Defenestration

Maybe that's FARMER's intentions! With all the advice that's been given, it seems odd that FARMER keeps trying to get more information, when no more is required (or can be given).

:coffee:

Please don't take it the wrong way Corny (if I may call you that ?) - It was meant as a friendly jibe. Have a drink or two with me to show no hard feelings BTW way Kev, what the bloody hell are you doing with a picture of my girlfriend for your av ?

Good Stuff!

That would be telling.... Thanks for the ini file feature LUK! That was fast work. Will it be possible to create an empty file called [appname].ini in the exe's folder, which is then populated by ImgBurn on exit with all supported parameters ? Re. adding Copies to the main window, I would still like to see this feature added in a future version, although it's certainly not an urgent feature request by any stretch of the imagination. I agree that the main window should be kept simplistic for ease of use, but feel that burning multiple copies of a single disc is quite a common feature (I generally burn at least 2 copies on 2 different types of disc of any data that is half-way important). I just don't like having to do too many clicks every time I burn a disc. Call me lazy but..... BTW, I'm really looking forward to IB version 2!

Oops! After checking again, in Settings->Write I found it - "Auto 'Export Graph Data'". Thanks. I've only recently enabled animations in Proxomitron, and no offence, but after seeing your avatar made me remember why I initially disabled them in the first place. I like the smiley animations, so I'm afraid your avatar has been added to my Ad-Muncher exclusion list - Sorry!

Currently, ImgBurn can only burn ISO files to disc (CD or DVD). An ISO file is an exact copy/image of a disc containing all the relevant info and data. Just follow the advice offered by Kenadjian to create an ISO from a disc that you have by using DVDShrink.

Likewise, I don't completely understand what's going on although I've heard that NEC drives tend to exhibit that kind of behaviour whereby they drain the device buffer. It's just the way they're designed. With this in mind, it's very possible that Nero either doesn't update this info as much, or does some kind of averaging. I will keep an eye on it with future burns and post back here if I uncover any more info, and also check out the graph data for future burns. That leads me onto yet another feature request.... The optional ability to have ImgBurn automatically save/export the graph data after a burn.

Hmmmm...... While burning the second copy of the ISO, Task Manager showed the priority of Imgburn as High, so it would appear that my suggestion is already implemented. I'm sure that it was set to Normal for the first copy, although I will check the next time I do a burn. FYI, the reason I asked was because the Device buffer kept emptying everytime I switched to another app (even though I wasn't actually doing anything). While the second copy was burning, the Device kept flicking between 50% and 100% when another app had the focus. I've never had a similar problem with Nero, although I suppose it may be to do with the differences in how often Nero and ImgBurn obtain and update this information. Maybe Nero doesn't update as much or averages more. Is there a separate app which I can use to monitor the Device buffer of the drive in real-time, so I can check the actual filled device buffer capacity while burning in Nero (preferably freeware or trialware) ?

As I've mentioned in one of my other posts, I like to do other things on the computer while burning. Because of this, the priority of the Imgburn process should be dynamically increased to High while burning to stop the Device buffer from emptying when using other apps. It can be set back to Normal priority when the burn has completed.

What is the file extension of the file(s) you are trying to burn (ie. the bit after the dot in the filename) ? UltraISO is a pretty good app for creating ISO images.

The advantage of doing it this way is that it would a) Allow people to set a default other than 1. b ) Simplify usage when curning a single ISO (since you don't need to go to Queue window) c) Anyone who prefers the current method can simply leave it at 1. Disadvantages None Would this work ? I haven't used the queue much so may not have understood how the feature works properly, and am ready to be punished in this case

I use a external NEC DVD burner connected by firewire and noticed that Imgburn did not detect the drive when it was turned on after Imgburn was started. It's not a big problem since Imgburn can just be restarted, but "it would be nice" (yes, another one of those for you ) if Imgburn automatically detected when new drives are available, and added them to the destination drop-down combobox. On the flip-side, it should also detect when drives are no longer available and remove them from the list. See following article for info on how to do this: http://www.codeproject.com/shell/shchangenotifyregister.asp Since Imgburn supports Win 95/98/Me, then you'll have to use the WM_DEVICECHANGE broadcast message, as SHChangeNotifyRegister() is only for Win 2000 and above. Just let me know if you need me to check/beta-test this or any other feature.

I had this same alert when the Nero Express compilation window was running at the same time. I know you said you didn't have any other app running at the time, so I would guess that one of the previous apps you were running did not release the device lock. In this instance, it's always a good thing to open Task Manager to check the list of processes running to see if one of those apps is still running without the GUI. Terminating/Ending this "rogue" process will usually (but not always) result in the lock being freed as well.

That's all I ask...

3) Thanks for listening! Re. (4), ToDoList does it like this..... a) you can specify the ini file to use on the commandline using the -i switch. b ) you can simply drop an empty text file named todolist.ini in the same directory as todolist.exe c) same as (b ). but put it anywhere provided you use a shortcut to start todolist and you specify the starting folder in the shortcut properties. Then implement a startup search as follows: 1) If -i option then use that ini file. If it does not exist then create it. 2) Look in the "current directory" (set with the "start in:" option in short cut) for the "ToDoList.ini" file. If found then use it. 3) Look in the EXE directory for the "ToDoList.ini" file. If found then use it 4) If no INI file found via above search then look for registry key. (HKCU/Software/AbstractSpoon/ToDoList) 5) If none of above was found then popup dialog asking what to use. If not all ini settings are present, then I would just use the defaults. How does that sound ?

