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Selasa, 01 Mei 2012

Review: WinISO Standard 6

19.52    

 

By

Takeaway: WinISO for Windows makes managing optical disc images a snap. Matthew Nawrocki reviews this tool.


The easy interface of WinISO for Windows, combined with the healthy file format support, makes this tool a winner on all counts.

System requirements

Who’s it for?

Anyone who wants to burn, create, and manipulate optical disc image files, including more exotic disc formats like BluRay.

What problem does it solve?

WinISO wants to give everyone the complete experience for disc image management, as opposed to using the basic functionality built in to Windows 7 or more limited freeware applications.

Standout features

  • Decent file format support: WinISO supports more obscure image formats, such as MDF/MDS, NRG, and CCD formats in addition to the usual suspects like ISO and BIN/CUE.
  • Can generate “hybrid” disc images: Dual-mode support enables you to create disc images that contain both ISO 9660 and HFS+ formats, which can then be burned to a single disc.
  • Quick conversions: WinISO makes converting images from one format to another a snap. Simply select the image in question and output it to any other format.
  • Clean and uncluttered UI: Of all the disc image programs I have used for Windows, WinISO wins stripes for its minimalistic user-interface design, allowing for you to get work done quickly.

What’s wrong?

  • Image mounter support is limited: If you are not running a 32-bit version of Windows, the image mounter that comes built in to WinISO doesn’t work in 64-bit environments yet.
  • SecuROM protected discs are problematic: Like most other image programs, SecuROM or other copy protections applied to discs will not copy out correctly in WinISO.

Competitive products:

Bottom line

WinISO might not support every disc image format under the sun. But what it does support, it does very well, and the interface is slick and easy to use. I would definitely recommend this utility.