Unable to read from the specified device

[a2ross]

I have a Teac CDR / RW model CD-W54E. It reads and burns most things OK. I have a burned disc with a VCD movie on it. It plays fine on several other machines but has problems on mine.
I can play the first 20 mins or so but then it hangs. If I try to copy the data (.dat) file onto the PC it stops part way through with the "Unable to read from the specified device" message.
Regardless of what program I use to read the file, it dies at around the same point with the same message.
The file size shown in explorer is larger than the used size of the disc in properties.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Arthur.

 

[jexster]

Do you have enough ram becuse you could be using it all up.Its like my friends computer he has a 300mhz system and i loaned him my web cam and after about 10 minutes of usage it would all come crashing down on him so to speak.

 

[a2ross]

I've got 512Mb of RAM.

I have changed the settings in the display area relating to "hardware acceleration" and now am able to play one of the pair of discs the whole way through. Still can't copy the file though.

The other disc won't even fire up with the viewer now regardless of graphics settings so I gather it's generally just a bad copy.

Still stuffed on the Unable to read bit. Do I need to have the total file size available in RAM to be able to copy something from CD to Hard Disc?

Arthur.

 

[CitrixEngineer]

No, but you do need enough Virtual Memory and free contiguous disk space;


This is a situation where a fixed-size swap file would help.

But first, make sure you've got at least 1.5Gb free on your hard disk, empty out your Temp folders (including c:\windows\temp, Temporary Internet files, and all the *.tmp files that clog up c:\Windows, and defrag the disk (Right-click in Explorer, choose Properties, Tools, Defragment now).

If you haven't done this for ages, it could take a long time, but let it run.


Once it's finished, Right-click My Computer, click the Performance tab, and go into Virtual Memory.

Click "Let me specify my own virtual memory settings", choose the disk you have defragged, and set the minimum and maximum to be twice your available RAM (ie 1024Mb). Now you understand why we cleared at least 1.5Gb earlier

Windows will complain about this, so confirm that you really do want to do it, then reboot, as Windows suggests.

Once you've rebooted, try the operation again.

Oh, and if your processor is slower than 500Mhz, consider upgrading it.


I hope this is helpful. CitrixEngineer@yahoo.co.uk