

Quick facts:

Recovers files/folders from CD and DVD’s

Recovers files larger than 4 GB

Detects lack of free space on the designated storage hard drive

System Requirements: Windows 2000, XP, Vista.

Download at: Download.com

If you found this article useful, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

Free Paragon Backup and Recovery – Incremental Backup Included!

Popular guest writer Rick Robinette, has a knack for finding great free applications. Paragon Backup and Recovery, one of Rick’s latest finds, is a highly inclusive free backup and recovery application which even includes incremental backup, something that’s rarely found in a free application. This application is a “must have”, for average computer users.

Paragon, a software development leader for over 15 years has available for non-commercial use (at home) a powerful disk imaging (backup) and recovery package (for FREE), called Paragon Backup and Recovery.

“Smart people backup; Backup & Recovery is smart backup.”

With Paragon Backup and Recovery, you can create a backup image of an entire hard disk (including GPT-discs!), or system partitions, to guarantee the operating system’s working capability.

The “cool factor” with this application is its ability to perform a differential backup that will only archive changes since the last full sector-based image, thus saving backup storage space.

In other words once you have made a complete backup image of your PC (preferably to an external drive), you can perform (select) subsequent differential backups that will only backup the changes from the initial full backup; thus saving time and drive storage space.

As with most disk imaging applications, make sure you create a recovery disk that can be used to boot up your system in the event your computer is no longer booting into Windows. With Paragon Backup and Recovery, you will have the option to create a bootable  USB Flash drive, CD or DVD to recover your PC on demand.

As you continue to read, you will notice that Paragon Backup and Recovery is loaded with numerous features that you typically do not see in other FREE comparable disk imaging applications.

If you currently do not have a backup or disaster recovery plan in place, Paragon Backup and Recovery is a great option.

If you want to learn more, I encourage you to take a look at the User’s Manual [ HERE ] that provides in-depth and detailed instructions on “how to” use this software.  These instructions are also a great starting to place to learn about disk imaging software.

Fast facts:

• Cyclic Backup – complete infrastructure for establishing a self-acting data protection system, fully compliant with the set-and-forget backup policy
• Support for the latest hardware as well as hard disk partitioning schemes.
• Support of all present day techniques to store backup images
• Disk backup to save not only all on-disk information but also the system service structures. It is ideal for making a backup image of an entire hard disk (including GPT-discs!) or system partitions to guarantee the operating system’s working capability
• Differential backup  to a sector image to only archive changes since the last full sector-based image, thus considerably saving the backup storage space. To restore this kind of backup you will require a full image and one of its differentials
• Restore an entire disk, separate partitions image
• Restore with Shrink to restore a backup amount of actual data of the image
• Create bootable USB Flash drive, CD or DVD to recover your PC on demand
• Differential Partition Backup (Create a differential image of a partition)
• Recovery Media Builder: builds a new “recovery media” to boot from in case of an unbootable system
• Check Recovery Discs: checks the recovery media for integrity and boot ability
• Graphical representation of the data to gain a better understanding
• Comprehensive wizards to simplify even the most complex operations
• A context sensitive hint system for all functions of the program
• Previewing the resulting layout of hard disks before actually executing operations (so-called virtual operations)
• Create Partition
• Format Partition
• Delete Partition
• Assign/Remove Drive Letter
• Hide/Unhide Partition
• Mark Partition as Active/Inactive
• Modify: change volume label,Test Surface
• Check File System Integrity
• Add an archive to the database
• Delete the archive from the database
• Restore from the selected archive
• Restore File From Archive
• Differential backup
• Check Archive Integrity
• Mount/Unmount the archive
• Backup Features
• Restore Facilities
• Advanced Backup Tasks
• Supplementary Tools
• User Friendly Fault Minimizing Interface
• Partitioning tools
• Operations with Archives

System requirements: Windows 7 (32/64-bit), Vista (32/64-bit), XP Professional SP2 (32/64-bit), XP Home SP2, Windows 2000 Professional SP4

Download at: Paragon Software Group

This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC. Like me, you’re sure to become a frequent visitor.

