Burning JPG pic files to CD-R

[ajchatel]

Hey there. When I burn some pictures to a CD-R, only about half of each individual pic show up. What I mean is, when I view them on the CD-R that I burned them to, only part or about half of the picutre is there. I don't know if this means anything, but the pic files that don't seem to show up good, are over 1.5 megs in size. I'm really stumped on this one. I don't get any error messages, and I even burned at 2x, thinking it might be a speed problem. Anyone else ever run across this situation?

[d_deweywright]

Hey there. When I burn some pictures to a CD-R, only about half of each individual pic show up. What I mean is, when I view them on the CD-R that I burned them to, only part or about half of the picutre is there. I don't know if this means anything, but the pic files that don't seem to show up good, are over 1.5 megs in size. I'm really stumped on this one. I don't get any error messages, and I even burned at 2x, thinking it might be a speed problem. Anyone else ever run across this situation?

How are you writing your discs? Are you using Direct CD, where you first format the disc, then drag-and-drop the files to the drive? Or are you starting ECDC and using the Data CD project where you load all the files into the project, then click the "Burn" button on a clean, unformatted disc?

 

If you're using the former, use the latter, it's better.

[ajchatel]

I use the Data CD project!

[Brendon]

ajchatel,

 

please answer these questions for me, if you don't mind:

 

1) Do those large pictures display properly when you try to view the originals on your hard drive?

2) Are the picture files burned on your CD the same number of bytes as the originals?

(right click on the file, and look at "properties" to check this)

3) If you copy a poorly displaying picture BACK from the CD to somewhere on the hard drive, does it then display properly?

 

I'm trying to discover if the picture files get truncated (chopped) when you burn them; whether it's your viewer which has problems displaying pictures on the CD; or whether it just has problems displaying big pictures.

 

Thanks

[ajchatel]

The originals on my hard drive come out fine when I view them. The files that burned to the CD-r are the same size as the originals. When I copy a pic back to my hard drive it still displays half of it. I took the pictures with my Canon Powershot A-520 at its highest resolution. Some of the pictures are up to 1.7megs. The ones that don't show up good, are all above 1.3megs, and there the ones that don't show up well. The ones under 1.3megs display okay! Go figure!

[Brendon]

"Curiouser and curiouser" (Alice in Wonderland)

 

You don't have any problems displaying big pictures and the files aren't being truncated during writing, but something is happening to their contents from about the 1.3MB point.

 

I'll send you my email address in a Private Message (PM). Would you be prepared to send me an original picture file, plus a copy of the same picture file which has been messed up by burning to the CD, please?

 

This way I can see what's happening inside the file, and perhaps we can work out how or why it's happening.

[ajchatel]

Thanks Brendon t. I'll do as you asked, and send it as soon as possible.

[ajchatel]

Forgot to mention, I use EZCD 5.

[vabreeze]

Forgot to mention, I use EZCD 5.

I am experiencing the same problem. Is there a fix?

[vabreeze]

"Curiouser and curiouser" (Alice in Wonderland)

 

You don't have any problems displaying big pictures and the files aren't being truncated during writing, but something is happening to their contents from about the 1.3MB point.

 

I'll send you my email address in a Private Message (PM). Would you be prepared to send me an original picture file, plus a copy of the same picture file which has been messed up by burning to the CD, please?

 

This way I can see what's happening inside the file, and perhaps we can work out how or why it's happening.

 

 

Hello Brendon,

I'm experiencing the exact same problem and was wondering if a solution was ever found.

Thanks.

[Brendon]

Hello Brendon,

I'm experiencing the exact same problem and was wondering if a solution was ever found.

Thanks.

VABreeze,

 

Hi. I'm pretty sure that Andre fixed his problem by uninstalling and then reinstalling Easy CD Creator.

 

I've sent him an email to confirm this, and I'll let you know the moment he replies.

[vabreeze]

VABreeze,

 

Hi. I'm pretty sure that Andre fixed his problem by uninstalling and then reinstalling Easy CD Creator.

 

I've sent him an email to confirm this, and I'll let you know the moment he replies.

 

Thanks Brendon; I would appreciate that. I tried uninstalling and then reinstalling; also downloaded and applied the ecdc_v5.3.5.10_basic_enu.exe update -- still having the problem. After I applied the update I started getting file verification errors which I didn't get before. I'm stumped.

