Drive Letter Access (DLA)

[Zach]

I had seen several posts that DLA is not compatible with Vista but these
posts are several months old. Does anyone know the latest with Sonic DLA ?
Does it work with Vista ? Is it supported ? Is it more trouble than it's
worthed ?
Thanks,

 

[GTS]

Vista includes native support for packet writing. There is no need for DLA
unless you are concerned with backward compatibility for another computer.

 

[Zach]

What I need is the ability to drag-and-drop files from my c: drive to my e:
drive (CD-RW) using Windows Explorer. Cannot do this now and was told I
needed DLA, for which there is no DLA tab in Device Manager for the CD-RW
drive. Is there another option besides DLA for accomplishing what I am
trying to do ?
Thanks,

 

[Dave]

I have no DLA tab, and my CD-RW works fine with drag & drop.

 

[David B.]

There is no DLA tab, there should be a recording tab.

 

[Zach]

Dave...I had received "Invalid MS-DOS function" message when I had tried
drag-and-drop, called Dell, they told me the problem was "DLA missing" but no
solution yet. After seeing your post, tried a few things, here are the
results:

- Using a CD-RW disk, was expecting to use the same way as XP (drag-and-drop
using Windows Explorer like I do with a flash drive.
- The disk drive is DVD/CD-RW per Windows Explorer
- Cannot format a disk using Windows Explorer (right click, select Format)
- I can create a disk using the Roxio Data Disc option but this does not
seem to create an appendable disk even though I use options to append and
this process erases the disk whenever it writes.
- When using the Roxio disc, drag-and-drop from Windows Explorer seems to
work but after running for about half hour for a file copy of a few KB, comes
back with cannot append the disk even though tthe disk was created appendable
with Roxio.
- Can read disks created on Vista from XP and vice versa.

Any ideas ?

 

[GTS]

Roxio DLA is not compatible with Vista and isn't needed. I don't know what
the Dell person is telling you. What happens when you try to format RW
media with Windows Explorer? Does the format dialog box appear? If so,
what happens when you try the format? I've used Vistas formatting and
packet writing with both CDRWs and DVDRWs with no problems. I suspect Roxio
may be interfering in some fashion. Is this an up to date Dell provided
version of Roxio or an older version (possibly not Vista compatible) that
you installed?

As far as multi-session CD (or CDRW) burns, I suggest trying to use either
Roxio or Windows Explorer (using Live File System). If you create a
multi-session data disk with Roxio I would expect WE to have problems
appending to it, though Roxio should be able to if you are using the right
option to add to a multi-session media.
--

Dave...I had received "Invalid MS-DOS function" message when I had tried
drag-and-drop, called Dell, they told me the problem was "DLA missing" but
no
solution yet. After seeing your post, tried a few things, here are the
results:

- Using a CD-RW disk, was expecting to use the same way as XP
(drag-and-drop
using Windows Explorer like I do with a flash drive.
- The disk drive is DVD/CD-RW per Windows Explorer
- Cannot format a disk using Windows Explorer (right click, select Format)
- I can create a disk using the Roxio Data Disc option but this does not
seem to create an appendable disk even though I use options to append and
this process erases the disk whenever it writes.
- When using the Roxio disc, drag-and-drop from Windows Explorer seems to
work but after running for about half hour for a file copy of a few KB,
comes
back with cannot append the disk even though tthe disk was created
appendable
with Roxio.
- Can read disks created on Vista from XP and vice versa.

Any ideas ?

 

[Zach]

What happens when you try to format RW media with Windows Explorer?
When I right click on the drive, I see the Format in the menu, left click,
then:
1. Get "start" msg box (UDF 2.01 Default) and ability to specify volume
label, etc.
2. Click Start
3. Get msg box "Windows was unable to complete format"

Initially I had thought there was something wrong with the media but it has
happened with more than 1.

Using Roxio Creator Premier v9.1.573....came already installed on new Dell.

Any more thoughts ?

 

[Zach]

There is no Recording tab for either of my 2 optical drives......but they do
record, just not the way I want to use them, see above in post

 

[GTS]

Take a look at
Error message when you format a disc by using the Live File System component
on a Windows Vista-based computer: "Windows was unable to complete the
format"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931654

Also, were the "more than 1" media you tried the same kind? If so, you
might try a different brand.
--

 

[Zach]

This hotfix looks like it but given all the caveats, the question is do I put
it one now or wait for it to be part of a service pack....but this is my
issue. Do you have any experience with hotfixes ? Are they usually clean or
do they cause 10 other problems when installed ?

On trying another media brand....I might but this brand has worked very well
with XP, never a problem, so if there is some incompatibility, it must be
Vista-specific.

 

[GTS]

Hotfixes don't always seem to work but usually won't cause other problems
and can be uninstalled if necessary. I'd probably try it, but I can't say
it's risk free.
I concur that if this media worked OK with XP on the same machine odds are
it's not the issue It wouldn't hurt to try another, but probably won't
help.
You might also check if Dell has any firmware upgrades for your burner.
If you do try the hotfix please let us know how it works out.
--