Question about CDRW Drive

[Dudley Henriques]

I have a Samsung combo CDRW drive using Nero InCD with XP. I formatted a new
disk in Nero InCD and transferred photographic files to it for archiving in
a single folder. Everything works fine when I open the folder on the disk.
The pictures open in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer and all functions
work...+ - rotate...etc.
My question deals with the size of the folder showing vs the capacity on the
disk.
The disk is a TDK CDRW 12X with a stated capacity of 700 megs on the label.
If I double click my computer with the disk in the drive and right click
properties, what shows is a solid blue full pie with used space showing as
565, 641, 216 bytes.......539 MB.
The capacity below this shows the exact same thing.
Now if I open the folder itself (all the saved files showing) and right
click on an empty space, I come up with 126MB total size for what's in the
folder.
Can someone please tell me how to interpret this? Is the disk full as the
drive blue pie and the numbers there would indicate, or do I have 126 MB in
the folder as it shows on properties for the folder? I'm confused. Why am I
getting a full blue pie on the drive properties and the disk isn't full??
Many thanks if you can help me solve this mystery.
Dudley

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

If the disk is formatted using InCD, this drops the effective capacity of
the disk to just over 500MB, possibly more given the capacity of the CDRW is
700MB. However, given the amount of files you have stored, you should have
more free space. Did you format this disk using InCD before using it? If
not, it's not using InCD to copy the files, rather it is using XP's
integrated function which is closer to mastering software and that would
explain what is going on. CDs must be formatted by their respective packet
writing program before use.

 

[Dudley Henriques]

Yes, I did format the disk in InCD. I put in the blank, went to explorer,
right clicked the drive and selected format. I watched it count down in the
InCd window. When it was finished, I opened the blank disk, selected all the
files to be transfered, and used the send to function to transfer them.
There was a countdown window. When it was finished, I opened up the folder
and checked everything. It seemed ok. Most all the files are bitmaps. All
open in the picture and fax viewer and all the functions on the taskbar
work. There's just the difference showing between the drive properties and
the folder properties.
I don't know if this is indicative of anything, but with NO DISK in the
drive, if I right click on the D drive in "my computer", it shows a full
blue pie, although at 0 bytes. I'm not showing any pink or unused space
either way!!!
DH

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

Doesn't InCD have its own format tool. You're not supposed to format a disk
using the OS formatting tool and that appears to be what you've done and
could well be the reason for the problem. I'm not at all familiar with
InCD, but using Easy CD Creator's Drag to Disk or the former Direct CD, you
have to open a module and use that to format the CD.

 

[Dudley Henriques]

I think I found the problem Michael. To answer your question first, yes InCD
has it's own format program. It's integrated into explorer instead of
working as a stand alone system. You select the drive in explorer, right
click on it, and select what you want to do from the options. Format is one
of the options.
The problem I think what happened was that when I formatted this disk, I
minimized it while it was formatting and did some other work. I just found
out that's bad juju What I've done is copy all the files back to the
hard drive, then I erased the disk clean and reformatted it. This time I let
it run without touching a thing. Then I copied the files back again.
Everything shows normal now. The capacity pie showed all pink before the
transfer, and now shows 127megs which is correct for the folder amount. The
reduced capacity when formatted was 539MB.
Thanks very much for taking the time to help. I really appreciate it. I'm
learning something new about computers every day. I just hope I live long
enough to learn what I should know
All the best,
Dudley

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

You're welcome. Hmm, I'm pretty sure I've been able to format a disk in the
background while doing other things but I'm using a different program.
Well, at least you fixed it to your satisfaction and that's the most
important thing.

 

[Dudley Henriques]

I'm not sure about Roxio. I uninstalled that to eliminate driver conflicts
with Nero. Nero says " You can not run any other commands during the
formatting process" Ominious!!!! Not sure exactly what it means, but I
figured I should let it run without bothering it. Sort of like when windows
throws you a dialog box that says, "YO!!! YOU THERE......Yes YOU!!!! Are you
SURE you want to do this?" ))
Dudley

You're welcome. Hmm, I'm pretty sure I've been able to format a disk in the
background while doing other things but I'm using a different program.
Well, at least you fixed it to your satisfaction and that's the most
important thing.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

I think I found the problem Michael. To answer your question first, yes InCD
has it's own format program. It's integrated into explorer instead of
working as a stand alone system. You select the drive in explorer, right
click on it, and select what you want to do from the options. Format is one
of the options.
The problem I think what happened was that when I formatted this

disk,

I
minimized it while it was formatting and did some other work. I just found
out that's bad juju What I've done is copy all the files back to the
hard drive, then I erased the disk clean and reformatted it. This time I let
it run without touching a thing. Then I copied the files back again.
Everything shows normal now. The capacity pie showed all pink before the
transfer, and now shows 127megs which is correct for the folder amount. The
reduced capacity when formatted was 539MB.
Thanks very much for taking the time to help. I really appreciate it. I'm
learning something new about computers every day. I just hope I live long
enough to learn what I should know
All the best,
Dudley

Doesn't InCD have its own format tool. You're not supposed to format

a
disk

using the OS formatting tool and that appears to be what you've done and
could well be the reason for the problem. I'm not at all familiar with
InCD, but using Easy CD Creator's Drag to Disk or the former Direct

CD,
you

have to open a module and use that to format the CD.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

Yes, I did format the disk in InCD. I put in the blank, went to explorer,
right clicked the drive and selected format. I watched it count down in
the
InCd window. When it was finished, I opened the blank disk, selected all
the
files to be transfered, and used the send to function to transfer them.
There was a countdown window. When it was finished, I opened up the folder
and checked everything. It seemed ok. Most all the files are

bitmaps.
All

open in the picture and fax viewer and all the functions on the taskbar
work. There's just the difference showing between the drive

properties
and

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

Oh, I agree, if the application says, "Don't do that," don't do that!

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

I'm not sure about Roxio. I uninstalled that to eliminate driver conflicts
with Nero. Nero says " You can not run any other commands during the
formatting process" Ominious!!!! Not sure exactly what it means, but I
figured I should let it run without bothering it. Sort of like when windows
throws you a dialog box that says, "YO!!! YOU THERE......Yes YOU!!!! Are you
SURE you want to do this?" ))
Dudley

You're welcome. Hmm, I'm pretty sure I've been able to format a disk in the
background while doing other things but I'm using a different program.
Well, at least you fixed it to your satisfaction and that's the most
important thing.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

yes
InCD is
one disk, I
let amount.
The

format