Earlier versions of Packet Writing software really were buggy & caused data loss to me but, the latest DirectCD 5.3 is fine. rock stable & likes my LTR-48125S . I have been using it to store very imp data. No probs till date.

I hope no probs crop up though

ive had incd 3.51.61 version running fine -why's everyone having such issues???(although prev version did cock up my pc with xtra drives and random func of drive??no blue screens thank god)) but now it seems fine ?? and i also use directcd for AGES and thats very good PW software nowadays

DirectCD 3 (!!) has worked fine for me for about 4 years...till it did weird things.
InCD never worked

thats the same thing with me.

Incd has never worked for me.

DirectCD is a charm, especially the latest 5.3

I'm running WinXP Pro SP1.

Stay away from InCD 3.37. InCD 3.31 works and then you have to jump to v3.51.91. I have no problems except that you need to startup InCD before inserting the formated CD so that it detects it. If no detect, right click on the InCD tray icon and choose properties to force detection.

I always avoided cd-rw. But recently got a Sony bisexual dvd r/w job and decided packet writing was necessary given the cost of the media. Using Veritas DLA, which was supplied. Works really great with dvd disc's. But if I put a regular cdr to read in either of the 2 drives in the pc the DLA software seems to grab hold of the system and I cannot read the cdr. Once ejected the File Explorer works again. Still fooling with this and may end up uninstalling Veritas Recording software. It is incompatible with Nero and I removed it during this test period.

I'd like to get away from all things Roxio (clean uninstalled), nuff said. Got Nero but now

(1) can't WRITE anymore to my CD-R's and
(2) can't even ACCESS my DVD-R's

Reluctantly considering reinstalling just Direct CD to see if I can read AND write to my CD-R's and DVD-R's (Roxio's UDF reader didn't help with the writing, of course).

Also, was considering trying InCD, but posts here have discouraged me about that. Looks like my best option is to copy my 80 CD-R's and 15 DVD-R's of files back to C:\ and find some other way to back them up to disks. That really chaps my behind!!

Nero multisession is sounding good, but I like the convenience of drag/drop from Explorer without keeping Nero open. Is there some simple utility just for multisession writing? How about WinonCD?

Anybody?

BTW, I don't understand this: I copied files my DVD-R's with Direct CD, but now that I uninstalled all Roxio, then installed Roxio's UDF reader, I cannot even access the DVD-R's. What can I do?

Thanks.

Well, my internal CDRW drive went (bought 1/2000 HP Pavilion, came with CDRW) and some of my files that I created, recently, with Direct CD are not retreivable. I did not realize it was the burner at the time and I tried to uninstall EZ CD Creator 5 Plat. and well, many of you know that it is not an easy thing to do and I was taken by surprise when I tried to do it and could not, but about this time the drive went completely although I still thought it was the software, until I put 2 and 2 together (everytime I inserted a disc into the drive and tried to access it or it had an autorun feature, it would lock up the computer).

I went and installed a Memorex badged Liteon 52x24x52 and then decided to check out Roxio's web site about uninstalling EZ. After finding the info. I wanted on their forums, I did a search for "Direct CD Problems" and found a whole host of problems with regard to data loss. I recommend anyone using Direct CD go to www.roxio.com and check out their forums. A lot of good info. on uninstalling it (everytime I tried, I kept getting the install program trying to install it, until I did the clean install procedures) and on Direct CD problems.

One tip I picked up was to use a program called CDR Diagnostic to analyze any lost data. There is a free trial of the program but it is limited to searching for the data and showing which files can be saved, but you have to buy the full product to save them and for those who may have lost gig's of irretrievable data, it may be worth it. Most of the data I lost can be recovered since it is still uploaded into different groups at Yahoo and those that aren't uploaded I can beg kind people to email me.

I wondered why Iomega came out with their 750 MB Zip drive when CDRW's and Direct CD was the way to go (or so I thought), now I'm starting to consider buying one and using it as a way to keep the data and manipulate it before final commitment to burn it to a CDR(w) with CD Creator.

im using the latest nero and incd software with mount rainer switched on when i burn and i have no issues??? its quite quick to forat also ..AND if i take to my m8s house it automatically installs software (easywrite udf)so that it can be read on a non 'incd' pc LOL soo whats wrong with incd?? i thinks its not bad software at mo better than that hog called easy cd and direct cd (which i used for years but no more )

gl

You call Direct CD a Hog, but according to this web site, the beta version of Mount Ranier tested used up more space than Direct CD. Has that changed? After losing data when my previous CDRW died, I will not go back to packet writing software very quickly, be it MR or DCD or InCD.

