'Enable CD Recording' Won't Keep

[Boris]

Hi,

I've got a Presicion 390 that I got used. I installed a new hard drive
and a new install of XPSP3. The 390 came with a Sony CD-RW CRX217E and a
Philips DVD+-DVD8801. Both show working properly in Device Manager.

If I enable CD recording in one of these drives, CD recording is
disabled in the other. I can't keep CD recording enabled in both at the
same time.

I have uninstalled the devices, and when I restart the machine, Windows
finds and installs both, and a set of four identical drivers for each,
digitally signed by Microsoft. Device Manager shows they are both running
under UDMA2.

I've googled, and found how to enable/disable the recording tab via the
registry, but that's not exactly my problem.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

 

[smlunatick]

Hi,

I've got a Presicion 390 that I got used.  I installed a new hard drive
and a new install of XPSP3.  The 390 came with a Sony CD-RW CRX217E anda
Philips DVD+-DVD8801.  Both show working properly in Device Manager.

If I enable CD recording in one of these drives, CD recording is
disabled in the other.  I can't keep CD recording enabled in both at the
same time.

I have uninstalled the devices, and when I restart the machine, Windows
finds and installs both, and a set of four identical drivers for each,
digitally signed by Microsoft. Device Manager shows they are both running
under UDMA2.

I've googled, and found how to enable/disable the recording tab via the
registry, but that's not exactly my problem.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

If you have other CD "authoring" software, this might turn off XP's
built in one.

 

[Boris]

If you have other CD "authoring" software, this might turn off XP's
built in one.

I do, but it has no effect.

 

[David Webb]

Since this feature in WinXP is actually enabling a special drag & drop routine,
which utilizes a temporary folder for storage, only one "burner" drive can be
chosen. If there was more than one selected, it would have to prompt the user
for a target drive. Obviously, MS didn't consider this scenario.

This feature, whether enabled or not, has no affect on a drive's native
capabilities.

See this article for more details (regarding which one):

Only One CD-R or CD-RW Disk Drive Can Be Used to Create Compact Discs in Windows
XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/294652

 

[glee]

While it's true that only one drive can be enabled on the Recording tab
of the drive properties sheet, the article cited is either in error or
no longer applicable regarding its explanation of which drive can be
enabled.

My secondary master IDE drive is a DVD-RW (W and I have "Enable
recording" unchecked.
My secondary slave IDE drive is a CD-RW (R and I have Enable
recording" checked.
I can reverse the choices with no problem...I just did as a test.

So apparently the master/slave location has no relevance, and the KB
article is incorrect except for the fact that only one RW drive can be
enabled for Windows native recording

 

[David Webb]

My system also has dual burners configured exactly like yours and it has always
allowed me to select either one for Windows native burning.

I selected the article because it was the only one that I could find that
addressed the fact that only one burner can be selected.

Windows XP's Help and Support Center appears to be silent on this issue,
including the drive selection requirement.

Thanks for your comments.

 

[Boris]

My system also has dual burners configured exactly like yours and it
has always allowed me to select either one for Windows native burning.

I selected the article because it was the only one that I could find
that addressed the fact that only one burner can be selected.

Windows XP's Help and Support Center appears to be silent on this
issue, including the drive selection requirement.

Thanks for your comments.

David, glee,

Thanks for the information, testing, and comments. I agree with
everything.

In all my years using XP, I'd never had the need to go into the recording
tab of a cd drive. However, after setting up this older pc, to see what
brand/types of cd drives were in this machine, I went into both cd
drives' properties sheeys. I saw that one of them was enabled to record.
Next, I went into the other cd drive's property sheet to be sure it was
also enabled to record. It was not, so I enabled it. I then went back
to the other cd drive, and noticed that it was now disabled. Huh? I
enabled it again, and then noticed that the prior cd drive was now
disabled. What I was worried about was that when I installed more
advanced burning applications (Sonic, ImgBurn, CDBurnerXP, etc.), would I
have both cd drives easily available for burning at the same time. I
know that other burning applications allow me to choose/switch between
burning drives, but would those choices be available if Windows only
allowed one cd drive to be 'burn enabled' at a time?

What I have been able to determine that master/slave position does not
matter (on my machine) with regard to Microsoft drag-and-drop cd
recording. Drag-and-drop will record to either cd, as long as I use the
property sheet/recording tab, to enable the drive of my choice.

I installed Sonic, and the Sonic interface allowed me to easily choose
between the two cd drives, even though only one cd drive was enabled to
burn using Windows drag-and-drop.

My testing taught me something that I never realized. The Windows
'enable cd recording' setting is only for Windows native drag-and-drop
burning. Other burning applications allow me to easily choose between
burners. And, the Microsoft article was incorrect.

Thanks for the help.