A proprietary technology by Plextor. This technology uses system memory to buffer information before recording it onto a CD. So far, Plextor is using it on their newer 12x10x32 IDE CD-R's. This technology was developed to somewhat lower the number of coasters put out by your friendly neighborhood Napster pimp. And also to try to rival the advantages of SCSI over IDE when it comes to burning.
Look Ma!, I can record a CD and node at the same time!
The "burn" in Burn-Proof apparently stands for Buffer UnderRuN. The idea is to prevent buffer underruns. These pesky errors are perhaps the most common cause of failed on the fly CD writes. Buffer underruns are caused by the reader (CD or Hard drive) being unable to supply data fast enough to the writer. It is for this reason that CD writer users have always been encouraged to leave their PC well alone while they copy CDs. "Disconect the network cable" and "Don't touch the mouse!" are two suggestions I have heard. Of course, writing at a lower speed would help too, but who wants to do that?

The idea of Burn-Proof is not just to use system memory to buffer the write. That approach is already common. The idea of Burn-Proof is to simply stop writing when the buffer is nearly empty. The writer stops writing and waits for the reader to catch up, before continuing to write where it left off once the buffer is sufficiently full. Sounds like common sense doesn't it? Well, Ricoh released their own version of the same technology just a little later than Plextor. They claim to have independently developed the idea, which they call JustLink. Hopefully even more companies will develop their own brand of this technology too.

I have used a Ricoh CD writer a few times now, and absolutely love the little message I sometimes get:

JustLink prevented 2 buffer underruns

My advice to people who can't decide if buying a CD writer with Burn-Proof or JustLink is worth it or not is to think of all the blank CDs they'll waste by taking the cheaper option. These buffer-underrun prevention technologies allow you to to actually use your computer while your're recording - and even write a CD over a network, something previously considered impossible.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.