Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cdrw

problem with cd-rw burning

raphael19 — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 14:08:25 -0800

why can i not burn a cd-rw on lenovo thinkpad t61? machine: t61 +up to date w/ thinkvantage utility
os: xp sp3 + all available hotfixes
internal dvd module: matshita dvd-ram uj-852, firmware ver.: rb02

i know that burning cd-rw's can sometimes be cumbersome, but could not figure out why this "new" machine fails. every component is up to date, it can burn regular cd-r's, the dvd module firmware is the latest, i use quality media (the other notebook -an old dell- can burn with ease) but it cannot even initiate to burn a cd-rw. i tried three different cd-burning software and other cd brands without any success. also googling the problem was not fruitful.

could you point out what i am missing here?

Extracting phantom files from old CDRW

benzenedream — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:50:41 -0800

I have a legacy CDRW which shows up empty when mounted in either Linux or Windows. Extracting an iso image under linux via dd yields greppable strings which indicate files are hiding inside. How do I extract the files without knowing what format or filesystem they are in? Mounting the iso as a loop device in Linux yields no listable files. This disc is from ~2000. I assume the final FAT written to the disc is either corrupt or unreadable but files are written earlier on the disc. Is there a "file boundary guesser" that I can pipe the ISO to, which will spit out the possible files?

Why do my DVD drives crap out so quickly?

chrisamiller — Thu, 29 May 2008 14:41:10 -0800

Between the 4 desktops that my immediate family owns, we've probably been through 6 or 7 DVD burners in the last few years. Does everyone else have this kind of failure rate? Any recommendations on reasonably priced, quality drives, so that I don't have to keep replacing them? These drives aren't in heavy use - watching DVDs occasionally, burning a CD or DVD once a week or so. That's why it's so annoying when they go out after a year or so of use.

I've been replacing them with whatever's on sale at the big box electronics store, but I'm beginning to wonder if the high failure rate is because I'm buying cheap brands, or whether I'm just unlucky.

Any other data points out there? Any recommendations for a decent CD-RW/DVD-RW drive at a decent price?

Boot Problems with CD Drive

billtron — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 09:00:01 -0800

My Dell Inspiron 5100 Laptop will not boot from any burned Live CDs, and in Windows XP the CDs appear blank. Other computers will load from the same LiveCDs, and my laptop will boot from the Dell diagnostic CD that came with the computer. Please help. I am afraid that the CDRW/DVD drive, a Matshita UJDA740, might be broken.

CD-RW drive won't connect to laptop.

UKnowForKids — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 14:43:23 -0800

My CD-RW drive will not firmly attach to my Dell Inspiron 8000 laptop. If I push it with my thumbs, it will make a connection, but as soon as I remove firm pressure, it loses its connection. Basically, no matter how firmly I push it into the case, it never gives that satisfying "click" of connection, and can be removed again without pushing the switch on the underside that should be required for removal. I've looked at the connections, but given that I don't know what I'm looking for, it's unsurprising that I didn't see anything. Any ideas?

freeware cdrw software???

antisocialiting — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 10:53:02 -0800

I'm looking for freeware cdrw software that will allow me to use cdrw's like they are floppy disk. I know this can be done using roxio etc but I would like to know if any free versions exist. thanks and it will be for a windows xp machine.

CD RW Drive failure

keep it tight — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 06:42:30 -0800

I know they are throw away items these days, but I have a pretty new CDRW drive that just ejects the CD as soon as it closes....is there a way to repair this or should I just order a new one?

CDRW worked in Win98SE, inoperable in XP

precocious — Sun, 11 Jan 2004 15:12:18 -0800

I have a MITSUMI CR-4804TE CDRW drive. While it's slow, it worked perfectly fine for me while I was running Win98SE. Now that I've got XP, it's all gone to pot [more]. I've done a google search, and other people have this problem, but I've yet to find a definite solution. Thus far, I've tried:

* searching the mitsumi site (and driversguide, and just about everywhere else)-- they only have drivers for this CDRW for DOS on up to NT-- nothing for 2000 or XP. I tried the NT version, and it didn't work. Literally. I get that program crash dialogue. (I did find a driver that claimed it was for XP also. Didn't work.)

* reinstalling the hardware. After removing it from the device manager and rebooting, XP automatically installs a driver for a CD-R drive. I have a CDRW.

* manually removing the driver and installing the mitsumi driver that came with Windows. (Nope.)

* using other software. I've tried Nero and Roxio (Easy CD Creator.)

When I used to load a blank CD (in 98), I'd get a prompt asking what I wanted to do (burn a CD in Nero, in Real Media, etcetera.) Now, nothing happens. I'm about 100% there's nothing wrong with the drive, as my cousin just finished trying it on a win98 box, and it works.

Is there anything else I can do?

Did I kill my system with a new CD-RW?

ajpresto — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 11:05:18 -0800

So, I bought a CD-RW a few weeks ago and figured I'd just slap it in my system at home. Took it home, cracked the box, put it in, plugged it up, and nothing. Now my monitor doesn't see my PC... all I get is the HDD light constantly on. It may be that it's loading the OS (Win XP Pro), but I've left it alone for a while, and the light stays on.

So, what'd I do? Any ideas? [Ask Mefi rules!]