Create any kind of disc burning project with Burnaware

The disc-burning tools built into Windows are fine for basic tasks but anything more complicated requires extra software such as Burnaware Free. This program can be used to copy data to discs as well as some more advanced media related jobs.

Installation is easy although the installer will ask whether to install the Ask Toolbar. This can be deselected without causing any problems to Burnaware. It can offer to add Burnaware to the Autorun menu (selected by default) and let non-admin users access CD/DVD devices (deselected by default).

We were pleased by how easy Burnaware Free is to use. All of the different burning jobs are shown on the one screen. Burnaware can burn data to all CD, DVD and Blu-ray formats, including double-layer discs.

Creating a data disc is simple. Select the kind of disc you want to make and then drag and drop files and folders onto the screen. It is possible to add them through a dialogue box if that is easier as well as create folders on the disc.

Audio discs are created in much the same way, only it's audio files that are added to the project.

Burnaware Free can create discs from ISO and CUE disc-image files and make image files from discs. It's also possible to make an image file from scratch by adding files. A bootable image is also available.

Finally, there are a couple of useful utilities to erase rewritable discs and get infomation about the disc currently in the drive.

There are two paid-for versions of Burnaware that come with extra features. Burnaware Home can peform direct disc to disc copying, extract audio and recover files and costs US$30. Burnaware Professional adds the ability to burn the same ISO image to several drives at the same time and can be used for commercial purposes. Burnaware Professional costs US$40. A comparison on all three versions can be found on the BurnAware site here.