If you found this article useful, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

CD Recovery Toolbox – Recover Damaged CD/DVD Data

CD Recovery Toolbox, a free CD/DVD file recovery solution that can help you recover damaged data that you may have considered unrecoverable.

So how many coasters do you have that started life as critical backup CD/DVD’s, or the CD/DVD’s that you entrusted to store a lifetime of photo memories? Well if you’re like most of us, you may have more than one.

As a long term file storage medium, CD/DVD’s are, in effect, all-purpose, durable and, generally inexpensive. The difficulty in relying on this storage medium however is; they aren’t always as reliable as we sometimes seem to think.

Recently, I experienced CD failure when testing a system using a special boot CD called, “The Ultimate Boot CD”, which ironically failed to boot despite the decisiveness of its name.

There I was stuck with an unreadable CD; but being the “geeky” kind of guy that I am, and having been through similar situations in the past, I’ve learned to double up on all my diagnostic tools. Later, I confirmed that the unreadable CD had not been burned correctly – the deadly “bad burn”.

So you’re not alone in turning what you may consider to be, unusable/unreadable CD/DVD’s into expensive coasters. But there is a solution that can help you to recover damaged data that you may have considered unrecoverable. Stepping into the picture is CD Recovery Toolbox, a free CD/DVD file recovery tool.

This small, free application was designed to recover damaged files on CD, DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-Ray disks. It can recover files that have been lost as a result of physical damage to the disk, (scratches, chips, and so on), or as a result of a bad or inaccurate recording.

The program scans damaged CD and DVD disks and produces a listing of files and folders on the media, which it can recover. Be aware however, that depending on the degree of damage, there may be files that the application cannot recover.

In testing this product’s file recovery ability on a severely scratched and chipped disk, I’m happy to say that it recovered 934 files out of a total of 936, that Windows could not read, and it did this in less than 2 minutes

Data recovery is generally a complex process, but even beginners will have an easy time with this application based on it’s step-by step wizard, which makes the use of the tool very simple and convenient.

Quick facts:

Recovers files/folders from CD and DVD’s

Recovers files larger than 4 GB

Detects lack of free space on the designated storage hard drive

System Requirements: Windows 98/ME/2K/XP/2K3/Vista

Download at: Download.com

Free CDBurnerXP – Burn Baby, Burn!

If you’re looking for value (and what can be better than free), CDBurnerXP is definitely a significant freeware application.

The fairly simple interface makes it a breeze for even the most inexperienced user, although it should be said that some users have mentioned that the interface has some confusing aspects.

A disadvantage for some potential users may be the necessity to download and install .Net Framework 2.0, which is a 22.4 MB Microsoft application (280 MB on install), that will take at least an hour to download over a dial-up Internet connection. Contrasting with that is the approximately ten minutes, or so, download time on even a slower cable Internet connection.

I have burned, at least, several hundred CDs in the last year using this free application, and in every case CDBurnerXP did the job flawlessly.

If you’re looking for a free burner application to do what it says it will do, with an easy to work with interface, then CDBurnerXP could be the program you’ve been looking for.

Quick facts:

Burn audio-CDs with, and without gaps between tracks

Burn on the fly (you don’t have to image the disc in advance)

Rip Audio-CDs to a Hard Drive

Obtains track-information (ID3-tags) from the Internet

Burn and create ISO-files

Create bootable discs

Drag-and-drop

Multilanguage interface

Customizable with many settings

Data verification after burn,

Simple cover printing

Supports most IDE, USB, FireWire and SCSI drives

Free – (for both personal and corporate use)

No adware, malicious components, or restrictions

System Requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista

Additional Requirements: .NET Framework 2.0

Download at: Download.com

Recover Damaged CD/DVD Data – Free CD Recovery Toolbox

So how many coasters do you have that started life as critical backup CD/DVD’s, or the CD/DVD’s that you entrusted to store a lifetime of photo memories? Well if you’re like most of us, you may have more than one.