BTW, Direct CD also loads a reader that allows a computer without Direct CD loaded to read a CDRW created with Direct CD. I used this on my legacy computer at work (runs Winnt), however, the new computers we have at work read the older Direct CD disks directly (running Win 2000) in the DVD/CD Rom combo drive (wish it was a CD writer).

I just installed a fresh new system with WinXP Pro SP1 and loaded the Nero that came with my new CD-R/RW drive. I installed the InCD that was on the disc, but it didn't work. So, I jumped out to their website (last night) and downloaded the most current version. It recognized the CD-R/RW disc and formatted it.

I had to *disable* the WinXP CD burning service.

Anyway, I have an application called "2nd Copy" installed as a service. Every night at 3:30a 2nd Copy compresses the "documents and settings" folder into a .zip file and dumps it on to the CDRW disc. Another 2nd Copy 'profile' grabs my Quicken data and does the same thing.

I ran these jobs a couple of times manually and they appear to have worked ok. I also checked the auto-process that happened overnight.

Call the whole thing a poor man's backup, but I've lost data to often to remember.

The general feel in this forum is that my process is destined to fail? If packet writing software is so bad then why do companies like Nero and Roxio distribute and support it? Seems crazy!

Now, a question: will I be able to read my data on another PC I have that doesn't have a burner or InCD installed?

Regards,

dot

"There's a real danger in trying to be all things to all people. You can often wind up being of little use to anyone."

dotMATRIX:

See S8 in the InCD guide

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=9572

For all you folks that have suffered with lost packet data try a proggie called Iso buster. It can recover data from virtually any type CD disaster situation. PM me if you need further "details".

Hi,

I recognize all of these effects but I must say that it is not the Packet Writing technology that causes the troubles. InCD as well as DirectCD are UDF (Universal Disc Format) writer applications (and yes they are mutually exclusive so don’t install the both of them) and their UDF interpretations cause all the trouble.

If you would know the UDF specification you could imagine that it is almost impossible to produce good software for it because of its muddle-headed nature. It contains methods for almost everything but no explanation about the processes whatsoever. It is therefore left to the imagination and interpretation of the (Roxio, Ahead) software developers how they will implement a UDF writer app.

FYI: a CD formatted with InCD is not writable under DirectCD and vice versa. Hence compatibility between the disc format is the big problem here, not the incompatibility of the discs.

The InCD UDF-application does not contain the VAT (Virtual Allocation Table) which makes a CD-R behave like a CD-RW because they are not the inventor of this method and hence must pay licenses which they don’t. Therefore you can’t e.g. rename a file on a CD-R or update a file under InCD. DirectCD obviously does pay the licensees (or just steals the idea) and therefore it has many more possibilities on CD-r’s.

After ample experiments I must conclude that DirectCD is the better built application but that doesn’t mean it is free of bugs, annoyances and peculiarities. Sometimes it refuses to write to a recordable CD caused by the UDF detection which has somehow failed, and will treat the disc as a read-only disc (for safety).
Sometimes I get the message that the data on the CD is no longer valid and that I should backup the data. Ejecting the disc and reloading it again may cease the problems (for a while).

I have never had these problems when recording a CD as an ISO-9660 CD with neither software packages; other problems occur like buffer-under runs. Of course when you pull the power plug while writing your CD will be lost but this has nothing to do with good or bad writer software.

About the Mount Rainier drives; these will also use Packet Writing and will also utilize the UDF disc format but these drives will take care of defect management themselves. They’ll claim additional disc space to place the defects so the net free disc size will be even smaller with CD-MRW. Currently the DirectCD and InCD application (the drivers thus) perform the defect management. Therefore I doubt whether these problems will be over caused by CD-MWR drives.

I've given up on packet writing -- it's more trouble than it's worth. Simply uninstall it.
(InCd is far better than Roxio Direct CD but both are a pain)

If you want to add data to CD/RW, or any type of DVD just create a multi-session disk with Nero

1) start Nero with start multi-session for initial data loading

screen shot shown below



2) Then next time you want to add data start nero again and click the Continue multi session.

3) When you don't want to add any more data click the finalize button.

For read write media Nero will prompt you if media needs to be erased.

Another good thing with Nero - especially in compiling a large (4.7GB) DVD is that you can click the option to close your machine down after finishing your job so you can start it before going to bed etc and just leave your computer running.



As a bonus you can make any type of CD / DVD -- UDF is also supported

I even make bootable DVD-RAM discs (the ones in a caddy) and they work great.

