DVD-RAM drivers

[Stan]

Rubens

Do you mean that you can use DVDform to Format UDF 1.5 from within
Windows?

Alternatively, do you mean that you can format directly from Windows
in UDF?

Windows cannot format in UDF according to Microsoft Knowledge Base and
in my case there is nil other option available when using Windows
Format Command from the normal Windows screen. I have not tried using
the Command Line to do this, although there does not seem to be much
point as the 'DOS' help specifies the ability to Format using FAT,
FAT32 and NTFS only.

Since you are using DVDform, which appears to be the same software
that was supplied with my drive, can you tell me if it has the WP Tool
[Write Protect] do you use it and does it work?

TIA

Interesting. I have a dual-boot system with Windows 2000 and
Windows XP, and both are able to format DVD-RAMs in UDF 1.5,
UDF 2.0 and FAT32, so I guess it is not a lack of support
from "prior Operating Systems".

I am using a Panasonic UJ-810 drive and the software "DVDform",
also from Panasonic. This last is available for download at their
Web site, so you could give it a try.

Best regards

Stan

 

[John Turco]

Hello, John:


I am not sure, so I wrote "give it a try", but I hope so, because
it works well for me.


Best wishes,

Rubens <[email protected]>

Hello, Rubens:

Oh, I'd forgotten to mention that DVDform is on my (OEM) Panasonic
SW-9571's driver CD-ROM. I really need it, too, as I'm running Windows
98SE.


Cordially,
John Turco <[email protected]>

 

[Rubens]

Rubens

Do you mean that you can use DVDform to Format UDF 1.5 from within
Windows?

Yes, that´s it.

Alternatively, do you mean that you can format directly from Windows
in UDF?

Yes, I can do that also.

Windows cannot format in UDF according to Microsoft Knowledge Base and
in my case there is nil other option available when using Windows
Format Command from the normal Windows screen. I have not tried using
the Command Line to do this, although there does not seem to be much
point as the 'DOS' help specifies the ability to Format using FAT,
FAT32 and NTFS only.

I can´t talk about command line, because I have never tried that, I use
only DVDform.

Since you are using DVDform, which appears to be the same software
that was supplied with my drive, can you tell me if it has the WP Tool
[Write Protect] do you use it and does it work?

I have never used that before, but to answer your question I have made a test
and it worked.

 

[Rubens]

Hello, Rubens:

Oh, I'd forgotten to mention that DVDform is on my (OEM) Panasonic
SW-9571's driver CD-ROM. I really need it, too, as I'm running Windows
98SE.


Cordially,
John Turco <[email protected]>

OK John, thanks for your input.

 

[Stan]

Hi Rubens

Many thanks for your replies. I am seriously trying to get to the
bottom of these issues, on the way I do not want to appear to be
picking holes in what anyone is saying. I do not wish to labour the
point but I feel the need to further explain these items.

Yes, that´s it.

Yes, I can do that also.

In my case with the DVD-RAM Driver software installed and a disc in
the drive, right clicking the disc in My Computer\Windows Explorer
gave a dropdown list containing Format. Selecting this Format option
then opened up the DVD-RAM software DVDform, which gave the facility
to format the disc and among the choices for the File System was UDF
1.5. This formatting is performed by the third party DVDform
software.

With the DVD-RAM Driver software UNINSTALLED from the computer the
same scenario gave me a selection for Format also. However, selecting
this Format opened up the WINDOWS Format dialogue box, rather than
DVDform. This is the same Windows dialogue box that would open if say
the floppy drive, with disc inserted, was right clicked. This
formatting is performed directly by the Windows Operating System.

When applying the latter scenario to a DVD-RAM Disc, selecting the
Format option from the Windows dialogue box shows the only available
option for the file system is FAT 32. Remember that the DVD-RAM
Driver must not be present on the machine, so to check this out it
needs to be uninstalled. I appreciate you may not wish to do this
without good cause but perhaps another forum member can confirm, or
otherwise, what I am saying.

