Review: CopyToDVD (P)review
Reviewer: KennyShin
Version: Unreleased Beta
Partly thanks to the recent entry of various new DVD writer drives, more PC recording software vendors have been announcing new software to burn DVD disks and there will be even more. One of such vendors is VSO-Software in France known with BlindWrite Suite which includes the burning tool, BlindWrite, and the reading tool, BlindRead, and CopyToCD. The latter program, CopyToCD, has been silently upgraded to CopyToCD version 2.0, or CopyToDVD.
As the newly added name suggests, CopyToCD can now be used to make data backups onto DVD recordable media and create your own DVD-Video titles. This copy VSO-Software sent us for a preview is a beta version under development and does not include some features that will added in the first official version, such as file caching and DVD-Video making. According to the CopyToCD/DVD front page, we can see this.
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In few weeks we will release a brand new version : CopytoDVD ( aka CopyToCD 2.0 ) the upgrade will be free, according to our licence policy ( 1 year of upgrade protection ).
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The beta version also does not allow the user to bypass the ISO creation process to save time. I hope this will be also added soon. Unlike full-featured products like Roxio EasyCD Creator, Stomp RecordNow Max, and Ahead Nero Burning Rom, CopyToDVD is a simple and small-sized program to let the user easily to create DVD either from the Windows Explorer or from the compilation menu after launching the program.
Setup:
When we start the installation we first have to click yes and we are welcomed with the welcome screen as you can see below:
On the next page we will take a look at the interface of the software.
After the system has been rebooted we can start up the software, first in the Wizard mode:
When you turn off the wizard the software looks like this:
Choose the Options and CopyToCD Properties from it. The menu has 11 categories. The beta we received had a Properties menu not far different from that of CopyToCD and it is still called CopyToCD Properties instead of CopyToDVD Properties.
You can choose your favorite language here.
The supported languages include Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and many others. There are many missing languages like Korean. Though I am in South Korea, it does not matter to me personally, but I hope there will be more supported languages later.
On the next page we will perform our first data backup.
Now let's see whether it does what it is for.
We used a Sony DRU-500A with 1.0f firmware. We used the Sony 2.4x DVD+RW media that came bundled with the drive We also had five Melody 1x DVD-RW media made by Princo, and more than 100 Melody 1x DVD-R media made by CMC. We already successfully burned a few DVD-R disks to back up some files from local HDDs. To save time and money, we used the Sony DVD+RW media. The speed will be set to the Maximum.
To choose the files and folders you want to back up, open Windows Explorer and drag and drop the files onto the large empty space. We chose a file from a Santana DVD.
Now, click the icon looking like an optical disc:
Type your disc Volume name in the box
CopyToDVD creates an ISO file to the folder of your choice. The default drive will be C: where CopyToDVD is also installed unless you change the location.
Click the "Details>>>" button. Also, by default, CopyToDVD keeps a log history.
Starting to do the actual writing.
The writing window will disappear one the completion. Burning done successfully.
Next, let's try to drag another VOB file from Windows Explorer and drop it to CopyToDVD. The program will ask whether you want to erase the contents on the rewritable disc. Choose yes and a similar burning process will begin.
Done successfully again. I tested one time more. Go to Crogram FilesvsoCopyToDVD and you can find C2CD.LOG file. Open it with any text viewer program and it will look like this.
1/2/2003 3:03:33 AM info ********** Report session closed ***********
1/2/2003 3:03:33 AM info Write completed
1/2/2003 3:03:26 AM info Finalizing CD ..
1/2/2003 2:59:33 AM info Start Write Buffer
1/2/2003 2:59:33 AM info Start writing...
1/2/2003 2:59:33 AM info Write speed set to x2.4
1/2/2003 2:59:33 AM info Buffer under-run proof enabled
1/2/2003 2:59:07 AM info Open Image file "DOPYTOCD_01252003_025820_137.iso"
1/2/2003 2:59:17 AM info Finished caching ISO image to HD
1/2/2003 2:58:20 AM info Start Caching ISO image to HD
1/2/2003 2:58:20 AM info File structures complete - Image size 687 Mb.
1/2/2003 2:58:20 AM info Start building ISO file structures
1/2/2003 2:58:09 AM info Finished browsing files - Data size 686 Mb.
1/2/2003 2:58:09 AM info Start Browsing file structures
1/2/2003 2:58:09 AM info Checking Access layer availability
1/2/2003 2:58:09 AM info ExeName : "CROGRA~1vsoCOPYTO~1copytocd.exe"
1/2/2003 2:58:09 AM info OS : Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
1/2/2003 2:58:09 AM info ********** Report session started **********
Well, what about DVD-RW? Since the writing speed is limited to 1x with the discs I had, I chose a much smaller file.
The 1 hour is just an estimation based on the time it took to process tasks already done
And there we are, we have freshly burned DVD. Can writing DVDs be easier?
CopyToDVD seems to be doing what it is supposed to do. It needs to allow the user to choose not to create an ISO image to hard disk. VSO-Software tells us that there will be more features included before the public release. Though it cannot replace some of the top DVD writing programs, it can still be useful for many users who do not need more features and power and just simply want to click and burn.
VSO-Software has told us that the first public version should be released within two weeks and will also include a possibility to burn images created by DVD2One.
Our thanks goes to the CopyToCD/DVD team for sending us this preview version and for the feedback.
Updated: CopyToDVD can be purchased here.
