Reading CDs & DVDs

>-----Original Message-----
>Hi. Just got a new Gateway XP Pro machine w/ a DVD
burner. Spent most of
>today trying to export/import my Outlook Express
messages, address books,
>etc. Talk about hair pulling. The XP machine couldn't
import the files.
>Both my old and new machines have the exact same copy of
OE6. Same build
>too.
>
>As a last resort I tried coping the folders off the CD
into a temporary
>folder on the XP. Now I can import them, no problem.
Question. What would
>cause my XP not to read a data CD correctly? I've been
burning CDs on my
>old machine for a couple of years. No other machine had
trouble with my
>CDs.
>
>Any advice would be greatly appreciated...Dennis
>
>
>
>.
>

It's hard to know without more details - exactly what error message did you
get? Also check Event Viewer to see if the CD drive reports errors (click
Start, right-click My Computer, go to Manage; then expand Event Viewer and
click System Log).

There are numerous possible hardware issues:
- media incompatible with new drive
- burner having new problems
- problem with your new reader

--
Please reply in newsgroup.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.



"samuel habte" <habtes1@msn.com> wrote in message
news:1f48701c45807$a6ce2680$a301280a@phx.gbl...
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >Hi. Just got a new Gateway XP Pro machine w/ a DVD
> burner. Spent most of
> >today trying to export/import my Outlook Express
> messages, address books,
> >etc. Talk about hair pulling. The XP machine couldn't
> import the files.
> >Both my old and new machines have the exact same copy of
> OE6. Same build
> >too.
> >
> >As a last resort I tried coping the folders off the CD
> into a temporary
> >folder on the XP. Now I can import them, no problem.
> Question. What would
> >cause my XP not to read a data CD correctly? I've been
> burning CDs on my
> >old machine for a couple of years. No other machine had
> trouble with my
> >CDs.
> >
> >Any advice would be greatly appreciated...Dennis
> >
> >
> >
> >.
> >

When the disk was inserted into the drive, were the files on the disk
visible in Explorer. Since you were able to copy the files to the hard
drive it would appear the answer is yes and XP read the CDs just fine. The
issue has to do with function. Sometimes, a temp file must be created and
written in order to perform various operations. If the file can't be
written to the disk on which the operation is being performed, the operation
will fail.

There are other possibilities, i.e. some operations actually require the
file be opened in order to be read for a specific function, that would
require the file being copied from the CD to the hard drive before you could
perform the function.

Other things to consider, XP's native CD burning function is essentially a
CD mastering program as opposed to packet writing and while on some setups,
XP can read packet written CDs natively, in most cases, it requires the
installation of a third party application such as the app in which the
packet written CDs were created. If these disks were created by dragging
and dropping files directly to CD, they were packet written and as such,
would be problematic for XP to read natively as described in this paragraph.
Also, since your system did read the CDs, if packet written, the CDs were
formatted for that function, hence any writing to the disk required by the
function would fail, hence the operation would fail.

The problem was not the reading from CDs which XP did just fine. The
problem was function.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

"samuel habte" <habtes1@msn.com> wrote in message
news:1f48701c45807$a6ce2680$a301280a@phx.gbl...
>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>Hi. Just got a new Gateway XP Pro machine w/ a DVD
> burner. Spent most of
>>today trying to export/import my Outlook Express
> messages, address books,
>>etc. Talk about hair pulling. The XP machine couldn't
> import the files.
>>Both my old and new machines have the exact same copy of
> OE6. Same build
>>too.
>>
>>As a last resort I tried coping the folders off the CD
> into a temporary
>>folder on the XP. Now I can import them, no problem.
> Question. What would
>>cause my XP not to read a data CD correctly? I've been
> burning CDs on my
>>old machine for a couple of years. No other machine had
> trouble with my
>>CDs.
>>
>>Any advice would be greatly appreciated...Dennis
>>
>>
>>
>>.
>>