May I qualify the last paragraph by adding that on another machine a
new DVD-RAM Disc was refusing to be formatted using DVDform. On a few
occasions when it was being right clicked, the Windows Dialogue box
opened rather than DVDform [even though the DVD-RAM software was
installed]. One of these opportunities was used to format the disk
using FAT 32 and then it was formatted using DVDform in UDF 1.5
without further problems.

On the subject of downloading from the Panasonic site, there are a
several versions clearly marked as being suitable for specific DVD
machines. Although there are obvious similarities with the LG 4081
software, it is obvious that there will be problems getting a match
which needs to be better than the present driver.

Going a little off topic:

This situation is proving so tedious that I am tempted to move to USB
2 connected External Hard Drives, although the DVD-RAM discs are very
cost effective for retaining multiple copies of files, near but not in
the computer of origin.

 

[Rubens]

Hi Rubens

Many thanks for your replies. I am seriously trying to get to the
bottom of these issues, on the way I do not want to appear to be
picking holes in what anyone is saying. I do not wish to labour the
point but I feel the need to further explain these items.




In my case with the DVD-RAM Driver software installed and a disc in
the drive, right clicking the disc in My Computer\Windows Explorer
gave a dropdown list containing Format. Selecting this Format option
then opened up the DVD-RAM software DVDform, which gave the facility
to format the disc and among the choices for the File System was UDF
1.5. This formatting is performed by the third party DVDform
software.

That is exactly how it works in my system, both for Windows 2000 and XP.

With the DVD-RAM Driver software UNINSTALLED from the computer the
same scenario gave me a selection for Format also. However, selecting
this Format opened up the WINDOWS Format dialogue box, rather than
DVDform. This is the same Windows dialogue box that would open if say
the floppy drive, with disc inserted, was right clicked. This
formatting is performed directly by the Windows Operating System.

Indeed I did not try formatting this way yet.

When applying the latter scenario to a DVD-RAM Disc, selecting the
Format option from the Windows dialogue box shows the only available
option for the file system is FAT 32. Remember that the DVD-RAM
Driver must not be present on the machine, so to check this out it
needs to be uninstalled. I appreciate you may not wish to do this
without good cause but perhaps another forum member can confirm, or
otherwise, what I am saying.

I can do that, but before I need some free time to perform a complete
backup of my system so I can restore it later. Please understand if I
don´t give you an answer within one or two days.

May I qualify the last paragraph by adding that on another machine a
new DVD-RAM Disc was refusing to be formatted using DVDform. On a few
occasions when it was being right clicked, the Windows Dialogue box
opened rather than DVDform [even though the DVD-RAM software was
installed]. One of these opportunities was used to format the disk
using FAT 32 and then it was formatted using DVDform in UDF 1.5
without further problems.

On the subject of downloading from the Panasonic site, there are a
several versions clearly marked as being suitable for specific DVD
machines. Although there are obvious similarities with the LG 4081
software, it is obvious that there will be problems getting a match
which needs to be better than the present driver.

Yes, that´s why I said "give it a try" in my previous post. For example,
currently I am searching for a DOS driver for my Panasonic DVD-RAM,
but I can´t find it, so I am willing to try the Panasonic DOS driver
available for other models. But as I have an OEM drive, it did not
come with the driver´s CD.

Going a little off topic:

This situation is proving so tedious that I am tempted to move to USB
2 connected External Hard Drives, although the DVD-RAM discs are very
cost effective for retaining multiple copies of files, near but not in
the computer of origin.

Sincerely I hope you can solve your problem, because anyway I prefer DVD-RAM discs.

 

[Daniel Prince]

The following two discs are provided with the retail version of the LG
4081 drive.

BHA Software comprising B's Recorder Gold & v 1.10, B's Clip v 5.38,
neo DVD v5.1 and DVD-RAM Driver

^^^
Is the "neo" above a typo for Nero?

 

[Stan]

^^^
Is the "neo" above a typo for Nero?

Not a typo, it is part of the BHA Sofware disc and has nothing to do with Nero.

Cheers,

Stan