BurnAware 19.4

BurnAware is disc burning software for Windows. It writes data, audio and video to CD, DVD and Blu-ray media, and creates, burns and extracts ISO images. It comes in three editions: a free edition for home use and two paid editions, Premium and Professional. The paid editions add copying, disc spanning, recovery and multi-drive tools.

The main window groups BurnAware’s tools into data, multimedia, disc image and utility tasks, each opening its own project window. Supported media include double-layer, M-Disc and high-capacity BDXL discs.

Data discs and file systems

A Data Disc project collects files and folders and writes them to a CD, DVD or Blu-ray disc. Before adding content, the user picks the file system: UDF, ISO 9660, or a combined ISO+UDF bridge format. UDF suits DVDs and large amounts of data, while ISO 9660 favors compatibility with older systems.

When the inserted disc already contains data, BurnAware asks whether to update it or add a new session. A disc can be filled over several burns this way until it is finalized, which closes it to further writing.

The data and image tools share the same burn options:

• Verify after burning reads back the newly written files to confirm they were recorded correctly.
• Buffer underrun protection lets a CD recording pause after an interruption and resume.
• Optimum power calibration tests the media’s reflectivity and sets the laser’s writing power for that session.

Emergency boot CDs and boot ISOs

The Boot Disc tool builds an emergency CD or DVD that can start a computer without its hard drive. Alongside the regular files, the user specifies a boot image in IMA or IMG format that holds the files needed to load an operating system. A separate Make Boot ISO tool saves bootable content as an image file instead.

Audio CDs and MP3 discs

The Audio CD tool accepts MP3, WAV, WMA, OGG, M4A, AAC and FLAC files, as well as M3U playlists. It converts them to the CD audio format during burning. The user sets the pause between tracks in seconds, with zero removing it.

Disc-at-Once mode records the whole disc in one pass without switching off the laser. Track-at-Once writes each track separately. CD-Text lets compatible players show the album title, track names and artist. It needs Disc-at-Once mode and a recorder that supports it.

An MP3 Disc instead stores the MP3 or WMA files themselves on a CD or DVD. It holds far more music, but only players that recognize these files can play it.

Video DVDs from files or folders

To create a DVD for a standalone player, BurnAware can directly burn an existing VIDEO_TS folder with its VOB, IFO and BUP files. Alternatively, the paid editions’ video converter takes AVI, MOV, MPG, VOB, MP4, WMV or MKV files. It converts them to DVD-Video in a temporary folder and then records the disc. BurnAware also burns Blu-ray video discs.

ISO image tools

Several BurnAware tools work with disc images:

• Make ISO turns files and folders into an ISO image, with the same file system choice as a data disc.
• Copy to ISO reads an inserted disc and saves an exact image of it, including its file system. It saves audio CDs as a BIN file with a CUE sheet.
• Burn ISO writes an ISO or other disc image to a blank disc.
• Unpack ISO extracts selected files from an image to a folder.

Disc copying and spanning

Copy Disc, in the Premium and Professional editions, duplicates a disc from a source drive to a destination drive. With Direct Copy turned off, BurnAware first reads the source into a temporary image. It burns the image to the new disc and then deletes it.

Span Disc handles collections too large for one disc. BurnAware spreads the added files and folders across as many discs as needed. It prompts for a new blank disc each time one is finished.

Recovery and disc utilities

The Professional edition’s Data Recovery tool lists a disc’s sessions in one pane and their files in another. The user can then extract files from a chosen session of the disc. On an audio CD, the same tool extracts individual tracks or saves the whole disc as a CUE image.

The other utilities cover routine disc maintenance:

• Verify Disc reads an inserted disc byte by byte and lists any files that cannot be read.
• Erase Disc clears rewritable RW and RE media. A quick erase removes only references to the data, while a complete erase overwrites the disc with zeroes.
• Disc Info shows the drive’s model and firmware, plus the disc’s free space, sessions and file system.
• Multiburn, in the Professional edition, writes one ISO image to several recorders at the same time.

Free, Premium and Professional editions