Mysteries Of The CDRW and Back Ups Revealed

Proper Software Is One Factor

In order to make back ups of commercial CDs that incorporate copy protection, in most cases you will need special software to do the job. Of course, this is only part of the equation. Depending on which copy protection scheme you are attempting to back up, your CDRW drive will need the correct firmware revision that will support the software you are using.

Selecting the correct drive isn't as easy as you might think. Most of the software products that are required to make these back up discs have an extensive list of the drives that are compatible and the drives that won't cut it. Also important is the revision of the firmware within the drive, as some drives will only function with certain versions of the firmware. Many people have suspected that perhaps the drive manufacturers are being less than generous with the firmware used with their drives because they don't want to open the potential Pandora's box of problems that may arise if their drives are being used for back ups.

During our testing, we used two programs that seem to have a high success rate in making back ups. While each of these programs has its benefits and drawbacks, we found that in some cases, one program had a higher success rate in backing up the discs in our testing process better than the other one. The type of CDRW drive that you have, or elect to purchase, may also affect the software you select to perform your back ups.

The first step before trying either of these programs is to check the drive compatibility listing for each of these programs. If your CDRW drive is not listed in their compatibility list, you can still try to use your drive with the software, but your results may vary. Since both of these programs are available in limited trial versions, you'll want to download and test the software to make sure it fits your needs before registering it, as neither program may be warranted to be compatible or suitable for your purposes.

Blindread/ Blindwrite

Version - 4.0.4
VSO Software
Cost - $27 US

Blindwrite 4.0.3 offers a very easy to use and understand interface.

The Blindread/ Blindwrite combo package is actually two separate programs, each with a specific purpose. The Blindread program is used to extract the data from the CD, while the Blindwrite program is used to write the extracted CD data to the CDRW drive.

Blindread extracts the data off the disc. VSO has said at some point Blindwrite/ Blindread will be merged into one program.