Review: Part I: NTI Dragon Burn 4
Out of the box
The boxed bundle includes only the CD with all the programs and the serial numbers printed right on the label. Although the side of the box notes the inclusion of a Quick-Start Guide, there was no printed matter inside. Thankfully, the Help menu contains an introduction, overview, and fairly complete information on all the features in each program. You can download each program and order a CD for $3 more from the site, if the bundled package is more than you need.NTI Dragon Burn version 4.1.2.0
Upon launch, Dragon Burn opens a splash screen then a launch window, in which are nine icons to click for the type of file copy you want. The useful rollover descriptions of each action may be turned off in the Preferences. Jeff Cutler, one of our product reviewers, found this invaluable when trying to pick which method and type of disk to use.
First, Jeff chose the data CD/DVD mode and copied 9556 items from his MacBook onto a DVD. He found it easy to add files to the burn window; either by dragging them in or choosing files from a Finder window. He added 4.4GB of stuff and tried to jam it onto a 4.4GB DVD+R, but that didn’t work. You must remember that even a DVD needs some room for formatting data, so most DVDs hold about 4.2 or 4.3GB of files. The MacBook’s 8x DVD burner worked seamlessly with Dragon Burn and Jeff had a back-up DVD of his files in just over 10 minutes. While Dragon Burn offers a number of media burn solutions, all available from the main window. There are a number of little glitches, or features, depending on your outlook, in each type of burn that I found inconsistent and frustrating. When I tried to burn a Data CD/DVD, I could not choose the size media I wanted to burn until I clicked the Enable disc spanning button, which enabled a media pop-up menu with a number of media sizes available. I think a menu with disc types should not have to be enabled with a check box and thought it annoying. On the plus side, another pop-up menu let me choose from a variety of compatible media types, including HFS+ only, or a cross-platform hybrid CD or DVD.
I experienced another frustration when I accidentally dropped a folder inside another folder in the burn list, I had to manually remove it. Toast, with its more user-friendly interface, allows you to undo the last action and takes out the misplaced folder, so you can drop it in again in the right place.
While Jeff also backed up his music files as data files with no complaint, I had less success.
The Help files claim you can use layout filtering to create backups of specific file types. As instructed, I set the audio CD filter to recognize only MP3 files, and then dropped my iTunes folder onto the layout window. It displayed a warning dialog that Protected AAC files aren't supported, which was unnecessary, as I only wanted MP3 files. My resulting file list came up with 99 tracks in no particular order, but my iTunes library folder contains over 300 MP3 files. I also could not click on the headers, like Title or Length to reorder the list. On the plus side, there is an audio playback control in which I could hear each song if I wanted.
Interface design could use some work. Duplicates some of the functions of software already on your Mac. Filtering doesn’t always work correctly. Quit on an Intel iMac periodically. No Blu-ray support. Some options hidden away in Preferences.
Easy to install and use. Affordable. Burns all sorts of media. Menus are informative and clear. Supports multiple-burning, jpeg, mixed-mode, video, and live audio CDs. Suite includes label software.
Top