Is there any particular reason you don't use Visual C++ ?

I've read a few times on this forum that Imgburn has better burn characteristics than DVDD used to and Nero and ... <Insert other burning apps here> but am curious as to how, since Imgburn is using an external I/O Interface (selectable from Settings->I/O) and the burner itself to do the burning. Also, LUK! has said a few times regarding other problems (eg. percentage readout does not increment smoothly), that Imgburn simply uses the info that the drive provides. Does Imgburn not simply provide the data to the relevant I/O function which, in turn, passes it onto the drive ? With the above in mind, how does Imgburn produce better burns than other apps ?

1) I haven't really used Imgburn that much since I've been waiting for the file/folder burn feature, and so am not totally sure how the Queue ties in with the main window. When burning copying a disc (not copyrighted), I often end up doing at least 2 copies, which is why I asked 2) OK, fair enough. As you say, there will always be someone who either complains the buffer is too large or too small. It's just that I was used to Nero which used approx. 80MB buffer, and was a bit surprised at why Imgburn's buffer kept on emptying at first. 3) It would allow the user to see at a glance whether their system is struggling to match the specified write speed (I realize that a burner only reaches it's max speed at the outer edge of a disc), since the info would be displayed near/next to the actual Write speed (instead of having to switch to the log to find the required info). With a memory and eyes like mine, I need all relevant info to be nicely packaged together. 4) Would be nice if it could be integrated into Imgburn, since it adds convenience. I'll post some code to save you the trouble, if you like. Even better would be the option to store program settings in a .ini file, since this would allow Imgburn to be run of a USB Flash drive, and also allow easy migration to new systems or roll-out of Imgburn on networks. A very useful ToDoList app on CodeProject (http://www.codeproject.com/tools/todolist2.asp) gives the option of which method to use the first time it is run on a system, with available C++ source code as well. 5) Thanks.

OK, thanks for the info LUK!

What programming language is Imgburn coded in (C, C++, Delphi) ?

1) Why does Imgburn cycle tray before verify ? 2) Where does it get the Write Rate info from (eg. the drive itself or does it calculate it) ?

1) Allow user to select number of copies on main window. I know you can do this from the Queue window, but it would be nice to have this option on the main window as well. 2) Maybe tweak default buffer to be larger (eg. 40MB) to make burn more stable when other tasks are being done on the system. Does buffer always default to 20MB, or is the size used dependent on the amount of RAM installed ? 3) On Burn progress window, it would be nice if the following info was shown: - Write Speed - Current Copy / Total Copies 4) Import/Export of Imgburn settings. 5) Eject after write/verify/erase only when there is another copy to be done (ie. should not eject after last copy).

I don't mean to go against the flow although I appear to be from the other related posts (and expect some flak for my troubles ), and I certainly think Imgburn is a fine piece of software (so don't get me wrong). I believe that many people would pay/donate (whichever way you wish to go) good money for a small, fast, simple, efficient piece of CD/DVD burner software which does all of the basics with not too much fluff around the edges (I am one of those people). Any CD/DVD burner app should support multi-session support, simply because that is a feature that the media offers. My needs for a CD/DVD burner app are quite simple, with support required for: - Burn images (ISO is fine for me, although other popular image formats would be a bonus) - Burn files/folders (including multi-session support) - Burn to multiple recorders simultaneously - Queue feature for burns - Decent GUI for easy/informative user interaction - Ability to burn CD Audio, Video CD, and DVD Video discs (When using Neroto burn DVD Video discs, it appears that simply burning the relevant files in a root folder named "VIDEO_TS" is sufficient) - Create image from CD/DVD - Copy CD/DVD (one or more copies to one or more burners). Easy way to implement would be to use the functionality from Create image feature, and then use other in-built functionality to burn it in required manner. Imgburn already supports (or will do with the next release) most of the above with the exception of the following: - Multi-session support for burning files/folders to CD's/DVD's - Burn support for CD Audio and Video CD - Create image - Copy CD/DVD With all these features added, Imgburn could be used as a sole CD/DVD burning app (and Nero et. al could be removed) . In reverse order.... You answered the second part of your (most likely, rhetorical) question yourself - Packet writing tools are awful! DVD-RAM's OK (and will be more than OK when it's possible for 16x burns), but there are still times when RW discs may be preferable (eg. burning DivX/XviD to test the quality of an encoded file on a standalone player - most players do not support DVD-RAM) This is OK initially, and I am grateful for your efforts (yes there is going to be a "but" ), but I (and I'm sure plenty of others) would be appreciative if you could find the time and effort to implement the other features. I don't know how many/much donations you have received, but I wouldn't have thought it to be too much (due to the human race being inherently cheapskate - if they don't have to pay for something, they won't!). If you made Imgburn a 30-day trial shareware by default, and then charged a very reasonable ?5 or ?10, I don't think many people would complain, or jump ship since it is quality software. Anyway, I've said my piece and if that still doesn't convince you then I'll rest my case. BTW, would it be OK to PM you since I have something I'd like to discuss which is not for public consumption at this time ?

OK fair enough. Will it support adding/appending new files to a CD-RW/DVD+-RW which already has files on it, so that after burning it will contain the old and new files (without this feature Imgburn cannot use RW discs to their full effect) ? I can live without the delete feature since (as I know you know) the files themselves are not actually deleted, so it's more of a cosmetic feature. I want to move away from bloatware though, and will donate when I can use Imgburn as my primary CD/DVD burner app. Thanks for at least considering my proposal. BTW, how come the forum was offline earlier today ?