Having trouble adding, (appending) files to CD-RW disc. Explorer crashes. Do I always have to copy the files on the CD-RW to hard drive, erase the CD-RW, then write old and new files back to CD-RW.
In answer to your question, no you don't, "Do I always have to copy the files on the CD-RW to hard drive, erase the CD-RW, then write old and new files back to CD-RW"
The exception might be when the CD eventually fills up and you still want to add some files to the set on that particular CD. With XP's burning program there are overheads (additional writing of system data to CD) that increase every time you add a single file or group of files. You can't erase individual files (you can overwrite same named files). Copying and then rewriting these files in one large group to an erased CD eliminates a lot of wasted space used by the burning program itself for organizational purposes.
How To Erase Files From a CD-RW Disc in Windows XP
I am using Windows XP itself to copy files from hard drive to CD-RW. I only wrote less than 1MB of data so the CD is nowhere near being full. Files are written ok to an erased CD. I only have trouble when I want to add more files to the CD.
I notice that Roxio's Creator Classic makes you "import" data from "appendable" CD-RW before you can add more files to the CD. I was just wondering whether Windows XP really wants you to do that too.
I believe the XP burning program was written by Roxio for Microsoft, however, it under normal circumstances, does not behave in the way you are describing. You just keep adding files until the CD is full.
As your CD/DVD is made by Sony perhaps you should check their site for any known problems, updates or firmware revisions.
What error message are you getting? Also in your Event Viewer are there lots of red X's concerning CD-ROM "bad blocks" or similar type clues?
Hi,
Often, depending on some options used by the burning program, if a CD-RW is ejected after the first set of files has been written, the CD is 'closed' and no more files can be added..
To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."
"depending on some options used by the burning program"
Can you expand this notion any further based on any personal experience? The reason I ask is that the CD Writing Wizard automatically ejects the CD at the completion of a successful burn on the machines that I use.
I put my CD-RW in my Sony DVD Writer I click on the Drive in Explorer I get:
Windows Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.
I take the CD out put it into my Samsung CD-ROM Drive, I get the same error above. I persist because I could see that the files were still there - Explorer showed them before it produced the error message. I right-click and select properties. I get:
File system: CDFS
Used: 832Kb
Free: 0
I try again to open a file on the CD - lo and behold it opens without error.
I put the CD in an external Iomega CD-RW drive I get the same properties as before. Files open ok.
I try the Sony DVD Writer again. No problem. I can open the files. Properties:
File system: CDFS
Used: 832KB
Free: 635Mb
What's going on?
I can confirm that my machine says that Roxio wrote the stuff for Microsoft (I see that notice when I use XP to erase the CD). I got the same Explorer error when I used Roxio's Creator Classic to append a file to the CD-RW. That turned me off so I decided to use XP to do the file copying to CD.
Very strange, but there again the XP burning software, in my mind, has never proved itself to be 100% satisfactory and when you mix it with other third party burning software it can be even less reliable. I certainly find that its reporting of Disk space (used and free) is more of a guess than any accurate reading.
Bad blocks on a CD could cause Explorer to malfunction and report an error, they can cause Explorer to close and refresh itself, they also are prone to cause a total hang/freeze of a machine and require a manual reboot.
The above is more usual when you are creating CD's in different writers, and swapping them between different writers with different writing or reading speeds.
Not only do you have to take into consideration the speed of the writers, but also the speed rating of various brands of CD and DVD.
Another thing to watch out for is the Recording tab in the Properties for the CD/DVD drives. You can only have one drive at a time checked to allow burning (or erasing) with XP's burning software.
I have no real solutions for you only plenty of sympathy.
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