Hello,

I run winXP home with SP2

I am new to dvd burning. I have bought some verbatim dvd-r disks with a view to backing up my media files (MP3, WMA, AVI, JPEG etc). It took me about 2 days to work out that windows does not let you autoatically access the dvd-r format. I then bought a program called 'BurnMyFiles' from www.getdata.com. I have installed this program and appear to have been successful in writting data files to dvd-r disks.

(I have not yet worked out how to write an AVI file direct to the disk so that I can play it back, have not yet tried with MP3).

My problem is that when I come to check the disks to make sure that I can access the data I get a message saying

D:\ is not accessible

incorrect command

or more recently the drive completely fails to recognise the disk and tells me to

Please insert a disk into drive D:.

Any help would be great. I am new at this so any pointers in the direction a good guide to making backups using the dvd-r format would also be good.

Will

Oh have also emailed getdata - they have sent me a debugging program that appears to have removed my license but still does not let me access the written disks.

Welcome to CD Freaks.

ImgBurn is a free burning application widely used by members here. It has a Build mode so that you build a data compilation & then by switching the output to the burner burn that compilation straight to the burner.

If this fails you've got serious problems.

Another free app is CDBurnerXP Pro. Perhaps slightly easier to use initially than ImgBurn.

Yea but those are not really good for burning DATA and Audio dont ya think. ImgBurn is mainly used for writing iso files. It has a feature were you can write files to a cd/dvd. But it is rather complacated for a newbie. Try using Deep Burner Free. Google that it should be rather simple to find.

For audio use Burrrn
http://www.burrrn.net/?page_id=6

It is really easy to use. BTW you can also use Deep Burner Free to burn audio. Burrn has more advanced features.

I think foobar 2000 is another burning app. I dont remember because I only used it once. It may just be a ripper.

Here is the link
http://www.foobar2000.org/

If you still cant get your drive to work. Try upgrading the firmware. You can re-write the whole drive's firmware. But that is very hard to do. I whould just return the drive for a new one.

Hi,

thank you both for your quick responses!

I think that I have not explained myself well enough. I don't think I have any trouble burning the data to the disks.

My problem comes when I try and access the data on the disks I have already burnt. The computer / drive does not recognise the disks at all.

I have tried enabling and disabling 'enable cd recording for this drive' under properties\recording - to no avail. When enabled the computer will read the disk but will not access it. If I right click properties I am told that the file system is RAW and that there are 0 of 0 bytes capacity. When disabled I get the message to 'please insert a disk into drive D:'

I have contacted Samsung to upgrade my firmware. It appears to me that I already have the latest version - so I have emailed them to confirm this.

www.getdata.com have also responded and informed me that if I want to write AVI and MP3 files to a disk that will play in a cd / dvd player I need to use cd-r's not dvd-r's - something else I didn't know.

Will

When you burned the disks what program did you use? It sounds, to me, like the burn sessions were not finalized correctly.

I am using a program called burnmyfiles from a company called get data (www.getdata.com)

I don't know if they have finalised or not. I am new at this (burning to cd / dvd) I don't know what you mean by finalise. I have seen the term 'authoring' as well. Is it the same?

If so what is it? How do I do it? The program has nothing about finalising or authoring (if they are synonymous) that I can see - I have looked.

Will.

My drive is a Samsung SH-S182D. I have just be reading the manual. It says that that it supports dvd-r burning using Nero software. I don't have any Nero software. I have been using the program i've already mentioned - 'BurnMyFiles'.

My assumption is that I should have been using Nero and not the other program. I think that if I get Nero and burn to dvd-r I should be able to read them afterwards. I think that I because I have been using a different program the drive does not like it and has chucked it's dummy out of the pram.

Please would someone tell me if my assumptions are correct or not.

Will.

Your assumption is incorrect.

If the burner supports a particular media type , ie DVD-R , then any burning app should work just fine.

Finalising means closing the disc so that no other data can be written to it and that it can be read by any PC or for a DVD movie any (well almost) DVD player.

Authoring generally refers to making changes to a DVD movie, adding chapters , menues , Audio etc.

I've never heard of burnmyfiles btw so I think I'd suggest another application like those that I or ID33k have suggested.

Can you read one of these discs after you've rebooted or can a friend read them in their PC?

Some applications have a simulation mode so I'm wondering if this might be the case.

Edit: Just downloaded the trial of burnmyfiles & burned to my SH182M and it worked fine. I actually used a DVD+RW disc so as not to waste anything but it seems to work quite well.

Thanks for the correction

and the information

I've just emailed the company that I bought the program from and have asked for my money back. (I live in hope).

I've also emailed Novatech (the people I bought the computer from) and asked them if they should have included Nero with it.

I will try the disks in a friends laptop. I am unable to read the disks at all! (I've rebooted many times - I turn my computer off at night).

Will

I've just had a look at the options & there are 3 that might cause your problem.

Firstly there is a simulation mode & secondly , by default , multi-session is enabled.

Options are found under File. Make sure that Simulation is NOT checked and likewise Multi-session is NOT checked. Also see what happens to the speed option when you've got a blank disc in. It'll probably select the fastest burn speed so if you got a 16x disc in that's what it'll go for , whereas 12x might be the better speed.

Thank You Thank You Thank You


My Girlfriend can now rest easy. Her life has been hell for the last week while I struggled with this.

Will

Well something worked OK.

What was the actual cause?