[Rowr]

I bought the first Sony DVD R/W device that supported multiple formats and it came bundled with DLA and MyDVD. However, even with the "Make Compatible" function, I had trouble creating disks that could be "AutoRun" on other computers. That was several years ago. Now I have a Sony Vaio and I used Record Now to create my first data disk on DVD+R DL media, but I cannot see the files names on the created disk when using Windows Explorer, although they appear in the file window of Record Now. I did not format the disk ahead of time, as Record Now does this automatically. I did not use DLA in the creation process at all. I went to the Roxio site to find out what version of DLA is compatible with Windows XP Home Edition, but could not find an answer, not even in the forums. I did get a notice that DLA is no longer supported...but that might be because I have version 4.60. I searched for, but could not find a DLA upgrade that runs with Windows XP Home Edition.

My Questions are......
Is DLA reallly no longer supported? Has it been replaced by Drag and Drop? Or is there another way to get drive letter access in another program?
Does creating a data disk without DLA always require a restore to the hard disk before you can read the data files?
Is there a program besides DLA that allows you to use a DVD drive as you would a hard drive only with removeable media?
What version of DLA do I need to be compatible with Windows XP Home Edition? Where do I get it?

Any hints or help would be appreciated.

Rowr

[Brendon]

Rowr,

Please go and grab a coffee before you start reading this. Here are your answers, and they might take a few minutes to read.


DLA is Sonic's 'packet-writing' application. - Drag-to-Disc is Roxio's Packet-writing application. Since Roxio was taken over by Sonic the two products have become blended to the point where Drag-to-Disc [also called D2D] actually contains Sonic DLA modules. Many of Roxio's program suites have had Roxio applications replaced by less powerful Sonic ones.

Drive letter access can be got through either Sonic's DLA or Roxio's D2D. Competitors also have their own versions.

Creating a data disc without DLA should never require a restore to the hard drive before you can read the data files. It should be readable on any PC without special drivers. On the other hand, creating a data disc with DLA will require either DLA or a 'UDF reader' to be installed on the system before you can read the disc.

Drag-to-Disc behaves the same as DLA, enabling you to use a DVD or CD as a Great Big Floppy but not as a hard drive. Access is slow and you might well experience compatibility problems when trying to swap the DVD/CD between systems.

I can't tell you what is the minimum version of DLA you need to use it in XP Home. I have DLA 4.95 working in XP-Pro SP2. I got it with Record Now! Deluxe Suite V7. I have the D2D from CD & DVD Burning/EMC 9.1 working in both XP Pro and Vista, even though Vista has an equivalent Sonic program as its default writing method.




Now, having answered your questions I have to say that I don't use DLA/D2D very much at all now. The 'pro' factor is that it's very handy to use to toss a file or two onto a disc to transport to another machine that's running the same software. It's a little quicker with DLA or D2D than it would be to use an "authoring" program like Record Now! or Roxio's Creator - as long as you had a disc already formatted.
There may be other pro factors, but I can't think of any at the moment.

The 'contras' - and there are many - include
-you're likely to get a rant from a person here [not me] who is quite rabid about not using packet-writing software, and does go on and on!
-you have to format the disc before use and this formatting takes time, and overhead space which significantly eats into the space available on the disc.
-there are many flavors of program to do this, and there are many compatibility issues between them. Many of the formatted discs aren't writeable or even readable between versions.
-formatted discs need to be closed in a special way before they can be read in ordinary PCs without special software, and many aren't properly readable on other PCs even after being closed in the special manner.
-using rewriteable [RW] discs with packet-writers wears them out much faster than using them with an 'authoring' program such as Creator Classic. Each time you write a file or two on a RW disc you write to the system area of the disc to update it. If you put 200 single files on a disc, that's 200 writes to the system area compared to one or two writes to that area if you were writing 200 files in one go with Creator. It doesn't take long to wear out the system areas of a rewriteable disc at that rate. The software isn't that unreliable, but when you combine it with rewriteable discs that you're going to wear out quickly, you have a recipe for trouble.

To combat these adverse factors I usually use an authoring program and write a whole bunch of files to a disc in one 'session'. If the files getting stored are important I write them on an R disc instead of RW.


I hope this helps you.

Regards,
Brendon

[lynn98109]

To do what you want, you might consider getting a Flash drive (aka Pen / Thumb / Keychain / Jump drive) - they come up to 4GB in size (and I think either are coming or are available even larger).

When you fill it, burn to CD or DVD using a Sessions-based program such as Creator Classic or WinXP's built-in burning, erase the Flash drive, and repeat.

Lynn