John Copp Posted June 14, 2009 Report Share Posted June 14, 2009 ISSUE: the contents of RW DVD disks are getting erased when the disk is read SYSTEM: Windows XP CULPRIT: Easy CD Creator DESCRIPTION: 1. Using Easy CD Creator and a Memorex 16x burner, copy files from C: to a RW DVD 2. check that the files are there (they are), then remove DVD disk 3. placed disk into Memorex --> copied files are visible 4. remove disk, put it back into any DVD drive --> all files have been erased. In their place are three files: Authorun.inf, udfrchk.exe, udfrinst.zl. These files are components of Roxio Easy CD Creator. MY REQUEST (two parts): (1) can anyone please explain how this happened? (2) can anybody tell me how to protect myself from such disasters going forward? There were extremely valuable data on both DVDs that were destroyed by Roxio software. Luckily, I have them copied to other media as well. Still, this was a rather surprising outcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bimicher Posted June 14, 2009 Report Share Posted June 14, 2009 ISSUE: the contents of RW DVD disks are getting erased when the disk is read SYSTEM: Windows XP CULPRIT: Easy CD Creator DESCRIPTION: 1. Using Easy CD Creator and a Memorex 16x burner, copy files from C: to a RW DVD 2. check that the files are there (they are), then remove DVD disk 3. placed disk into Memorex --> copied files are visible 4. remove disk, put it back into any DVD drive --> all files have been erased. In their place are three files: Authorun.inf, udfrchk.exe, udfrinst.zl. These files are components of Roxio Easy CD Creator. MY REQUEST (two parts): (1) can anyone please explain how this happened? (2) can anybody tell me how to protect myself from such disasters going forward? There were extremely valuable data on both DVDs that were destroyed by Roxio software. Luckily, I have them copied to other media as well. Still, this was a rather surprising outcome. You problem is self-inflicted by using a packet-writing program such as Drag2Disc. This is about the most reliable way to lose all your data. You have not really explained exactly what you did: copy file from C: to RW DVD tells us nothing. There are several programs that can do this including Windows XP and Vista. What program are you actually using: there are about 5 versions of Easy Cd Creator or varioations of that name. Be specific when you refer to a program name. I doubt if the files have been actually erased. Try a program such as ISObuster or CDroller to see if there is anything else on the discs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn98109 Posted June 14, 2009 Report Share Posted June 14, 2009 I suspect you may have Easy CD Creator 5, the earliest one that could make data DVDs, and the Packet-Writing program is called DirectCD. What Walt said about Packet-Writing applies. In addition to what Walt said, I would point out that "RW" means the entire disc can be erased and re-used, so that you can try something and if it doesn't work you can erase it and try something else. (If it works, copy to R media.) It does NOT mean "great-big floppy-disc". If you delete a file on RW media, you don't get the space back, any more than with R media - the difference is you can erae the ENTIRE disc. However, for the same reason you can erase the disc, RW is NOT a reliable long-term back-up. If your data is worth more than the cost of R media (and it's pretty cheap by the spindle), use R media. You can add sessions to R media just the same as RW media as long as you haven't "closed" the disc. (You can also format R media for Packet-Writing, and Packet-Writing is unstable, as it is if you formatted RW media.) Lynn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 Hello John, Your requests: [1] From what you've said it looks as if you have been writing to RW discs formatted with Drag-to-Disc [D2D] or Direct CD [DCD], instead of making standard discs with Creator Classic. When the disc is formatted with D2D, a special UDF 'volume' is created on the disc and the files are put in that UDF volume. If for some reason the UDF volume can't be opened, all you will see is a small part of the disc which was left in standard format, and which contains files required to install a reader for the UDF volume. Those are the files you are seeing now. Your data will still be there in the UDF volume, visible only to the system they were written on. DON'T TRY TO INSTALL the UDF reader from the files on the disc because it's probably a much earlier version than the one which XP has, and will muck up your XP installation. ISOBuster and CDRoller are good for recovering files from these discs, but I see you have other copies so you won't need to go to that expense. [2] Ignore the lecture about great big floppy discs. It is confusing. I agree with Walt. To avoid this problem in the future, DON'T FORMAT your discs. That uses packet-writing technology, and you get the incompatibilities and problems that you've just seen. Instead, use CD Creator or Creator Classic to write your files in a session onto a blank DVDR or an erased DVDRW. It's not as convenient as just dropping a file onto a formatted disc, but the discs it makes are standard ROMs and can be read in a standard machine without the need for a special driver or reader. Regards, Brendon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandpabruce Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 [snip] [2] Ignore the lecture about great big floppy discs. It is confusing. Regards, Brendon I don't quite understand what you mean. It is not confusing at all. You know more than most folks about optical drive media, and you also know that optical drive media was never intended to be a floppy disk. I thought Lynn explained that, very well. You were dead wrong saying that it should be ignored. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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