This is what I did last night. I uninstalled InCD and reinstalled. I then took a unformatted CD-RW and formtted it using InCD. After that, I left it in the drive, copied some files to it, looked at the disc through explorer, etc. Everything appeared to be working fine.

I then ejected the disc and then put it back in. At that point, the computer/Nero now thinks it is a CD-Rom and it becomes read-only. This same thing has happened to about half a dozen discs. Some of those discs had worked fine in the past.

Another thing I noticed. Using the scan disc utility that comes with Nero, I did a surface scan before/after ejecting the disc. It read fine with all good spots before ejecting, but after ejecting, it was all bad/red spots.

Any ideas at all? My best guess is there is some conflict with some other software that I installed. It did used to work fine. Just can't say when.

I am using Windows XP Home. Nero 6.

InCD is a horrible product IMO... I responded to you at CDRLabs, but what the heck... if it is an option for you, dump your NEC ND-1300 drive and InCD... Consider getting an LG or Samsung drive that support DVD-RAM and drag/drop to that instead.  It is a thousand times more reliable than anything packet-writing could ever be.  I imagine IDE is your only option... one of my favorite IDE drives is the LG GSA-H22N, if you can still get it.  Else, my current favorite drive is the SATA Samsung SH-S203B... the 202x (IDE) series might be a good option for you.

(in reply to skhyatt)

I agree that InCD is a flakey program. Before you mentioned it, I didn't know dvd-ram drives were around. So if I have a dvd-ram, I can just copy and paste using windows xp? Sounds good to me. Are there any drawbacks at all to using a ram drive?

The other problem or decision I need to make before going out to get a ram drive is if my current drive is ok and it's just that InCD is not working correctly OR that my current drive is going bad. I tend to think it is the first option, as I was able to burn some files to a dvd-r without any obvious problems.

How do I know if I need an IDE drive. My MOBO is an Asus, P4S8X.

(in reply to SithTracy)

You need an IDE drive... Not sure I would blame anything more than InCD for your problems... but your drive is a little long in the tooth.  I'd dump InCD all together and if you need to recover data from InCD formatted discs, invest in IsoBuster; thirty bucks is a small price to pay to recover your data.  It saved my stuff once and paid for itself.  I make a point to keep that software up to date.

Writing to DVD-RAM is simple in Windows XP... you simply right-click the drive and format it as FAT32.  No additional software.  Very reliable, but RAM discs can be difficult to find.  They are much better than any of the RW discs out there.  The LG and Samsung RAM drives I have can burn to CD-R/RW and DVD±R/RW as well.  If you really like your NEC, a Pioneer DVR-112D might do you some good, but you'll need to cross-flash it to add support for DVD-RAM writing, and that voids your warranty.  That choice would be yours.

(in reply to skhyatt)

Thanks for your detailed reply. What I ended up doing was getting a Sony DVD RW AW-Q170A to replace the NEC I had. It is working fine with InCD. I guess the NEC had some problem with packet writing and yet worked fine for regular burning. Is that typical? I mean, the NEC did used to work with packet writing.

Anyway, the Sony is working, but it doesn't do DVD-Ram. So I may end up getting something else latter on. Even though the Sony is working, I am pretty sure I am still going to dump InCD. From your posts and others I have read through the internet, seems that packet writing is just too unreliable. InCD seems to take up quite a bit of resources, so probably best just not to use it.

The next decision I need to make is if I should go ahead and upgrade to Nero 8 or revert back to Nero 6, or use something else. The main thing I use the program for is data backup and burning some occasional music cd's. I have used it in the past for burning some movies from our camcorder to a DVD. Any feedback/opinions appreciated.

(in reply to SithTracy)

Another question I have is about Nero. Years ago when I first started messing with burning cd's, etc., the program I used was Roxio's. At that time, it became apparent that Nero was the tool of choice for the more advanced users. Is that no longer the case?

(in reply to skhyatt)

Nero is still a popular tool, but I don't use it anymore.  Would I recommend an update to version 8?  I'd probably have to say no.  I have Nero 7 and it never worked right for my Intel system in AHCI mode (SATA) and I hoped Nero 8 (I paid for the upgrade) would be better, it wasn't and I don't use it anymore.  I think  Nero is bloated.  You can do so much with free utilities these days, you really don't need to pay for an app... I use a classic for my CD-R needs.... CDRWIN... not for beginners, but I love it.  For DVD's (data & video) and data CD's, I use ImgBurn...