[ogdens]

Thanks Brendon; I would appreciate that. I tried uninstalling and then reinstalling; also downloaded and applied the ecdc_v5.3.5.10_basic_enu.exe update -- still having the problem. After I applied the update I started getting file verification errors which I didn't get before. I'm stumped.

 

 

 

Did you use this method to uninstall:

 

 

Go into your add/remove programs and remove Roxio.......then use this Roxio utility called Roxizap that you can use to remove all remnants of Roxio/Adaptec software for you. Caution, it may also remove registry entries for GoBack, so if you have that installed, uninstall it first, then re-install after running roxizap.

 

You can get roxizap here:

 

http://tools.roxio.com/support/tools/roxizap.exe

 

 

Then re-install from your installation disc. If you require any updates make sure you apply the correct one, Basic or Platinum.

 

[Brendon]

VABreeze,

 

I heard back from Andre, and it seems he had another system available which didn't show those problems, so he went to that one. We have no solution available from there, so we need to start again from the beginning.

 

Okay, so you're using a Canon Power Shot and saving big pictures. When you save them to CD the files saved are exactly (byte for byte) the same size as they are on the hard drive. Pictures under 1.3 MB in size are fine, but on anything bigger than 1.3 MB something happens to the file contents around that 1.3MB point and the picture won't display any further. The originals display fine from the HD, but the saved copies get cut off when viewed, even when copied back to the hard drive.

 

Have I got that right?

 

Presuming that I have,

(1) What are you burning them to CD with? CD Creator from a data project or Direct CD onto a formatted disc?

(2) What format are the photos? BMP, JPG, PCX, TGA, TIF, GIF . . . . .

(3) If you're using Creator, do the files verify correctly after burning?

(4) What viewer are you using to view them with, and does the problem still show if you use a different viewer program?

[vabreeze]

Did you use this method to uninstall:

 

 

Go into your add/remove programs and remove Roxio.......then use this Roxio utility called Roxizap that you can use to remove all remnants of Roxio/Adaptec software for you. Caution, it may also remove registry entries for GoBack, so if you have that installed, uninstall it first, then re-install after running roxizap.

 

You can get roxizap here:

 

http://tools.roxio.com/support/tools/roxizap.exe

Then re-install from your installation disc. If you require any updates make sure you apply the correct one, Basic or Platinum.

 

 

Thanks for the suggestion. Initially I uninstalled using only the add/remove program. But I have since tried the roxizap, and got the same results.

[vabreeze]

VABreeze,

 

I heard back from Andre, and it seems he had another system available which didn't show those problems, so he went to that one. We have no solution available from there, so we need to start again from the beginning.

 

Okay, so you're using a Canon Power Shot and saving big pictures. When you save them to CD the files saved are exactly (byte for byte) the same size as they are on the hard drive. Pictures under 1.3 MB in size are fine, but on anything bigger than 1.3 MB something happens to the file contents around that 1.3MB point and the picture won't display any further. The originals display fine from the HD, but the saved copies get cut off when viewed, even when copied back to the hard drive.

 

Have I got that right?

 

Presuming that I have,

(1) What are you burning them to CD with? CD Creator from a data project or Direct CD onto a formatted disc?

(2) What format are the photos? BMP, JPG, PCX, TGA, TIF, GIF . . . . .

(3) If you're using Creator, do the files verify correctly after burning?

(4) What viewer are you using to view them with, and does the problem still show if you use a different viewer program?

 

Thanks, almost Brendon ... just a few differences from Andre:

-- No, I'm not using a Canon Power Shot, I have a Canon EOS Rebel XT, but yes I'm saving big pictures.

-- Yes, when I save them to CD, the files are exactly (byte for byte) the same size as on the hard drive.

-- No, not all pictures under 1.3Mb are fine, although that seems to be the general rule. For example, I have 1 picture that is 992Kb and is cut off, but I have another one that is 1,541Kb that is fine. But generally speaking, the smaller pictures tend to be ok. Also, pictures that I've taken with another digital camera (Olympus Camedia) are all ok -- but those never exceed 1.0Mb

 

To answer your questions:

(1) I am burning the CD with Direct CD onto a formatted disc

(2) The format of the photos is JPG

(3) I'm afraid this is not a straight yes/no answer. Initially the files verified correctly. Then I uninstalled using only the Control Panel Add/Remove software, and reinstalled from the CD, downloaded the ecdc_v5.3.5.10_basic_enu.exe update and applied it. After doing that, I started getting verify errors. Then on OGDENS suggestion I uninstalled using the Add/Remove software followed by running the ROXIZAP utility; reinstalled from CD again and applied the update. Now I no longer get the file verification error.

