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CD-RW problems - help for a novice please!
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wads
Newbie
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9. September 2004 @ 12:29 |
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Hi,
Sorry if these are really basic/stupid questions, but please bear with me as I'm a novice when it comes to burning CDs.
I have a CD Re-writer drive - the info on it is:
IDE-CD R/RW 4x4x24
Write Speed : 4x600kb/sec
Read Speed : 24x3600 kb/sec
Firmware Rev: 1.08
Address : 1:1:0
I don't burn many CDs, but when I have in the past (using Roxio DirecCD) everything was working fine until I recently bought some new blank CD-RW discs (Packard Bell CD-RW 12x Speed 700mb capacity).
Now, on the CD Info page, it says Quote:
Status: Incompatible Media
. I tried putting a previously burnt CD-RW disc which says 4x guaranteed 650mb/74 mins and it read it ok. When I tried to re-format it, instead of taking the usual 50 odd minutes, it took over 8 hours! although it eventually worked and I could drag files from my C: drive onto the CD.
So here are my questions:
1. Why are the 12x speed CDs incompatible? I asked when I bought the discs whether they would work with my drive and was told that they would write at 4x speed - it just means that, depending on the drive, it can write up to 12x speed if you have the capability. Is that true? Would it work if I bought CD-RW 4x discs?
2. Why did it suddenly take more than 8 hours to format a disc it had successfully previously burnt? Does that mean there?s something wrong with the hardware?
Any help/explanation would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in anticipation.
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Jeanc1
Suspended permanently
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9. September 2004 @ 12:59 |
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The CD writer you have on your PC is able to burn at 4X -- irregardless of the media being at 12X RATED -- it will burn at its maximum speed of 4X.
You can always get an exchange for that media 12X -- try a different brand -- older drives were critical as to what you fed them ~~ smiles.
Your drive must be an older model for it to have such slow burning speed ! As to the formatting that you did and took 8 hours -- that is a bit long , i would say.
But if that CD-RW was nearly full , it could very well be the time it takes on a slow drive mounted on a slow PC.
Edited for typos.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 9. September 2004 @ 13:05
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Jeanc1
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9. September 2004 @ 13:02 |
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Wrong button -- Sorry !
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 9. September 2004 @ 13:03
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wads
Newbie
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9. September 2004 @ 13:27 |
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Thanks for the reply.
The drive is about 4 years old - is that old?! From what you're saying it should be able to burn a 12X disc. Is there any firmware update I could apply to sort it out or do you think I should just try buying some 4x discs instead? It just seems odd that I can't use the 12X discs when, in theory, I should be able to...
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Jeanc1
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9. September 2004 @ 13:41 |
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4 years could be considered as OLD ! A lot as happen in those 4 years in developping burners that are efficient and more tolerable to media.
Roxio DirectCd is not the fastest software -- It may be worth something if you were to UNINSTALL first Roxio and then get Nero 6 Ultra on a FREE trial basis including the INCd part , that is the equivalent of DirectCd.
As for newer firmware for your drive -- you would have to look at the manufacturer's website under Support --Downloads. You didnt specify the Brand name and Model number of your 4 years old drive.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 9. September 2004 @ 13:42
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wads
Newbie
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10. September 2004 @ 10:58 |
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Ok, stupid question coming up...
How do I find out the Brand name and model nbr of my CD re-write drive?
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Jeanc1
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10. September 2004 @ 12:05 |
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~~ Usually in Device Manager , this piece of hardware is listed under its name and model number .(CD-Rom Drive)
~~ am not familiar with Roxio burning software , but maybe there is a place where it regognizes your Drive and shows the model number.
~~ Last resort would be to look at the drive itself , there must be a sticker on it.
Nero has a tool that will post the description of the drive. There are various Cd-Rom checking or PC info program that will also bring out that information.
PCWizard 2004 is one. At:- http://www.cpuid.com/pcw.php
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DogBomb
Senior Member
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8. October 2004 @ 07:58 |
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I haven't used CDRWs in so long because CDRs are so cheap these days, so bear with me if I'm not 100% correct. Why are you using DirectCD? Formatting a disc using DirectCD used to take forever because it formats it in such a way that allows you to use it like a super floppy disk so you can write and delete files from it easily without having to activate a burn program. Why don't you just to a quick erase/format and just burn your data onto the disc like a normal person? ;)
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jonjakjam
Senior Member
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8. October 2004 @ 23:42 |
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A quick format would be your best option with DirectCD, it takes about 15secs and works just as good as a full format =)
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