Software Architects, Inc.



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
30 May 2002

World’s First Mac OS X Support for “Mt. Rainier” Capable CD-RW Drives Released


WriteCD-RW!™ v3.0 Pro for Apple™ Mac OS X supports “Mt. Rainier” Capable CD-RW drives with drag & drop interface, background formatting and defect management for reliable data storage and disc interchange.

Bothell, WA...Software Architects, Inc. (SAI) announced today the release of WriteCD-RW! Pro version 3.0 for Apple™ Mac OS X. WriteCD-RW! V3.0 is the first and only software that reads and writes disks formatted in new “Mt. Rainier” capable drives using a “drag & drop” Finder interface. WriteCD-RW! supports all “Mt. Rainier” specification functions, including background formatting, drag & drop read/write interface, and defect management. The utility also formats CD-R/W discs in standard Apple HFS format. A separate reader utility (ReadCD-MRW!™ ) is included for reading the new format on standard CD-ROM, DVD-ROM and CD-R/W drives.

Most newer CD-R/W drives with rated speed of 32x or greater now come equipped with “Mt. Rainier capable” firmware that provides several new functions to the CD-R/W drive. These new functions are designed to make the drive more reliable, easier to use, and provide improved disk compatibility for interchange between computer systems. Mt. Rainier format disks cannot be read by standard CD-RW software, such as Toast™, EasyCD Creator™, and other third party CD-R/W utilities.

“Mt. Rainier functionality provides users with a more reliable, easy-to-use, “Mac-like” interface,” said Robert Zollo, President of SAI. “Users have more and bigger files to store and exchange with others. WriteCD-RW! Pro enables users of Mt. Rainier capable drives to use them just like giant floppy disks, with about 500 times the capacity of conventional floppies.”

Use your CD-RW disk like a Floppy Disk
Conventional CD-R/W mastering applications require opening an application, and performing several operations to create a “virtual disk” file on the internal hard disk that can then be written out to disk. With WriteCD-RW! Pro, the CD-RW disk is represented as a drive icon in Mac OS Finder. The interface behaves just like a floppy drive. The user can drag and drop files to write to the disk; point and click to open; and use files as if they were stored on a floppy disk drive. the software also supports background formatting, so the disk can be used within 45 seconds, compared with over 10 minutes with conventional formatting.

Key components
WriteCD-RW! Pro contains three powerful utilities:
  • WriteCD-RW!™ reader/writer/formatter, with Finder integrated “drag & drop” interface.
  • ReadCD-MRW!™ reader utility that mounts and reads Mt. Rainier format discs on CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and conventional CD-R/W drives.
  • FixUDF!™ disk repair and file recovery utility for UDF formatted discs.
Key User Benefits
  • Easy to use, “drag & drop “ interface integrated with Finder.
  • Reliable data storage with media defect management on CD-R/W drives.
  • Reliable disk and file interchange between computer systems.
  • Expanded use of the CD-R/W drive as a “giant floppy drive” for personal data storage.
Systems Supported
WriteCD-RW! Pro v3.0 supports most major brand drives using ATAPI, FireWire, USB and SCSI protocols running on any Apple PowerMac or iMac running Mac OS X, 9, or 8.6. Supports most third party FireWire and USB connectors. Consult the SAI web site for a current list of drives and models supported. Recommend 32 mbytes RAM.

Compatibility & Standards
WriteCD-RW! Pro v3.0 is fully compliant with the Mt. Rainier Group specification v1.1 for formatting, reading and writing CD-R/W discs. The Mt. Rainier Group consists of four founding members: Compaq, Microsoft, Philips and Sony, and over 50 “adopter” companies who have endorsed support for this new format initiative (including most CD-R/W drive manufacturers).