Mount Rainier reading software freely available

May 16, 2002

Mitsumi Europe issued a Mount Rainier FAQ today explaining the new standard. While Mitsumi brought the first 100% Mount Rainier compatible drive on the market, consumers seem not to understand the advantages of the format.

Our last article (Be sure to read it so you know about the next big thing in CD-R!) is already dedicated to the Mount Rainier standard that should replace the old floppy drive that is pretty obsolete and inconvinient. Just to summarize:

What is so special about a Mount Rainier CD-RWdrive?

Mount Rainier compliant CD-RW-drives offer six new features:

Data protection thanks to error management in the drive

Fast formatting in the background according to an international standard

CD eject at any time

Compatibility between popular operating systems

Effective storage thanks to small storage blocks (2Kbytes)

Simple operation, like a floppy disk or a fixed disk

What is the difference between High Speed CD-RW and Mount Rainier?

There is no direct technical relationship between these two methods. The Mount Rainier functionality is independent of the use of CD-RW-media type. However, Mount Rainier does have a better transfer rate when writing with a High Speed CD-RW and therefore offers the user even more comfort.

Can I use my Mount Rainier media in a standard

drive?

Only Mount Rainier compatible drives are able to create the respective media. Other drives can however read the data. This requires specific
software, which can be downloaded from the Internet free of charge.

Manufacturers are planning to integrate the Mount Rainier functionality into operating systems within 2002.

So if you have friends coming by who have a Mount Rainier formatted CD-MRW you can read the data, all you need is a free software update.

The reading utility ReadCDMRW! installs itself in MS Windows or Mac OS as a special 'filter" driver and supports all UDFversions (v1.0.2., 1.5, 2.0, 2.0.1, and the specific Mount Rainier format). If a CD-MRW is placed into a conventional CD-ROM, CD-RW or DVD-ROMdrive,
the driver identifies the format type and version.

It then ensures that the data can be read and copied in Windows Explorer or Apple Finder as 'Read only"-CD. If a CD-RW is inserted which has been formatted differently, the ReadCD-MRW! driver authorises the suitable software to takeover control. The driver is compatible with MS Windows 2000, XP, 98 and ME as well as Apple Mac OS from Version 8 and supports most MMC-2 compliant drives.

You can find more information and the download of the software here.

Source: Mitsumi