As a long term file storage medium, CD/DVD’s are, in effect, all-purpose, durable and, generally inexpensive. The difficulty in relying on this storage medium however is; they aren’t always as reliable as we sometimes seem to think.

Recently, I experienced CD failure when testing a system using a special boot CD called, “The Ultimate Boot CD”, which ironically failed to boot despite the decisiveness of its name.

There I was stuck with an unreadable CD; but being the “geeky” kind of guy that I am, and having been through similar situations in the past, I’ve learned to double up on all my diagnostic tools. Later, I confirmed that the unreadable CD had not been burned correctly – the deadly “bad burn”.

So you’re not alone in turning what you may consider to be, unusable/unreadable CD/DVD’s into expensive coasters. But there is a solution that can help you to recover damaged data that you may have considered unrecoverable. Stepping into the picture is CD Recovery Toolbox, a free CD/DVD file recovery tool.

(Click pic for larger)

This small, free application was designed to recover damaged files on CD, DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-Ray disks. It can recover files that have been lost as a result of physical damage to the disk, (scratches, chips, and so on), or as a result of a bad or inaccurate recording.

The program scans damaged CD and DVD disks and produces a listing of files and folders on the media, which it can recover. Be aware however, that depending on the degree of damage, there may be files that the application cannot recover.

In testing this product’s file recovery ability on a severely scratched and chipped disk, I’m happy to say that it recovered 934 files out of a total of 936, that Windows could not read, and it did this in less than 2 minutes

Data recovery is generally a complex process, but even beginners will have an easy time with this application based on it’s step-by step wizard, which makes the use of the tool very simple and convenient.

I have read a number of unrealistic complaints from some users, who have noted this application is “slow” at recovery. Instead of being thankful that a free application such as this can in fact recover what would normally be unrecoverable, and perhaps irreplaceable data, they whine and complain. Here’s some advice for those users – give your head a shake, and learn to be thankful!

Quick facts:

Recovers files/folders from CD and DVD’s

Recovers files larger than 4 GB

Detects lack of free space on the designated storage hard drive

System Requirements: Windows 98/ME/2K/XP/2K3/Vista

Download at: Download.com

The Best Free CD/DVD Tool – CDBurnerXP

A few weeks ago I helped a friend decide on, and purchase, a new computer – an AM2/X2 Dual Core 2.5 GHz box with 4 Gig of Memory, a 160 GIG 7200RPM SATA and of course a DVD Drive – all this for $299.00.

At this price, the operating system was not included; but still, not a bad deal! The O/S from his old machine would be installed on this new machine; so no problem.

Where he did have a problem though, was he lacked a CD/DVD burning suite. Into this gap stepped CDBurnerXP, a free burner application which will write CDs and DVDs and, for those on the leading edge, Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs.

If your looking for value (and what can be better than free), CDBurnerXP is definitely a significant freeware application. The fairly simple interface makes it a breeze for even the most inexperienced user, although it should be said that some users have mentioned that the interface has some confusing aspects.

A disadvantage for some potential users may be the necessity to download and install .Net Framework 2.0, which is a 22.4 MB Microsoft application (280 MB on install), that will take at least an hour to download over a dial-up Internet connection.

Since my friend is in the music business (he’s a well known local musician), and sells his CDs at his gigs, this application got a real workout during the first few weeks after I installed it on his system. The several hundred CDs he copied and burned (of his own music), were all flawlessly reproduced by CDBurnerXP.

If you’re looking for a free burner application to do what it says it will do with an easy to work with interface then CDBurnerXP could be the program you’ve been looking for.

