remove DLA? (Windows DVD burning utility)

[Guest Matt]

Please have mercy for the cross-posting, but I want to get a breadth of

opinions.

 

DLA is supposed to be able to make the discs it writes compatible with

about any drive. I'm having trouble burning DVD-Rs on XP Pro (on an IBM

ThinkCentre desktop) so that the discs can be read by Linux using the

same drive (I'm dual booting). I try to disable DLA for the drive

(DVD-Multi), but every time I insert a new disc, I find DLA re-enabled.

A little esearch reveals that DLA seems to have conflicts with a lot

of software, eg Nero, MS Backup, and upgrade to Vista. Also I've read

that there are big reliability issues. To be blunt it seems basically

obnoxious, troublesome, and nonstandard. I truly hope my opinion won't

turn this into a Windows vs. Linux brawl, but a lively exchange of facts

relevant to DLA would be welcome. :-)

 

The only thing stopping me from deleting DLA is that I visited the Sonic

site, and they charge something like $20 or $30 for it, and I don't know

how to reinstall my copy. It must be on the hidden XP recovery

partition somewhere, but I don't know where. Anyway is there some

quasi-compelling reason to save this thing?

[Guest Leonard Grey]

Re: remove DLA? (Windows DVD burning utility)

 

Although you can still find software for it, Drive Letter Access has

largely been abandoned as a method for burning optical media because

it's not reliable. DLA doesn't close the disc properly, so there's no

guarantee the disc will be playable on anything other than the computer

that burned it, and it may not even play on that computer.

 

---

Leonard Grey

Errare humanum est

 

Matt wrote:

> Please have mercy for the cross-posting, but I want to get a breadth of

> opinions.

>

> DLA is supposed to be able to make the discs it writes compatible with

> about any drive. I'm having trouble burning DVD-Rs on XP Pro (on an IBM

> ThinkCentre desktop) so that the discs can be read by Linux using the

> same drive (I'm dual booting). I try to disable DLA for the drive

> (DVD-Multi), but every time I insert a new disc, I find DLA re-enabled.

> A little esearch reveals that DLA seems to have conflicts with a lot of

> software, eg Nero, MS Backup, and upgrade to Vista. Also I've read that

> there are big reliability issues. To be blunt it seems basically

> obnoxious, troublesome, and nonstandard. I truly hope my opinion won't

> turn this into a Windows vs. Linux brawl, but a lively exchange of facts

> relevant to DLA would be welcome. :-)

>

> The only thing stopping me from deleting DLA is that I visited the Sonic

> site, and they charge something like $20 or $30 for it, and I don't know

> how to reinstall my copy. It must be on the hidden XP recovery

> partition somewhere, but I don't know where. Anyway is there some

> quasi-compelling reason to save this thing?

[Guest Huck]

Re: remove DLA? (Windows DVD burning utility)

 

 

Matt wrote:

> Please have mercy for the cross-posting, but I want to get a breadth of

> opinions.

>

> DLA is supposed to be able to make the discs it writes compatible with

> about any drive. I'm having trouble burning DVD-Rs on XP Pro (on an IBM

> ThinkCentre desktop) so that the discs can be read by Linux using the

> same drive (I'm dual booting). I try to disable DLA for the drive

> (DVD-Multi), but every time I insert a new disc, I find DLA re-enabled.

> A little esearch reveals that DLA seems to have conflicts with a lot of

> software, eg Nero, MS Backup, and upgrade to Vista. Also I've read that

> there are big reliability issues. To be blunt it seems basically

> obnoxious, troublesome, and nonstandard. I truly hope my opinion won't

> turn this into a Windows vs. Linux brawl, but a lively exchange of facts

> relevant to DLA would be welcome. :-)

>

> The only thing stopping me from deleting DLA is that I visited the Sonic

> site, and they charge something like $20 or $30 for it, and I don't know

> how to reinstall my copy. It must be on the hidden XP recovery

> partition somewhere, but I don't know where. Anyway is there some

> quasi-compelling reason to save this thing?

 

 

 

DLA or even packet writing in general is a solution looking for a problem.

Universal Disk Format (UDF) software will sometimes create a disc which

can not be read on another PC. I suggest sticking to Joliet/ISO9660 and

good quality CD-R/DVD+/-R media.