(4) I've tried to view the pictures on the CD with Photoshop Elements 2.0, Adobe Photshop Album Starter 3.0, and even Paint. Elements gave me a warning message that the file was incomplete, Album Starter gave me a "Failed to load photo" message, and Paint gave me a "cannot read this file" message.

 

Thinking that it might be the photos themselves, I loaded the pictures on a Flash Drive and tried burning them to a CD from a different computer (running different OS and software) -- they came out fine. I'm starting to think it might be the CD-RW itself. It's a LGCD-RW CED-8120B I searched for any known problems similar to what I'm experiencing, but didn't come across anything.

 

I'm really at a loss...any other ideas??

[Brendon]

I'm really at a loss...any other ideas??

Thanks for that detail in an easy-to-understand message.

 

I think we have two main issues here. A third was going to be interference by Canon software, but I think we can safely ignore that possibility.

 

The two issues left are the uninstall/reinstall, and the instability of your writing method.

 

I suspect your first uninstall/reinstall gave you a broken install which was fixed by using Roxizap to tidy up the pieces left nehind. You should be good to go now, as far as that is concerned.

 

The issue of using a packet-writing software (Direct CD in this case) is a bit more vexed. I've used Direct CD and Ahead Software's InCD quite a lot, and have also tried some of the other packet-writers, and they ALL did strange things to/for me at unexpected times.

 

Those programs rely a lot on drive BIOSes, and every drive manufacturer seems to do things differently. In the end very little conforms to any standard, and it's a wonder that any of them work. I'm wondering if the writing method is what's causing you the problem.

 

Would you try this for me please? I gather you're using a rewriteable CD, which should be fine for this purpose. Rewriteables can be used formatted with Direct CD, or unformatted (erased) with CD Creator, but a lot of users don't know that. They are not good for long term storage, but that is not the problem we're dealing with here.

 

-would you ERASE the CD so that it is no longer formatted, and so we can eliminate Direct CD from this for the moment. If you know how to use MSCONFIG and can temporarily stop Direct CD from loading that would make it easier to properly erase the CD. A Quick erase should be enough, no need to cook the whole disc.

-then use CD Creator set up to make a data disc, and burn a bunch of these photos to disc.

-see if they will now read properly from the disc.

 

If you will try this, I'll be waiting to see how it goes.

[vabreeze]

Well this is getting interesting. I formatted the CD. When I tried to burn the CD using Easy CD Creator, I got the following error message "Device in use by another application: Roxio Direct CD Kernel. Easy CD cannot use it unto the application has completed". So, I did a plain copy using Windows Explorer from the hard drive to the formatted CD. The copy completed, and I didn't get any error messages. HOWEVER, when I clicked on the drive letter for the CD-RW, and tried to view the contents in THUMBNAILS view, I got an error message that a file could not be read, and I got the same result -- 1/2 grayed out pictures.

I also tried one other thing... being that Windows XP can burn CD's without any additional software. I completely uninstalled Roxio again, and tried burning the CD through Windows. I got the exact same results. So I'm really thinking more and more that the problem is the actual CD-RW.

[d_deweywright]

Well this is getting interesting. I formatted the CD. When I tried to burn the CD using Easy CD Creator, I got the following error message "Device in use by another application: Roxio Direct CD Kernel. Easy CD cannot use it unto the application has completed". So, I did a plain copy using Windows Explorer from the hard drive to the formatted CD. The copy completed, and I didn't get any error messages. HOWEVER, when I clicked on the drive letter for the CD-RW, and tried to view the contents in THUMBNAILS view, I got an error message that a file could not be read, and I got the same result -- 1/2 grayed out pictures.

I also tried one other thing... being that Windows XP can burn CD's without any additional software. I completely uninstalled Roxio again, and tried burning the CD through Windows. I got the exact same results. So I'm really thinking more and more that the problem is the actual CD-RW.