What about Drag-To-Disc ( the new name for DirectCD 6 ) ?
did someone ever try this program?

Well , there is actually a program from Arrowkey which some of us are testing at this moment . And it looks VERY promising !

But for the moment I have no knowledge of the new DirectCD -
I personally changed many years ago from directcd 3.01e/f to
PacketCD 3.00.209 from CEQuadrat (bought by ROXIO later) .
It has been 98 % reliable , but it is no longer supported and
works not in Win-2000 or with DVDs ...

InCD has not the CDR-writing possibility and this is missing from a lot of other PW-software , though it is generally agreed that for long-time-storage one should choose CDR's instead of CDRW's which are mainly suitable for "transporting" files by a media .

I will look forward to hear from people trying PW-software ONLY for DVD+-R/W's as I believe it is a better storage-solution , mainly because You get fewer disks to check ; You could e.g. store from 6 to xx audio-/game-CDimages (Nice when you have several gamedisks ...) , so untill we hear about those or have further testing-results I have to recommend people to return to NERO's MS-solution if they want 100 % safe data !

Of course there is a great deal of wasted space when using a MultiSession to add data , but as alexnoe has pointed out the data remains visible and USABLE after a reset - so using this solution can save You a lot of trouble .

And another one of the problems with PacketWriting is that 2 PW-softwares rarely can exist side by side on the same primary OS-partition !
And yet another consideration is that Lite-On and Plextor seems to run best on different ASPI's (4.60 and 4.7x) ...

So if You have the time to investigate , feel free to share this - the true CDfreakspirit is an exploring scientist in forums .

The company Arrowkey is known already for another analyzing- & recovery-tool named CD/DVD-diagnostic which also is very handy in finding lost files on CDs/DVDs .

does it every cause any problems having loads of sessions to a multisession cd, especially with lots of small ones?

Do PC problems tend to contine even after deinstallation od packet writing software?

I cannot help You much since I first recently changed from PacketCD (WinOnCD/CEQuadrat/Roxio) to Nero's multisession .

Way back before DirectCD 3.01g(?) I gave up on Adaptec's DCD (+ ECDC) and used PacketCD many years and now , transferring my state of mind to NTFS / Windows 2000 , I have to get used to something else (PacketCD can't work in 2000/XP) like Nero MS or the promising new PW-software from Arrowkey which I have yet to research some more .

As far as I know there's is a maximum of 99 "tracks" in a multisession so a 100 small filesesseions , on 300 Kbyte each would surely be a waste of a CD ... not to mention a DVD !

With Nero's InCD I'm sceptical , it may start to work well , but it can only write to RW's (CD- or DVD+-) and I want a "solid" backup !

You're a Lite-ON boy (401248W was nice , but I gave it to my girlfriend .. ) otherwise You could try PlexTools MultiSession CD-ROM Maker , I have used it in connection with GigaRec to put one 972 MB AVI-file on a 700 MB Kodak (1,4) . My ASUS DVD 616E had no trouble playing it .

Deinstallation of PacketWriting SoftWare doesn't always do the trick ; depends on how Your system is constructed , configured and controlled - but TWO PW-SoftWares on the same primary partition generally mixes things up even after one deinstalled !

My advice :
deinstall them all (before chosing another) and check the ASPI-layer . My LiteOn had trouble with 4.7x so I had to return to 4.60 untill I got the PlexPremium - recommmmmmendable


As I've stated otherwise I found PacketCD 98 % reliable and working in many more PC-surroundings than other PW-SW .(Actually I got My WinOnCD 3.6 with PacketCD as software to a Plextor PX 820 Ti) . That is , until now ... more will follow in less than a month .

Pressure's high and time is often too small , but "I'll be back"

For all you folks that have suffered with lost packet data try a proggie called Iso buster. It can recover data from virtually any type CD disaster situation. PM me if you need further "details".

i would like further details, can u tell me where to get hold of this program.

cheers

steve

http://www.smart-projects.net/isobuster/

cfitz

I use new INCD 4.0.1.21 and have no problems, while I lost quite a lot of data with old versions. But when I try to burn a normal CD by Nero or another program I get a message telling the writer is already busy with another application. so I must close INCD by the Windows Task Manager

The problem of writer busy by another application have been fixed in current web update of InCD 4. I suggest an update and new test.

u are damn right "alexnoe"
i lost all my project files shit man............
i feel like killin myself

I dont think packet writings had ever been useful in the past, not seems to be in near future, formatting is so long, speed is too slow and too bug proned. IMO, it is even harder to teacher a layman to manipulate such writing operations than using conventional ISO burning programs.