I left one thing out in the last big paragraph below about
copying.....I *think* with Adaptec (and possibly Nero) you
can copy a CD by putting on the HD first even if you don't
have a CDROM drive. If you don't have a CDROM drive then
this is what you must have done. When you DO have a CDROM
drive and use this method, it's ALWAYS BEST to defrag your HD
drive first. If you do not, and the data stream is
interrupted due to the program having to "search" too long
for the next bit of data, you'll get a buffer underrun. The
exception again is the good CDRW drives with the BurnProof
technology. I never use the 'copy to HD first' option.
-Clint
----- Original Message -----
From: "OrpheusComputing.com"
Either cdR or cdRW disk works the same as far a copying files
to them; you can use either just as your HD is used....create
folders, rename, move, etc.
You can "reuse" either of them. With a cdRW disk, space is
RECLAIMED like a hard drive or floppy. With a cdR disk, you
can delete files, but once you delete something, you do NOT
regain the space.
You cannot packet write with Nero and a cdR disk, this is why
I don't use it. You must use a cdRW disk for packet writing
("drag 'n drop" support). I use Adaptec ECDC 5 Platinum (Now
Roxio).
You can always add to either of them later, AS LONG AS YOU DO
NOT close out the cdR media *permanently* to read in a
conventional CDROM drive. (I don't know how Nero works in
this respect).
For best results, NEVER have anything running in the
background when you are "closing a cdR" disk out permanently,
or when do you any CD copying. It's also not good to have
anything running when you're dragging a huge file to a disk.
The exception would be if you have a really nice CDRW drive
with 8mb buffer and "BurnProof" technology. You can't beat
those.
In your case this is what you want to do: "Select all" of
your images (or any of them), and with them highlighted,
right click the highlighted files and "drag" them to the CDRW
drive icon (or folder within the media you created) and "copy
here". If you do not get into the habit of "copy here" and
just left click and drag them, when you go to do this to an
application (.exe), all you'll get is a shortcut on the
media. Of course you cannot do this in your case with cdR
media, it must be cdRW media.
Of course the media must be formatted first (unless pre-
formatted disks are out now). As far as Adaptec goes
(maybe Nero as well), cdR media does not have to be
manually formatted when you COPY a CD, the software
does it itself. However it must be formatted when you
use one for packet writing. In your case, this would
only be with cdRW media. RW media takes a long time
to format, cdR media only a few seconds. The exception
is the newer CDRW drives with Mt. Rainier support that
can format RW media 'in the background' as you write
to them.
Always make TWO copies of WHAT EVER you do. CDR and CDRW is
NOT an exact science. Sometimes you'll get bad CD's, bad
media, etc. and if you do with one CD, you'll never be able
to reclaim your data on it. Also, ANYTIME you "eject" the
media, PUT IT BACK IN AND BE SURE you can read it again. BE
SURE the burn "took" correctly. Put it back in the CDRW
drive in the case of cdR disk you did NOT close out and
'finalize permanently' and check it; put it in the CDROM
drive and be sure you can read ALL OF IT PERFECTLY in it in
the case of a cdR disk that was closed out permanently, OR,
one that was only temporarily closed to read in a
conventional CDROM drive.
(if you "replaced" your CDROM drive, how can you make
copies?) It's never a good idea to only have a CDRW drive.
For one; they are more expensive than CDRW drives and
WILL and DO eventually wear out and have to be replaced.
Another is the obvious of not being able to copy a CD.
Just "selecting all" and dragging a CD's contents to a CDR
or CDRW media and copying it that way will NOT
work in most cases. This is because there are hidden files
(NOT the windows hidden files but proprietary files specific
to the TOC on CD media and the like) that will NOT show
up in windows explorer or just opening a folder. When you
go to copy a CD and only drag the files to the media,
these proprietary files are never seen, therefore not
copied onto your CDR or RW media. When you use the
CD Copier function, these hidden files ARE of course seen
and copied.
Again, I don't know positively if all of this applies to
Nero,
but most should.
-Clint
Happy Holidays to all & God Bless
Clint Hamilton, Owner
Want to exchange links with us?
http://OrpheusComputing.com �
----- Original Message -----
From: "scubic" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
I finally got my regular CD drive replaced with a burner. I
wanted this
mostly to store photos. I'm sooo green at this!
I bought a 50-stack of blank CD's, and a 5-pack of R/W
CD's--the ones you
can apparently reuse?
I have many hundreds of pictures stored on my hard
drive--well-organized
into folders. Trouble is, I still add new pictures to these
folders.
Can you create folders on a CD and add things to them? If
so, do you have
to use the R/W variety, and does adding things to it involve
'reburning'
the entire CD? Some people have told me that there IS a
limit to how many
times you can successfully reuse/rewrite a CD?
Is there any way to add things to a regular CD? (not the
R/W). Or are they
basically a one-time-use thing? The salesman was babbling
something about
being able to use the entire space on a regular CD, over
time, as long as
you didn't "finalize" it? I've not happened across an option
like that yet.
The software "Nero Express" was included with the burner.
The instructions
consisted of a Quick-Start" pamphlet. I can "copy an entire
CD" with no
problem, but what I really want to do is get these photos off
my machine
onto CD's, be able to organize them into their proper
folders, and add more
photos to folders as necessary.
Is there a good web site that might explain all of this? I
really don't
want a terribly technical explanation--just some basic
theory.
I found this site, but it was quite technical and did not
tell me what I
want to know:
http://www.howstuffworks.com/category.htm?cat=Comp
It's a fun site to poke around on, though!
Sue
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