 

http://www.nero.com/enu/downloads-nero6-update.php

http://cdburnerxp.se/download?latest

http://www.imgburn.com/

http://www.ashampoo.com/frontend/products/php/product.php?session_langid=20&idstring=0710&preview=1

[Guest Patrick Keenan]

Re: remove DLA? (Windows DVD burning utility)

 

"Matt" <matt@themattfella.xxxyyz.com> wrote in message

news:XCG1k.21532$mM.4619@fe115.usenetserver.com...

> Please have mercy for the cross-posting, but I want to get a breadth of

> opinions.

>

> DLA is supposed to be able to make the discs it writes compatible with

> about any drive. I'm having trouble burning DVD-Rs on XP Pro (on an IBM

> ThinkCentre desktop) so that the discs can be read by Linux using the same

> drive (I'm dual booting). I try to disable DLA for the drive (DVD-Multi),

> but every time I insert a new disc, I find DLA re-enabled. A little

> esearch reveals that DLA seems to have conflicts with a lot of software,

> eg Nero, MS Backup, and upgrade to Vista. Also I've read that there are

> big reliability issues. To be blunt it seems basically obnoxious,

> troublesome, and nonstandard. I truly hope my opinion won't turn this

> into a Windows vs. Linux brawl, but a lively exchange of facts relevant to

> DLA would be welcome. :-)

>

> The only thing stopping me from deleting DLA is that I visited the Sonic

> site, and they charge something like $20 or $30 for it, and I don't know

> how to reinstall my copy. It must be on the hidden XP recovery partition

> somewhere, but I don't know where. Anyway is there some quasi-compelling

> reason to save this thing?

 

Even if it's on the recovery partition, it isn't part of XP, it is a 3rd

party utility. Take the system type from the back of your system, go to

the Lenovo support site with that information, and search for the

applications that came with the system. You may very well find the

installer there, so you can remove it and put it back if for some reason you

find it useful.

 

You might also try just disabling the service itself via msconfig. Set it

to disabled, do not allow it to start automatically,

 

HTH

-pk

[Guest Matt]

Re: remove DLA? (Windows DVD burning utility)

 

Patrick Keenan wrote:

> "Matt" <matt@themattfella.xxxyyz.com> wrote in message

> news:XCG1k.21532$mM.4619@fe115.usenetserver.com...

>> Please have mercy for the cross-posting, but I want to get a breadth

>> of opinions.

>>

>> DLA is supposed to be able to make the discs it writes compatible with

>> about any drive. I'm having trouble burning DVD-Rs on XP Pro (on an

>> IBM ThinkCentre desktop) so that the discs can be read by Linux using

>> the same drive (I'm dual booting). I try to disable DLA for the drive

>> (DVD-Multi), but every time I insert a new disc, I find DLA

>> re-enabled. A little esearch reveals that DLA seems to have conflicts

>> with a lot of software, eg Nero, MS Backup, and upgrade to Vista.

>> Also I've read that there are big reliability issues. To be blunt it

>> seems basically obnoxious, troublesome, and nonstandard. I truly hope

>> my opinion won't turn this into a Windows vs. Linux brawl, but a

>> lively exchange of facts relevant to DLA would be welcome. :-)

>>

>> The only thing stopping me from deleting DLA is that I visited the

>> Sonic site, and they charge something like $20 or $30 for it, and I

>> don't know how to reinstall my copy. It must be on the hidden XP

>> recovery partition somewhere, but I don't know where. Anyway is there

>> some quasi-compelling reason to save this thing?

>

> Even if it's on the recovery partition, it isn't part of XP, it is a 3rd

> party utility. Take the system type from the back of your system, go

> to the Lenovo support site with that information, and search for the

> applications that came with the system. You may very well find the

> installer there, so you can remove it and put it back if for some reason

> you find it useful.

>

> You might also try just disabling the service itself via msconfig. Set

> it to disabled, do not allow it to start automatically,

>

> HTH

> -pk

>

 

 

One of the conflicts from DLA was that the control panel would hang when

started from My Computer but not when started in its own window from the

start menu. C.P. would hang that way when both DLA and Nero 7

essentials were installed but not if either one were absent. I removed

DLA, and I find that now the control panel works okay.

 

Since removing DLA I've used Nero to burn a DVD that I am able to read

on Linux.

 

The Wikipedia article on DLA points to an IBM page whence you can

download a recent seemingly-actively-maintained DLA package for XP,

which I would use in case I ever see a reason to try DLA again.

 

Thanks everybody for your help.