(in reply to skhyatt)

Fooling around with Nero 8. Using Nero Smartstart, I was able to rip about three cd's to disc in the mp3 format. On the 4th try, it only ripped about 4 of the songs and when I tried to do another cd, the option to rip to mp3 format was gone and everytime I clicked on burn, I would get an error message. Don't know if it has anything to do with this being a trial version or not. Certainly not enticing me to go ahead and buy it.

(in reply to SithTracy)

Well, I uninstalled Nero 8 and reinstalled to give it another try. Same error message. You know the box that pops up and asks if you want to send a report to Microsoft. I was prepared to upgrade and use Nero 8 without InCD, but I don't need the headaches of trying to figure out what is wrong. Also, I am not going to bother sending another email to support. They never responded to my last email.

At this point, I reinstalled Nero 6. I will probably just stick with it as it seems to work fine for my needs. Baffles me how a Company like Nero can have such lousy tech support. How do they stay in business??

Anyway, wondering what your thoughts are on a program called cdburner xp, I think that's it.

(in reply to skhyatt)

Nothing wrong with Nero 8, it works fine, and the trial "does" have a limitation on how many mp3 discs you can burn, and it seems as if you have possibly reached it.

However, with the send MS a report, this is a conflict on "your system" and nothing to do with nero.

I'd use a registry scanner and see what is going on.

(in reply to skhyatt)

quote:

ORIGINAL: MP3Mogul

Nothing wrong with Nero 8, it works fine, and the trial "does" have a limitation on how many mp3 discs you can burn, and it seems as if you have possibly reached it.

However, with the send MS a report, this is a conflict on "your system" and nothing to do with nero.

I'd use a registry scanner and see what is going on.

I was wondering if there might be some limitations on the mp3 thing, but I didn't actually burn any mp3's, I had only ripped them to my drive in the mp3 format. Is there still a limit on doing that?

As for the MS report. I agree it is probably a conflict of some kind. I don't have the time to troubleshoot on my own and since Nero doesn't/has not replied to any emails, it makes it kind of difficult.

Can you guide me in the right direction? What registry scanner would you recommend? I have "Optimize" from PC Pitstop, but don't know if that's what you mean. Optimize checks for broken links, but not sure how in depth it goes. What things should I be looking for in a scan of my registry?

Thanks.

(in reply to MP3Mogul)

I personally use "RegVac" and "PC-Bug Doctor", however both are pay programs, perhaps some other users can let you know of some freeware programs that are good.

I knew what you meant on the MP3's, yes the limit is on the ripping.  When you upgrade, you'll get a "free" lame encoder license (I know lame is free, this is an upgraded version).

I don't recommend "any" packet writing at all, because it's just not reliable, I would go with DVD-RAM if this is what you need, it works the same basically, but it's very reliable.

There is a Nero "Clean Tool" on their website, just search for it.  I would uninstall Nero, then run the free clean tool, then I would run a registery scanner and reinstall Nero.  I think perhaps you will be okay then.

Best of luck, post back and let us know your results.

(in reply to skhyatt)

CCleaner is okay, Advanced WindowsCare Personal is better.  They work ok for my needs and both are free.

I have not tried it yet, but a member here (Zebadee) had suggested Registry Clean Expert... it's not free but it looks pretty good.

(in reply to skhyatt)

Let me ask a dumb question perhaps, but is the purpose of these reg cleaners to clean out junk that may be causing the error messages that I was getting? I mean, if the error messages are being caused by a software conflict, then the reg scan may not do me any good?

(in reply to SithTracy)

Yes meant to clean out the closet and hopefully get your software working.

Make sure you follow the instructions about Nero Clean as well.

(in reply to skhyatt)

I finally got a reply from Nero tech support. They asked me to send them a screenshot of the screen that shows no option to choose mp3. From what you told me, that option would reappear if I upgrade/pay for Nero 8. (Still using the trial version) Actually that sounds similar to when I purchased Nero 6. I had to download the free lame mp3.

They also asked me to download an info tool, use it to collect info and email that back to them, which I did.

In the meantime, I uninstalled Nero 6 and used a registry scanner that did some kind of cleaning. I then reinstalled Nero 8. So far, no error messages. Another thing that still bothers me though, is when I use smartstart, it really saps the memory. The cpu is at or near 100% all the time. I have one gig of ram, so I wouldn't think that should be a problem?

(in reply to MP3Mogul)