Guest General Mailbox Posted September 5, 2007 Posted September 5, 2007 Greetings, I have attempted about 4 times to copy folders onto a CDRW. 1st event: Placed unformatted CDRW and system says there's no CD in the drive. I tried 2 other CDRW's in case of being defective. I used another utility to format it. 2nd event: It worked. On a 650MB CDRW, I placed about 250MB data. 3rd event: I wanted to add another 300MB to the same successful disk in #2 event. Everything acted normal, the lights were blinking on the tower and CD drive. After 15 mins, it completed and ejected the CD. However, only the 1st session shows as being on the CD. No signs of the 2nd session. 4th event: Did a quick format of CDRW, using a 3rd party utility, and tried to add all the folders as one session instead. It took about 23mins with everything looking normal. Upon completion and reboot the system, the CD still shows 650MB free with no data on it. Question 1: Why isn't windows doing the formatting if that is what it seems to need from a CD? Question 2: Why can't multiple sessions be placed on a single CD? Item #6 under my Help & Support Center states "If the CD is not full, you can add more files to the CD by repeating this process." Question 3: What happened to all the folders that the system appeared to be working on all this time? I did spend time looking back in the previous posts and found some interesting things, but nothing that answers the issue I am having. Thank you in advance for any assistance you can give. Oh, I've notice a few postings about Acronis and Norton Ghost. I'll be looking into those, but still expected Windows to do what it was designed to do. Thanks. B.rgds, Kevin WinXP SP2
Guest M.I.5¾ Posted September 5, 2007 Posted September 5, 2007 Re: Windows copy to CD fails "General Mailbox" <nospampls@home.net> wrote in message news:LSnDi.30891$L_7.15797@newsfe16.phx... > Greetings, > I have attempted about 4 times to copy folders onto a CDRW. > 1st event: Placed unformatted CDRW and system says there's no CD in the > drive. I tried 2 other CDRW's in case of being defective. I used another > utility to format it. > 2nd event: It worked. On a 650MB CDRW, I placed about 250MB data. > 3rd event: I wanted to add another 300MB to the same successful disk in #2 > event. Everything acted normal, the lights were blinking on the tower and > CD drive. After 15 mins, it completed and ejected the CD. However, only > the 1st session shows as being on the CD. No signs of the 2nd session. > 4th event: Did a quick format of CDRW, using a 3rd party utility, and > tried to add all the folders as one session instead. It took about 23mins > with everything looking normal. Upon completion and reboot the system, > the CD still shows 650MB free with no data on it. > > Question 1: Why isn't windows doing the formatting if that is what it > seems to need from a CD? > > Question 2: Why can't multiple sessions be placed on a single CD? Item #6 > under my Help & Support Center states "If the CD is not full, you can add > more files to the CD by repeating this process." > > Question 3: What happened to all the folders that the system appeared to > be working on all this time? > > I did spend time looking back in the previous posts and found some > interesting things, but nothing that answers the issue I am having. > > Thank you in advance for any assistance you can give. Oh, I've notice a > few postings about Acronis and Norton Ghost. I'll be looking into those, > but still expected Windows to do what it was designed to do. Thanks. > The only thinng you haven't told us is what utility you are using to create the CD-RW. I somehow assume that it is the Windows XP's own inbuilt CD writing capability. I somehow feel that the laser in your CD writer may have failed and is unable to reliably write disks (given that it occasionally works but mostly doesn't). Unfortunately the failure rate of CD/DVD lasers is ridiculously high. However, there is another answer to your question 2 which I don't think is really your problem but people should be aware of it. The Windows XP's own CD writing utility writes CDs in a technically invalid format. The orange book specification (which addresses multi session writing) only intended multisession disks to be written in Mode 2 (also known as CD XA). However, it was somewhat ambiguous on the point. As a result there are CD drives out there which won't recognise anything other than the first session on a Mode 1 disk. However, most do. Just to confound the issue, those that don't will usually successfully write a subsequent Mode 1 session. The Windows XP writing utility is very basic and only supports Mode 1 multisession writing.
