[Note: For InCD troubleshooting under win2k see this thread ]

Programs as InCD / DirectCD and InstantWrite, which is so called packet writing software have been designed to make the access of CD-RWs / DVD-RWs easier and to allow writing them via explorer.
The idea itself is of course good, but these progams have proved being rather unreliable.

Getting a freeze / blue screen when writing to a packet writing disc will result in an unreadable disc!

There are several other known bugs without any reliable workaround:

• A disc is formatted, but when you reinstert it, it isn't recognised as being formatted
• The disc works for some time, and suddenly, without any reason, it is unreadable / recognised as not being formatted
• blue screens / freezes caused by packet writing software

The worst is that all packet writing software I know has these issues. Therefore I strongly recommend not to use packet writing but make multisession discs

There are of course some people who have no problem with packet writing (it had worked for me for about 4 years before making the abovementioned crap suddenly), but the risk of data loss is always present and too high in my opinion.

Please don't ask me to state advantages of different packet writing softwares. I don't know any.

Note that these issues have been mainly experienced with InCD, DirectCD and InstantWrite. There may of course be new packet writing software which is more reliable. However, if you try new packet writing software, you should run tests (inluding resetting your PC while writing, so simulate a power loss) before using it to store important data!

Can you give me any tips on how to make multisession discs with Nero, the manual leaves a litle to be desired.

Don't use the wizard, but the normal mode. Then you need nothing more to do than select "start multisession" or "continue multisession".

???This will also happen with an audio or ISO data disc.

I have occasionally had some of the problems you mentioned (except for blue screens/freezes), but have found workarounds.

This will also happen with an audio or ISO data disc

If you burn an ISO, and the PC crashes, then you still have the data somewhere else (how should you burn otherwise?).

If you make multisession and the PC crashes, only the session being written is lost, the others are still ok.

If you make packet writing discs, then you copy data, believe your data being safe, delete them from hard disc, and then, somewhen, suddenly it is gone...

Hi Inertia, maybe you can post them and Alex could make a FAQ, I think that will solve some unclear issues and will be helpfull to many users...

I agree that packet software sucks especially if the files are important, this is the whole reason for the MT rainer format.

NOTE: When making a DATA disc with Nero and the **wizard** it is always a multi-session disc by default.

So you can also continue a session using the wizard.

Hi, DoMiN8ToR. This is my experience:



These may be signs of a disc with problems or incompatibilities. If another CD writer is available, it will frequently recognize the newly formatted disc that may not be recognized by the burner with which it was formatted. Once this is done, it will often then be recognized by the original formatting burner???? Puzzling and sometimes frustrating, but it usually works.

If another burner is not owned or available, NTI FileCD may recognize the newly formatted disc. It may be time to retire that CD-RW disc or use it only for non-essential purposes. Perhaps retiring it to ISO writing instead of UDF packet writing may be an option.

I have found that NTI FileCD will work to read and retrieve data written by other packet writing programs that have trouble reading their own data. FileCD is different from DirectCD and InCD in that it does not imbed any drivers into the operating system at startup. Consequently, FileCD may be used concurrently with other packet writing software. That is, it will work concurrently with DirectCD without conflicts. I would assume that the same results would be obtained with InCD since there are no operating system drivers to conflict.

Absolutely no valid explanation for a Verbatim DataLifePlus 4x-10x CD-RW!

Easy CD creator 5 With direct CD With all the patches.
I use it in windows XP. Before that I used it in win 98
I have know problems with packet writing software

I always use an MD5 on my data when I burn it to disc that way you can check it to make sure it is valid on the cd.

What is MD5 ?

MD5 is a checksum, you generate a checksum for a file/s and then after burn it to a cd you check to see if it's valid and then delete the files.

There are two MD5 apps that are good:

Easy MD5 Creator and MD5 summer.



easy_md5_creator

http://www.md5summer.org/

Thanks for INFO

Very nice tool... Thanks!

Can the Mount Rainier format prevent the problems you describe?

Mout Rainer is much improved over packet writing and will replace packet writing but the current problem is that packet writing is slow.

some problems won't vanish with crap software like InCD being used

way back in the day .i used to use directcd and had nothing but problems


im glad i dont use them anymore

Well; I am having similar problems with InCD. I just upgraded Nero to 5.5.9.17 and thought I may as well get InCD as well. I've used it before in various forms, as well as HP DLA.
But never with WinXP and never with this much pain...

I'm running WinXP pro SP1 - on a Dell Latitude C600 laptop, P3@750 with 512M RAM; Plextor PX40/12/40TU via an Adaptec USB2 for notebooks card. I've got the WinXP IMAPI CD writing service disabled.

I tried HP DLA but it requires auto insert notification on to work; and I hate that so no future there. After the initial InCD install WinXP wouldn't shut down; had to press the power switch. First time this has ever happened.
After formatting a CD with InCD and moving some files to it everything seemed ok; but after another restart and reinserting the CD - the data had gone, the CD was bare - and I had to use undelete to get it back off the hard drive.
After all that, creating a new folder on the CD wouldn't work... changing its name from 'new folder' to anything always gave an 'incorrect function' error. So it's bite the bullet time - and byebye packet writing. I'll stick with multisession from Nero. There's not too many things that absolutely require packet writing.
I'll just wait for Mt Rainier, thank you very much. Hope Plextor don't drag the chain with the firmware.

But... will Mt Rainier be reliable? Packet writing of CD's has been round for years now and no one can get it right; why will Mt. Rainier be different?

PW

I never use Packet Writing to make backups. Even though it is touted as an easy way to make backups, it really isn't designed for this since it isn't readable on all machines.

But packet writing is very useful for quickly putting files on a CD that you need to use elsewhere. I treat it just like a floppy disk where its easy to put files on the CD and go over to a different computer and read them. With high speed connections and the internet this really is becoming less and less necessary though.

Still I wouldn't trust Packet Writing software for critical data backup.

I have no problems with DirectCD. The earlier versions were a little buggy but the latest 5.3 is rock stable.

InCD unfortunate never worked for me properly. it is crap.

With the most recent versions of DirectCD, if you have a drive that supports Mt. Rainier, you can only do a fast format of CD-RW media, and you lose the "Compression" option, as well. This is at least true in v5.3.1.154 SP4. I understand this will be resolved with the release of ECDC 6.

@Prowler

You are right about Mt. Rainier.

A beta tester has confirmed that EZCD6 will have all options enabled.

Full Format & Compression.

true, packet writing is crap, I've been using it for years and lost gigabytes of data (no exaggeration). nowadays I simply put everything on harddisc and then when I got 700 mbs, I burn it to cdr. another possibility (if you got not enough space left, or need space for a game, because mafia, for example needs 1.8 gbs ) is to use multisession. very easy in winoncd and it has no disadvantages, because you can see all burned data on a multisession cd before finalising, just put the cdr into your burner, if you need some file before finalisation. this is very secure, as opposed to packet writing, because multisession is normal burning, just not finalised cdr, while packet writing often has problems with burning, so that some data is unreadable and even CD-R Diagnostic couldn't read it in many cases I tried to use my files on a packet writing cd