When you format the disc, you've committed to using it with Direct CD, which is what allows you drag-and-drop the files to the disc using Windows Explorer. To write files to CD using ECDC, the disc must not be formatted, it must be truly blank, fresh out of the package or off the spindle.

 

Second, CD-RW discs are more difficult to read from. Try using CD-R (write once) media, and see if that makes any difference. Both types of disc can be formatted for use with Direct CD, both can be used blank with ECDC.

 

Let us know.

[Brendon]

VABreeze,

 

You ran INTO the software I was trying to steer you away from. I was trying to get you to remove Direct CD from the equation, not to try it out.

 

I like Dave's suggestion of removing the CDRW from the problem, too.

 

Would you please UNLOAD Direct CD from memory temporarily if you know how to do that, or else use MSConfig to prevent Direct CD from loading, and use a plain CDR instead of your rewriteable for this trial.

 

-then use CD Creator set up to make a data disc, and burn a bunch of these photos to disc.

-see if they will now read properly from the disc.

[vabreeze]

Ok -- I ran MSCONFIG, clicked the STARTUP tab and unchecked DIRECTCD. I rebooted and then loaded a brand new, fresh off the spindle, CDR. I then started up CD Creator, selected DataCD, and tried to burn the pics. I selected 4x write speed. Same results....

[Brendon]

Okay, durn!

 

That rules out Direct CD which is the first of the "usual suspects".

 

Since you changed your burning software (DCD and CD Creator are totally different programs) that would most likely rule out a 'CD burning software' cause for the problem.

 

You've changed from CDRW to a CDR, so that rules out a failing rewriteable CD (second of the "usual suspects").

 

The files on your CD are the correct size so they're not truncated or cut off. I think an operating system error would be more likely to chop bits off the file rather than drop out part way through transfer.

 

The file contents on the CD are definitely faulty, because attempts to read them with several different programs fail. However you have proved that the source photos are fine.

 

I'm seriously starting to suspect your drive. LG is a good enough brand, but even good drives can go wonky. I'm having trouble thinking of a conclusive way to test it, though. Before you go too far, it wouldn't hurt to reseat all the cables to the drive to eliminate a dicey connection and try another burn.

 

If that doesn't help, a program like CD and DVD Speed http://www.cdspeed2000.com/ would allow you to test the burned CD for errors, but it's quite a complex thing to do. Swapping out the drive would be a lot easier.

 

Have you another drive you can borrow to try, or someone who would be prepared to try your drive in his machine?

[vabreeze]

Okay, durn!

 

That rules out Direct CD which is the first of the "usual suspects".

 

Since you changed your burning software (DCD and CD Creator are totally different programs) that would most likely rule out a 'CD burning software' cause for the problem.

 

You've changed from CDRW to a CDR, so that rules out a failing rewriteable CD (second of the "usual suspects").

 

The files on your CD are the correct size so they're not truncated or cut off. I think an operating system error would be more likely to chop bits off the file rather than drop out part way through transfer.

 

The file contents on the CD are definitely faulty, because attempts to read them with several different programs fail. However you have proved that the source photos are fine.

 

I'm seriously starting to suspect your drive. LG is a good enough brand, but even good drives can go wonky. I'm having trouble thinking of a conclusive way to test it, though. Before you go too far, it wouldn't hurt to reseat all the cables to the drive to eliminate a dicey connection and try another burn.

 

If that doesn't help, a program like CD and DVD Speed http://www.cdspeed2000.com/ would allow you to test the burned CD for errors, but it's quite a complex thing to do. Swapping out the drive would be a lot easier.

 

Have you another drive you can borrow to try, or someone who would be prepared to try your drive in his machine?

Thanks Brendon. I agree -- it's certainly beginning to look like the drive. I may be able to borrow another drive to try out. I'm curious to know if Andre, who experienced the same problem, had the same drive. Do you know by any chance?

[Brendon]

Afraid I don't know what he had, but in all the time I've been here yours and his are the only times I've seen this problem mentioned. He never solved it, just moved to another system. That's why I haven't been able to just point you to the cause of it.

[vabreeze]

Afraid I don't know what he had, but in all the time I've been here yours and his are the only times I've seen this problem mentioned. He never solved it, just moved to another system. That's why I haven't been able to just point you to the cause of it.

I certainly appreciate all help. I will try to get a loaner drive and see what happens then. I'll post the results.

Thanks again!!!