Hello, I'm relatively inexperienced with burning to CD's, and need help figuring out a problem that just popped up with using INCD. So far, my experience has mostly been limited to using INCD to format CD-RW disks, then using those disks to transfer files between computers, or to use as safe backup storage for critical files. (I also have Nero Express ver 6.6.0.16 installed, but have never used it) Everything has been going fine for a couple of years, but now, all of a sudden, INCD won't let me format or erase CD-RW disks, plus won't let me add or delete files. Windows XP Explorer also says my CD-RW disks are 100% full - no space left, even for disks that show as empty on other computers. I've reinstalled INCD, but that doesn't help. Any suggestions on what I could try next would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

If you do a search on InCD, you are likely to find near agreement that is causes more problems than it is worth and that it should be dumped.

Do you know of some other reliable, easy to use software that you could recommend to me in place of INCD for use with CDRW disks?

P.S. I recently turned on, then turned off the "Enable CD recording on this drive" feature on my CD-RW drives. Could that possibly have goofed me up somehow?

Welcome to CD Freaks.

You'd probably do far better using Nero itself to create data CDs on rewritables than using InCD.

I noted the comment about "critical files". I'd never use InCD for anything critical & I'd be very wary of using RW media as they can fail. CD-R would be the only option if the files were that critical.

Also note that Windows Explorer doesn't treat RW media correctly in that once ejected you can't add more files to the disk without reformatting & rewriting the whole lot.

Okay, have just used Nero Express to copy files onto a CD-RW. It worked just fine, although it seemed to use up the entire disk and wouldn't let me copy more files onto it afterwards, even though there should have been left over space. (sort of like a regular CD-R would act).

Is there some feature I can activate in Nero Express to copy files onto a CD-RW in one session, and then copy more files to the CD-RW later on? (Like INCD used to work)

Yes , it's called multi-session. On the burn screen there's a checkbox to allow more files to be added later.

Best experiment with this as I've never used multisession.

Yes, packet writing sucks - we all know that. BUT sometimes there is no realistic alternative to it. Having to burn a complete disk of your data every time IS NOT a realistic alternative. So a prudent user would probably do an InCD backup after every session (a realistic proposition) and a more secure backup less frequently.

So please, when someone asks for help, can we have some, rather the rather tiresome constantly repeated discussion on how unreliable packet writing software is - I think that most of have more than got that message.

Having worked in business for many years, I know all to well how unreliable the likes of InCD are, but I also inhabit the REAL WORLD and know how relitavely easy it is to get users to do quick backup using something like ViceVersa on UDF disks and keep them with them. Yes there are problems (which in nearly all cases are catered for by having an additional hard drive backup). So the reality is that an unreliable UDF backup is far better than the (real world) alternative, which is all to often no backup at all.

So come on, let's try to help out where we can - rather than create an atmosphere where people who know how to help dare not admit to using such a product.

Now I have given a way to avoid many of the problems with UDF unreliability, but can't help with the technical side about how to get the software working as well as it is possible to - I dare someone to provide such information!

@neil01

I actually don't think that packet writing sucks. I've used Roxio's DirectCD/DragToDisk over the years & found it quite reliable , apart from the general problem of an RW disk failing. It's never caused any compatibility issues either.

However, InCD is a different package altogether & has been known to cause loads of problems for users (and has never worked well for me) so generally members here try to steer others away from it. That seems quite reasonable.

Rather than having a rant how about you try to offer some constructive help.

@Torvald

I missed the bit about turning off the "Enable CD recording on this drive" feature.
To be honest I don't know just how/if this affects InCD as this is for the Windows in-built CD writer package. On most user systems this would be turned on I guess as I always specifically have to turn it off , as I do with autoplay.
Worth a try turning it back on.

TimC

I wasn't having a dig at you in particular, not was I intending to rant. As for problems with InCD, I actually only started having insurmountable ones from v4.3.20.1, so have remained with v4.3.14.1. There are no doubt numerous alternative posts to which I could have added my comment.

I fully accept that there are many people who have problems with InCD in particular, and that many of those type of problems are vented on this site, and other sites too. However, while the impression from what is being reported, and the opinions expressed about the product would lead you to believe one thing, I just find it impossible to reconcile this version of reality with what I, or anyone else I know have actually experienced.

While not disputing a single report of dificulties being experienced, I can't but wonder if the percentage of users having these problems with ALL versions of InCD is anywhere near as high as some posts or posters seem to be suggesting. Or, are many of the opinions from users who gave up on InCD many versions ago and haven't used it since?

I only ask this because all the people I know using InCD tell me the same thing - they have only had serious problems with versions later than v4.3.14.1, but there again, none has any experience of versions before v3.x.x.x.

All I was requesting was that there could be an attempt to help people get the best out of what is available, rather than (what so often appears to have happened in other threads) just another "InCD is useless, everyone says so, ditch it comment" followed by several other posters agreeing with the sentiment, and then the end of the thread, with little in the way of a solution, or even an explaination about what is actually going wrong.

I for one keep returning to the forums, just to see if such information appears, but so far without sucess, but here's hoping!

To be honest, I have no afinity to InCD. I just want some packet writing software which (apart from formatting the disk) requires no interaction from the user, and when copying files across using syncronising software such as ViceVersa, creates files with the same timestamps as the original.