Format CDRW?

[Bob Newman]

I know XP will format a CDRW disc on the fly as you add files, but can I get
it to format the entire CD without adding any files so it can be used by
another program at a later date?

 

[Code-Curious Mom]

XP itself does not format the CDs. You would need to use another program to
do that. See
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpcd.htm

 

[Michael Stevens]

I know XP will format a CDRW disc on the fly as you add files, but
can I get it to format the entire CD without adding any files so it
can be used by another program at a later date?

You only need to format a CDRW for use with packet writing software like
InCD Drag to Disk, etc. You can erase the CDRW with the XP built in
application.
--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
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[Bob Newman]

I have the packet writing software (Roxio 6 + Nero). For some reason after
I format it works okay with drag & drop but my backup & a couple of other
program won't write to it. I get an error message saying the disc is
locked. Sort of like it was a CDR that had been closed. I have tried
different formatting programs and different CDs to no avail. The backup
program worked fine with the Roxio before I replaced the hard drive and had
to reinstall everything. I had hoped that there might be a setting in XP
that needed to be changed.

Bob

 

[Michael Stevens]

I have the packet writing software (Roxio 6 + Nero). For some reason
after I format it works okay with drag & drop but my backup & a
couple of other program won't write to it. I get an error message
saying the disc is locked. Sort of like it was a CDR that had been
closed. I have tried different formatting programs and different CDs
to no avail. The backup program worked fine with the Roxio before I
replaced the hard drive and had to reinstall everything. I had hoped
that there might be a setting in XP that needed to be changed.

Bob

You need to install the application you used to make the original CD. XP has
no built in ability to read a formatted packet writing CD. The Packet
writing CD must be closed with the option that allows it to be read on all
CD drives. Also older CD's written with older packet writing application are
not always compatible with XP. You will need to use a Win 98/Me system with
the older application to retrieve the data.
BTW, the above is a reason the upgrade from 98/Me is the better choice than
a clean install. Some applications can only be used from an upgrade, as
there is no drivers available for XP.
--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[Alex Nichol]

I know XP will format a CDRW disc on the fly as you add files, but can I get
it to format the entire CD without adding any files so it can be used by
another program at a later date?

You have the wrong idea. It is not formatting at all, it is writing a
batch of files as an ISO session, writing each sector and the data in
one go. Really a CD-R method; all you can do with a CD-RW using it is
erase the entire disk. For individual writing (in UDF 'packet format')
you need third party software - see http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpcd.htm

 

[Bob Newman]

All right guys. Let me try to make it clearer. The reason I asked if XP
could do it is that I already have two commercial software packages that
have the packet writing (Roxio & Nero) I've tried both and with both after
they format the CDRW other programs give an error message that they can't
write to the CDRW (the formatting program is still installed). I had only
got the Nero to see if there was a problem with the Roxio. I used the same
Roxio program with no problems prior to having to change out my hard drive.
After putting in the new hard drive and reinstalling everything, the same
programs that worked fine before are now giving me this error message. I
was hoping that there maybe some kind of setting in XP that may be set wrong
to cause this. Other than that I don't know what it could be. Again, the
same programs that worked flawlessly together before are now generating the
error message after the reinstalled everything. I hope this makes it
clearer.

Thanks... Bob

 

[Alex Nichol]

All right guys. Let me try to make it clearer. The reason I asked if XP
could do it is that I already have two commercial software packages that
have the packet writing (Roxio & Nero) I've tried both and with both after
they format the CDRW other programs give an error message that they can't
write to the CDRW (the formatting program is still installed).

Once you commit a disk to packet writing, you have to have a compatible
version on any other machine (though there is a UDF Volume reader for
purely reading). And interpretations of the standards is such that I
would not dream of trying to mix usage of InCD and Direct CD; once
started with one you commit to it.

Packet writing is really not good for inter-machine transfers unless you
can ensure you have identical packages on both. These days, at the low
price of CD-R disks, I use them and ISO session burning

 

[Bob Newman]

I think you still don't understand what I did. I installed Roxio, formatted
the CDRW tried to use it with Roxio still installed and got that error
message. I then uninstalled Roxio and installed Nero, formatted a disc with
it and tried to use it, with Nero still installed and got the same erro
message.

Bob

 

[Alex Nichol]

I think you still don't understand what I did. I installed Roxio, formatted
the CDRW tried to use it with Roxio still installed and got that error
message. I then uninstalled Roxio and installed Nero, formatted a disc with
it and tried to use it, with Nero still installed and got the same erro
message.

please be consistent in what names you use for packages. Roxio might be
anything, but in context implies their Direct CD or Drag to Disk (new
name for same thing). Nero is *not* a packet writing system at all.
Ahead software also produce InCD - their version of packet writing (and
it and the Roxio product are not happy bedfellows, nor do they produce
compatible disks)

 

[Bob Newman]

I did have the InCD. But, again it was not on the computer at the same time
as the Roxio Drag to Disk. I uninstalled one before installing the other.
I just tried them both in case there was something wrong with one of them
causing the error message. Since I got that error message no matter which
one was installed at that time I assume it is not the fault of the software
program.

Bob

 

[Alex Nichol]

did have the InCD. But, again it was not on the computer at the same time
as the Roxio Drag to Disk. I uninstalled one before installing the other.
I just tried them both in case there was something wrong with one of them
causing the error message. Since I got that error message no matter which
one was installed at that time I assume it is not the fault of the software
program.

Once one has got installed it tends to leave orphaned references when
you uninstall. I suggest you tidy up, uninstall which ever is there,
and then get a registry patch file, cdgone.reg, from
www.aumha.org/downloads/cdgone.zip, extract it, r-click on it and merge
it into the registry

You will then need to reinstall the one you intend to use

 

[Bob Newman]

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

Bob

Once one has got installed it tends to leave orphaned references when
you uninstall. I suggest you tidy up, uninstall which ever is there,
and then get a registry patch file, cdgone.reg, from
www.aumha.org/downloads/cdgone.zip, extract it, r-click on it and merge
it into the registry

You will then need to reinstall the one you intend to use