Thanks for your wishes about mom, but she is 90 and in total denial about any of her memory problems, and she's on a walker with a very bad back. We just lost my dad too.
You have my sincere condolences. Life can be truly difficult at times. I'm sorry for your loss.
This is why I never got to try CloneDVD2 because when I opened it, Wow, like ImgBurn it wasn't the easy steps I've been using.
Clonedvd is very, very simple to use. You just have to go through the steps I outlined.
Also there's a video tutorial located at
http://www.slysoft.com/tutorials.html
The other crazy thing is, and I DO know this has nothing to do with Your forum, but may give a clue....I've downloaded clips I want to collect from YouTube and not knowing how to make one dvd of them in other burning programs, since they download to RealPlayer, I tried to burn them in RealPlayer Plus. It's supposed to burn 80 min. worth but keeps stopping at half that saying it encountered an error. So set my limit to 30 min. That dvd also played back with skips and stops. I then treated that disc as a "movie" and ran it thru AnyDVD, Shrink and burned it in Roxio to try to correct it and one copy came out perfect, 3-4 copies of the exact same disc had so many skips they got tossed. I guess I get the good copy and my friends will get the skips though I hate to share sorry-_ss copies with anyone. That's no fun to watch. And these are rare clips that must be preserved for the future. Many are gradually coming down off YouTube. Would love to get all my desired clips onto 1 disc but I think that's over my head.
So I was beginning to think maybe it's my computer, but I did upgrade a good while back to 2GB to handle the programs (RealPlayer Plus requires 1GB, AnyDVD 2GB), and do have many burned movies that play just fine. Still tossing more than keeping.
Due to the nature of Youtube and possibly copyrighted material, I am unable to assist you with that--other than saying Shrink does have a join feature--and Clonedvd does not. Others here may be able to assist you.
Anydvd and Clonedvd are intended for backing up original dvd-video movies that you have purchased in a store.
Some say I'm burning too fast a speed, some say too slow (I was burning 4x at first) then listened to my friend who uses 8x. Some say use -R some say use +R, I've tried all the combinations. I know you want "facts" to help me diagnose, and I will be providing those. Thank you so much.
I can help you backup commercial dvd movies that you own. I am unable to assist you with downloading and copying material on Youtube.
Also, I don't know anything about my optical disc drive....try finding anything out on the phone with Hewlett Packard! And I paid the $100 for phone help!
I will be able to find out some information for you if you provide the information I requested.
But if you don't have a 16x rated burner--don't buy 16x rated blank media.
Also, ashamedly admit I don't know what .iso means...I mean I used to work in TV and know what that kind of iso image means but not when burning. I always want to have all the extras though.
For now, there's no reason to bother with .iso files.
If I remember correctly, you are in the UK??
No. I am not located in the U.S. nor the U.K. I also do not work for Slysoft nor Elaborate Bytes.
I've never heard of TY or some of the brands/stores you mention.
If you're in the U.S. Taiyo Yuden can be found at
www.supermediastore.com
(do not buy valuline, trublue, nor linkyo, since I don't know what Linkyo is)
Verbatim Datalife Plus can be found at
www.newegg.com if you're in the U.S.
The best I can do with discs without ordering and paying shipping are mostly from Taiwan -- Verbatim
Verbatim's premium line is Verbatim Datalife Plus. Verbatim, generally, is decent.
avoid avoid avoid
Mostly avoid unless you can find some made in Japan
What do you think of Sony discs? Have not tried those, I believe because I was uncertain of the country of origin...maybe it was Malaysia
If Sony is made by Daxon in Malaysia, then you would be better off donating your money to charity, on average. Some Sonys are fine, but typically not as good as Taiyo Yuden nor Verbatim Datalife Plus.