Quick facts:

Burn audio-CDs with, and without gaps between tracks

Burn on the fly (you don’t have to image the disc in advance)

Rip Audio-CDs to a Hard Drive

Obtains track-information (ID3-tags) from the Internet

Burn and create ISO-files

Create bootable discs

Drag-and-drop

Multilanguage interface

Customizable with many settings

Data verification after burn,

Simple cover printing

Supports most IDE, USB, FireWire and SCSI drives

Free – (for both personal and corporate use)

No adware, malicious components, or restrictions

System Requirements: 2000/XP/Vista

Additional Requirements: .NET Framework 2.0

Download at: Download.com

Free Photo Commander 5 – Save 40 Bucks!

Ashampoo, a German software company noted for developing top quality, easy to use applications, occasionally makes available free, current versions of their retail products. The last time I recall a similar offer from Ashampoo was this past Xmas when they offered 6 of their programs for free.

This time Ashampoo is offering their outstanding Photo Commander 5, (still available at retail for $39.95), at no cost. I believe this a limited time offer and there is no guarantee the offer will not be withdrawn without notice. So as the hot dog guy at the ball park says, “get em while they’re hot.”

Ashampoo Photo Commander 5 makes managing and organizing even the largest collections of digital photos easy. Its powerful integrated photo editing tools make it a one-stop solution. Instead of switching to a graphics application you can do all your adjustments and enhancements directly in the organizer. Remove red-eye effects, adjust colors, contrast, hue, resize, crop, rotate, and add a wide range of special effects and more.

As well, you get a suite of powerful and easy-to-use creativity tools: You can generate web albums of your photos that you can post to your home page. You can send your photos to friends by email, create collages, calendars and greeting cards, add picture frames and vignettes, insert text bubbles, add text, create slide shows and view them on your computer, or burn them to CD or DVD, complete with a viewer program so that anyone can play them. You can also back up your images to CD or DVD, all without leaving the program.

Quick Overview:

Photos

In addition to viewing and managing your photos you can also edit them, correct red eyes in seconds, adjust the colors, display slide shows or burn them to CD and DVD, create photo albums you can publish on the web and order high-quality prints online. You can also rotate, tilt, flip, resize and print your images and send them to friends by email, create animated images, apply borders, convert your images to other formats and take snapshots of your screen.

Videos

Videos are displayed in the organizer with thumbnail images, just like photos. You can zoom in, play them in full-screen mode, extract screenshots, and create video play lists.

Audio Files

Plays audio tracks just as easily as it can manage your photos

Multimedia

Ashampoo Photo Commander 5 is also a multimedia management tool. It displays videos and plays audio tracks just as easily as it can manage your photos

Batch Processing

The Batch Processing tool doesn’t just convert multiple selected photos to other formats it can also resize the images, adjust brightness and contrast, apply effects like drop shadows and sharpening, and adjust the color depth. If you’ve ever spent hours adjusting hundreds of photos you’ll understand immediately how useful this feature can be.

Supported Formats

Over 60 graphics, video and audio formats are supported. Exclusive: Version 5 now includes full read and write support for transparent JPEGs (.jng files).

Registration is required. After installation go to Internet on the toolbar and register the program online.

Ashampoo loves to remind you of the value of their full software lineup, so if you find it bothersome to receive this type of email, you’d be better off passing. Personally, I find it easier to stay in the loop on new software developments, when I do receive emails soliciting my business for new applications.

Watch a video of the features and benefits of Photo Commander 5 on YouTube.

Download at: Ashampoo

Fix Damaged CD/DVD’s – Free CD Recovery Toolbox

So how many coasters do you have that started life as critical backup CD/DVD’s, or the CD/DVD’s that you entrusted to store a lifetime of photo memories? Well if you’re like most of us, you may have more than one.

As a long term file storage medium, CD/DVD’s are, in effect, all-purpose, durable and, generally inexpensive. The difficulty in relying on this storage medium however is; they aren’t always as reliable as we sometimes seem to think.

