Made backup DVD before XP reinstall - now DVD unreadable - HELP!

[john_manly]

Hi all:

Before formatting my hard disk and reinstalling Windows XP, I backed up
all of my data files, emails, addres book, etc. onto a DVD using Sonic
DLA. After reinstalling Windows, I re-loaded Sonic DLA from the Dell
website, but Explorer still doesn't recognize any data on the disc.
Properties still shows that it's empty. What am I doing wrong?

Regards,
John.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Before formatting my hard disk and reinstalling Windows XP, I
backed up all of my data files, emails, addres book, etc. onto a
DVD using Sonic DLA. After reinstalling Windows, I re-loaded Sonic
DLA from the Dell website, but Explorer still doesn't recognize any
data on the disc. Properties still shows that it's empty. What am
I doing wrong?

Did you verify the data was there before you wiped it all?
(ie: read it in the computer and on another computer?)

 

[SSI]

a friend of mine had a similar problem and the reason was that he had not
'finalized' the disk. There is an option in the disk writing software to do
so.
Maybe this will help you.

 

[john_manly]

I finalized the disc, and verified that I could read the data on the
disc. There was no other computer to test this on. I attempted to get
help from the Sonic website, but they will only support products that
are purchased, not OEM preinstalled software.

Surely someone else has seen this and knows what to do...

 

[Elmo]

I finalized the disc, and verified that I could read the data on the
disc. There was no other computer to test this on. I attempted to get
help from the Sonic website, but they will only support products that
are purchased, not OEM preinstalled software.

Surely someone else has seen this and knows what to do...

Here's a CDR FAQ.. Hopefully something there will help:

http://www.cdrfaq.org/

Also try a Google Groups search:

http://groups.google.com/groups/search?q="read+data"+dvd+xp&qt_s=Search

MSKB articles on WinXP and DVD's
http://search.microsoft.com/results.aspx?mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&q=troubleshoot+dvd+xp

 

[Rock]

I finalized the disc, and verified that I could read the data on the
disc. There was no other computer to test this on. I attempted to get
help from the Sonic website, but they will only support products that
are purchased, not OEM preinstalled software.

Surely someone else has seen this and knows what to do...

Maybe not. Did you Google for solutions?

See if Isobuster can read it.
http://www.isobuster.com/

 

[Andy]

I finalized the disc, and verified that I could read the data on the
disc. There was no other computer to test this on. I attempted to get
help from the Sonic website, but they will only support products that
are purchased, not OEM preinstalled software.

Surely someone else has seen this and knows what to do...

If you actually used DLA, there's nothing to finalize. The way DLA
(drive letter access) works is first you format a DVD+RW or DVD-RW
disk. Then you are able to drag and drop files to the formatted DVD
disk. You can also simply delete files from the DVD disk.