Say No! to Nero

[LindaRS]

I found some old backup file CDs I made several years ago. I needed to know what was one them. Well, if I could get my computer to read them. Knowing the date they were recorded, I knew why they couldn't be read. Several years and 2 or 3 computers ago, I had Nero burning software for burning disks. Big no-no, but I didn't know it at the time. Nero was good at buring, but I would find out with a new computer, that it proprietary. It uses a method of burning that cannot be read by other computers unless they have Nero installed. To get around that, they do provide a reading program that I have had to download and install on at least 2 computers. This time I pulled off all the files I want to keep and will reburn them to a new disk and also back up on EHD.

So this is a heads-up. If you're not using Nero, don't start. Almost nobody likes software that is written in a proprietary mode that makes its output unusable by other software, when that is the expected outcome.

[Vicki]

Thanks for the heads up, Linda. We have Nero.

[LindaRS]

Vicki, check and see if there are different recording modes in the software and if you can record so that the disk is readable by other computers. Personally, I won't ever use it again. I uninstalled the InCD (Nero) reader last evening as it was slowing things down. It also said on installation that it would only take up 15 mgs on the HD. Ha! it took up 60. Glad to have it gone.

[Mimi]

Linda, what are you going to replace it with?

[LindaRS]

I haven't used Nero for years. Actually Jim pointed me to a free program that I've been using for some time. Free Easy Burner. I had Nero because it came bundled with a new CD burner I had installed in that computer. It wasn't until after I got a new computer and tried to read my old discs that I found that Nero is proprietary. Once I had the data put on my new computer I put the discs away. I hadn't thought much about in the last few years. But this week I was going thru CDs and wanted to see what was on these old ones. It was when I popped one in the burner and it couldn't read it that I remembered they were burned with Nero. So it was onto the internet to find the latest version of the Reader. Job done. Files are now on HD and onto EHD. Reader is uninstalled.