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Topic: CD-R Disc Read Problems

Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 03-30-2004 09:59 PM

I'm trying to figure out a problem, which I think is software related. I have some CD-R discs that have folders that now show up empty in my DVD-ROM drive. The discs used to read just fine in this same drive. I put the same discs into my old SCSI machine's CD-ROM drive and all the files show up perfectly. WTF?

The one critical change I have made since this trouble started was installing a Pioneer A06 DVD burner. I had to dump the Adaptec CD burning software that came with my computer and replace it with all the Ulead and Nero stuff that came with the Pioneer drive.

Is anyone familiar with competing CD/DVD burning software that makes previous CDs you burned unusable?

I also have to say this is a problem I have noticed with newer editions of Windows (such as XP) and newer computer models. Stick a CD burned a couple years or so ago into an old computer and it reads fine. Put it into a new machine and it works about as well as a coaster.

What is up with this shit? Frankly it makes me not ever want to buy another new computer again, especially if the assholes making "new products" are creating drives that work with ever worsening levels of quality.

************

P.S. I was kind of pissed when I posted this. On top of the disc read problems, I apparently lost the monitor hooked up to my old machine. One minute it was working fine; walk back into the room and the screen has just got a big grey-ish white vertical stripe waving across it. Lovely. The thing is probably toast. The only upside is it was a relatively cheap Viewsonic A70 monitor. I would be seething with anger if it happened to my 21" P815.

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Daryl C. W. O'Shea
Film God

Posts: 3977
From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from)
Registered: Jun 2002

posted 03-30-2004 10:27 PM

Are these disc at once discs, or Direct CD discs?

Blindly I would say that the discs are Direct CD or multisession discs that are dependent on Adaptec's / Roxio's Direct CD software, which has now been uninstalled.

Direct CD can be installed with the A06, or any other drive, for reading purposes.

Also, not that it helps the situation, but for the cost per megabyte, hard drives are really the better backup solution. Call me crazy.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 03-30-2004 10:42 PM

The discs in question were made with Direct CD. However, they weren't left in Adaptec's flavor of UDF, but rather closed to read on any CD-ROM drive. Or that's at least what their software led me to believe.

I'm not sure if I can install Direct CD on this machine with all the Ulead software loaded on it. In fact, I seem to remember being hit with a dialog box that I had to get rid of the Adaptec stuff for the Ulead/Nero Express installation to continue.

I guess this gives me more reason to thing about buying a "Platinum" version of Roxio's CD/DVD creator software rather than farting around with anything made my Ulead or Nero. You would think these guys would work harder on things like compatibility and reliability.

Oh, and yes, considering my 2nd 80GB hard disc cost only $70 I have indeed thought about just stocking up on some ATA133 hard discs.

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Daryl C. W. O'Shea
Film God

Posts: 3977
From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from)
Registered: Jun 2002

posted 03-30-2004 10:48 PM

Direct CD is evil. An unnecessary evil given the cost of CD-R discs these days.

The problem is that each disc drive implements multiread differently (sometimes in a user programmable EEPROM, sometimes not), hence the varied results reading your discs.

To use your old current discs, try installing _just_ Adaptec's DirectCD... it should work since it is not drive or software dependent and then stop burning new discs with DirectCD. Just use disc at once and eat the cost of unused disc space.

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 03-31-2004 01:01 AM

I may be wrong about this, because I haven't used Direct CD since a very early version 5-6 years ago. But if I remember correctly, it writes in UDF format, which is fundamentally different from the ISO9660 format used to write conventional CD-ROMS.

Windows XP will read UDF 'out of the box' (i.e. no special drivers or extra software needed), but earlier versions of Windows won't. Rather than totally reinstall Direct CD, you could try downloading the UDF reader from Roxio/Adaptec's website, here (you have to register, I'm afraid). After installation, it should enable Windows 9x/NT/2000 systems to read UDF discs normally, e.g. through Windows Explorer.

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Daryl C. W. O'Shea
Film God

Posts: 3977
From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from)
Registered: Jun 2002

posted 03-31-2004 01:13 AM

The UDF reader usually works, but it's sometimes hit and miss with 2.x.x versions of Direct CD. I'd take Leo's suggestion and try the reader first (registration is bogus... you don't even need a real email address if I remember correctly) since it's less messy. If that doesn't work try Direct CD without the rest of the Easy CD Creator package.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 03-31-2004 05:20 PM

The thing I don't understand is these discs I have burned show up as standard Joliet ISO9660 format discs using utilities like Nero's Info Tool. More peculiar, most parts of the disc read fine, but some folders are listed being empty when they really are not. Put the disc in an old computer with no CD burner or Adaptec software or any UDF reader capability and ALL the files show up fine.

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Daryl C. W. O'Shea
Film God

Posts: 3977
From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from)
Registered: Jun 2002

posted 04-01-2004 05:28 AM

If a disc is burned with Direct CD it is dependent on the multi-session support built into the drive.

Adaptec, and now Roxio, has been changing the Direct CD software over the years to be compatible (without using extra software) with as many drives as possible at the time.

Most drives that aren't compatible with the multi-session version used to write the disc will display the directory structure and the contents of the first session.

It doesn't matter what Direct CD identified the disc as, multi-session, or IS09660... it's just to fudge compatibility.

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