Guest General Mailbox Posted September 5, 2007 Posted September 5, 2007 Re: Windows copy to CD fails "M.I.5¾" <no.one@no.where.NO_SPAM.co.uk> wrote in message news:46de7c56$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net... > > "General Mailbox" <nospampls@home.net> wrote in message > news:LSnDi.30891$L_7.15797@newsfe16.phx... >> Greetings, >> I have attempted about 4 times to copy folders onto a CDRW. >> 1st event: Placed unformatted CDRW and system says there's no CD in the >> drive. I tried 2 other CDRW's in case of being defective. I used >> another utility to format it. >> 2nd event: It worked. On a 650MB CDRW, I placed about 250MB data. >> 3rd event: I wanted to add another 300MB to the same successful disk in >> #2 event. Everything acted normal, the lights were blinking on the tower >> and CD drive. After 15 mins, it completed and ejected the CD. However, >> only the 1st session shows as being on the CD. No signs of the 2nd >> session. >> 4th event: Did a quick format of CDRW, using a 3rd party utility, and >> tried to add all the folders as one session instead. It took about >> 23mins with everything looking normal. Upon completion and reboot the >> system, the CD still shows 650MB free with no data on it. >> >> Question 1: Why isn't windows doing the formatting if that is what it >> seems to need from a CD? >> >> Question 2: Why can't multiple sessions be placed on a single CD? Item >> #6 under my Help & Support Center states "If the CD is not full, you can >> add more files to the CD by repeating this process." >> >> Question 3: What happened to all the folders that the system appeared to >> be working on all this time? >> >> I did spend time looking back in the previous posts and found some >> interesting things, but nothing that answers the issue I am having. >> >> Thank you in advance for any assistance you can give. Oh, I've notice a >> few postings about Acronis and Norton Ghost. I'll be looking into those, >> but still expected Windows to do what it was designed to do. Thanks. >> > > The only thinng you haven't told us is what utility you are using to > create the CD-RW. > > I somehow assume that it is the Windows XP's own inbuilt CD writing > capability. I somehow feel that the laser in your CD writer may have > failed and is unable to reliably write disks (given that it occasionally > works but mostly doesn't). Unfortunately the failure rate of CD/DVD > lasers is ridiculously high. > > However, there is another answer to your question 2 which I don't think is > really your problem but people should be aware of it. The Windows XP's > own CD writing utility writes CDs in a technically invalid format. The > orange book specification (which addresses multi session writing) only > intended multisession disks to be written in Mode 2 (also known as CD XA). > However, it was somewhat ambiguous on the point. As a result there are CD > drives out there which won't recognise anything other than the first > session on a Mode 1 disk. However, most do. Just to confound the issue, > those that don't will usually successfully write a subsequent Mode 1 > session. The Windows XP writing utility is very basic and only supports > Mode 1 multisession writing. > Thank you M.I.5¾. Logically, I would need to agree with you about defective hardware. It didn't dawn on me that a laser can sometimes work and other times not. I had thought it was like a light bulb, either burnt out or not. I'll change it out to give it a try. B.rgds, Kevin
Guest M.I.5¾ Posted September 6, 2007 Posted September 6, 2007 Re: Windows copy to CD fails "General Mailbox" <nospampls@home.net> wrote in message news:yHDDi.156848$zz2.48078@newsfe12.phx... > > "M.I.5¾" <no.one@no.where.NO_SPAM.co.uk> wrote in message > news:46de7c56$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net... >> >> "General Mailbox" <nospampls@home.net> wrote in message >> news:LSnDi.30891$L_7.15797@newsfe16.phx... >>> Greetings, >>> I have attempted about 4 times to copy folders onto a CDRW. >>> 1st event: Placed unformatted CDRW and system says there's no CD in the >>> drive. I tried 2 other CDRW's in case of being defective. I used >>> another utility to format it. >>> 2nd event: It worked. On a 650MB CDRW, I placed about 250MB data. >>> 3rd event: I wanted to add another 300MB to the same successful disk in >>> #2 event. Everything acted normal, the lights were blinking on the tower >>> and CD drive. After 15 mins, it completed and ejected the CD. However, >>> only the 1st session shows as being on the CD. No signs of the 2nd >>> session. >>> 4th event: Did a quick format of CDRW, using a 3rd party utility, and >>> tried to add all the folders as one session instead. It took about >>> 23mins with everything looking normal. Upon completion and reboot the >>> system, the CD still shows 650MB free with no data on it. >>> >>> Question 1: Why isn't windows doing the formatting if that is what it >>> seems to need from a CD? >>> >>> Question 2: Why can't multiple sessions be placed on a single CD? Item >>> #6 under my Help & Support Center states "If the CD is not full, you can >>> add more files to the CD by repeating this process." >>> >>> Question 3: What happened to all the folders that the system appeared to >>> be working on all this time? >>> >>> I did spend time looking back in the previous posts and found some >>> interesting things, but nothing that answers the issue I am having. >>> >>> Thank you in advance for any assistance you can give. Oh, I've notice a >>> few postings about Acronis and Norton Ghost. I'll be looking into >>> those, but still expected Windows to do what it was designed to do. >>> Thanks. >>> >> >> The only thinng you haven't told us is what utility you are using to >> create the CD-RW. >> >> I somehow assume that it is the Windows XP's own inbuilt CD writing >> capability. I somehow feel that the laser in your CD writer may have >> failed and is unable to reliably write disks (given that it occasionally >> works but mostly doesn't). Unfortunately the failure rate of CD/DVD >> lasers is ridiculously high. >> >> However, there is another answer to your question 2 which I don't think >> is really your problem but people should be aware of it. The Windows >> XP's own CD writing utility writes CDs in a technically invalid format. >> The orange book specification (which addresses multi session writing) >> only intended multisession disks to be written in Mode 2 (also known as >> CD XA). However, it was somewhat ambiguous on the point. As a result >> there are CD drives out there which won't recognise anything other than >> the first session on a Mode 1 disk. However, most do. Just to confound >> the issue, those that don't will usually successfully write a subsequent >> Mode 1 session. The Windows XP writing utility is very basic and only >> supports Mode 1 multisession writing. >> > > Thank you M.I.5¾. Logically, I would need to agree with you about > defective hardware. It didn't dawn on me that a laser can sometimes work > and other times not. I had thought it was like a light bulb, either burnt > out or not. I'll change it out to give it a try. Without getting too technical, the laser works by generating light energy in a semiconductor crystaline cavity. Unfortunately the energy density in the cavity causes the crystal structure to develop micro fractures as they get fairly hot. As these fractures develop, the efficiency of the laser falls and its output drops. Consequently the laser doesn't suddenly go out like a filament bulb, but gradually dims like an allegedly 'energy efficient' Compact Fluorescent Lamp (though fortunately nowhere near as fast). As others have noted, the laser does represent the most unreliable part of any CD/DVD drive. The CD/DVD writers have a harder time of it because the energy of the laser is much higher. If it makes you feel any better, I noted that I bought my first CD writer in 1998. I replaced it with a DVD/CD-RW Combo when it failed. I replaced that with a DVD writer when they became sensibly priced. That unit has been replaced 3 times as each unit failed (and I had to buy the latest one just yesterday). I just don't expect any sensible life out of them any more.
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