Recently, I experienced CD failure when testing a system using a special boot CD called, “The Ultimate Boot CD”, which ironically failed to boot despite the decisiveness of its name.

There I was stuck with an unreadable CD; but being the “geeky” kind of guy that I am, and having been through similar situations in the past, I’ve learned to double up on all my diagnostic tools. Later, I confirmed that the unreadable CD had not been burned correctly – the deadly “bad burn”.

So you’re not alone in turning what you may consider to be, unusable/unreadable CD/DVD’s into expensive coasters. But there is a solution that can help you to recover damaged data that you may have considered unrecoverable. Stepping into the picture is CD Recovery Toolbox, a free CD/DVD file recovery tool.

This small, free application was designed to recover damaged files on CD, DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-Ray disks. It can recover files that have been lost as a result of physical damage to the disk, (scratches, chips, and so on), or as a result of a bad or inaccurate recording.

The program scans damaged CD and DVD disks and produces a listing of files and folders on the media, which it can recover. Be aware however, that depending on the degree of damage, there may be files that the application cannot recover.

In testing this product’s file recovery ability on a severely scratched and chipped disk, I’m happy to say that it recovered 934 files out of a total of 936, that Windows could not read, and it did this in less than 2 minutes

Data recovery is generally a complex process but even beginners will have an easy time with this application based on it’s step-by step wizard, which makes the use of the tool very simple and convenient.

Quick facts:

Recovers files/folders from CD and DVD’s

Recovers files larger than 4 GB

Detects lack of free space on the designated storage hard drive

System Requirements: Windows 98/ME/2K/XP/2K3/Vista

Download at: Download.com

Free CD/DVD File Recovery Tool – CD Recovery Toolbox Free

So how many coasters do you have that started life as critical backup CD/DVD’s, or the CD/DVD’s that you entrusted to store a lifetime of photo memories? Well if you’re like most of us, you may have more than one.

As a long term file storage medium, CD/DVD’s are, in effect, all-purpose, durable and, generally inexpensive. The difficulty in relying on this storage medium however is; they aren’t always as reliable as we sometimes seem to think.

An Internet friend, the owner of Aplus Computer Aid in Menlo Park, California, – a very competent Techno Geek – was telling me just this week, “An older system of mine decided that it would not boot into Windows (XP), and then—with a determination that would make a Missouri mule proud—resisted all resuscitation efforts. No problem (I said to myself.. it was still early in the day). I’ll just re-mount a “ghost image” backup from the DVD’s I made last week.”

He went on to say “One of the 4 DVD’s was “corrupted”. As in “unreadable”. As in.. that backup is totally useless to me. Four wasted discs. Caught me a little off guard, too… I pay extra to buy the best blanks, and the company to which I am alluding has never given me a “bad burn” before.”

So you’re not alone in turning what you may consider to be, unusable/unreadable CD/DVD’s into expensive coasters. But there is a solution that can help you to recover damaged data that you may have considered unrecoverable. Stepping into the picture is CD Recovery Toolbox, a free CD/DVD file recovery tool.

This small, free application was designed to recover damaged files on CD, DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-Ray disks. It can recover files that have been lost as a result of physical damage to the disk, (scratches, chips, and so on), or as a result of a bad or inaccurate recording.

The program scans damaged CD and DVD disks and produces a listing of files and folders on the media, which it can recover. Be aware however, that depending on the degree of damage, there may be files that the application cannot recover.

In testing this product’s file recovery ability on a severely scratched and chipped disk, I’m happy to say that it recovered 934 files out of a total of 936, that Windows could not read, and it did this in less than 2 minutes

Data recovery is generally a complex process but even beginners will have an easy time with this application based on it’s step-by step wizard, which makes the use of the tool very simple and convenient.

Quick facts:

• Recovers files/folders from CD and DVD’s
• Recovers files larger than 4 Gb
• Detects lack of free space on the designated storage hard

Requirements: Windows 98/ME/2K/XP/2K3/Vista

Download at: Download.com

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