[iBook] Help, I need to read a CD burned with Direct-CD

[david]

On 2/7/05 10:28 PM, "David Crump" <davecrump at mac.com> wrote:

> I convinced my Parents-in-law to replace their fried PC with a new iMac,
> however, I've run into a crisis. They use their PC to run Quickbooks, and
> frequently exchange data on CD's with their accountant. They bought Virtual PC
> with XP, and installed Quickbooks without problem. However, Mac OS X can't
> read their Quickbooks backup CD! We've tried it in their iMac with superdrive
> and my clamshell iBook with CD/DVD drive. I've come to the conclusion that
> they've been backing up using Adaptec (Roxio) Direct-CD, which uses a format
> that the Mac can't read.
> I've found reference to a $25 US utility called ReadDVD that is supposed to
> let a mac read CD's using the UDFv1.5 format, but I'm skeptical.
> We can't re-burn the backup CD as their old PC is dead.
> Will any windows computer be able to read that disk and re-burn it for me, or
> do they need Direct CD installed?
> Any other ways to get the mac to read this file? Will buying and installing
> Toast let me read it?
> Thanks for your help.

UDF (DirectCD) is the devil of all CD formats. It is a driver that is
installed with most (but I don't think all) PC CD authoring programs. I got
it with Toast for the PC years ago but many PCs come with EZ CD software
which also includes it. So you are very likely to find many PC users can
read the CD. Rather than pay $25 look for a PC using friend to let you read
the CD and burn a standard format CD with the data.

david