Adaptec (Roxio)'s Easy CD Creator vis-a-vis Nero

[ukb008]

Hi.

I have a number of CD-RWs formatted by Adaptec's Easy CD Creator version 3.5 (I think). I found it easy to use those CD-RWs just like I use a floppy disk; write data by dragging and dropping, or just delete without any fuss. That version of Adaptec was up to Win Me.

It doesn't work on Win XP. I can, of course, read the data nicely in Win XP, though.

Now my questions are these:

1. Can I write on those discs now, without loss of data? I don't have the new Easy CD Creator by Roxio, but I have Nero 6.

2. Does Nero have the capability to format a new Cd-RW which then I can use in windows explorer to open it and drag and drop data into it ?

Regards.

[dani82]

might just be me, but i think it's best not to mixed burning program (ie. use this, then use that), i lost about 3 cd-r worth of data

[ukb008]

Yes, you are right. One shouldn't use two burning softwares simultaneously in the same OS. You see, I have graduated from a Win9x system to a WinXP one, necessitating a change from Adaptec > Nero simply because I didn't have Adaptec's version that work in WinXP, but I had Nero 6.

So whaddo I do?

Regards.

[ammck55]

Back up the data from the old re-writable disc to a cheap CD-R, then test your RW disc with a multi-session burn from your new Nero software. This should tell you if Nero can handle the file structure that the old Adaptec software set up in the first place.

Format a RW disc with Nero? Sure thing, check your help files and preferences index.

Adaptec's EZ CD Creator used to be extremely proprietary; I once installed Nero 5 on a machine that already had that software running and had a bad time until I uninstalled one of them. Total freeze-ups when trying to burn with either one of them. Adaptec lost out, Nero is all that I've used for almost three years, now. There's a lot of good burning software out there, but I'm familiar with Nero, I'm comfortable with it, and best of all, it has never once failed me.

ammck55

[ukb008]

After formatting the CD-RW with Nero, can I open the disc from the drive letter in the My Computer and drag and drop files into it to write?

Adapted let me write on the disc a few minutes after formatting started, and the formatting proceeded in the backgroung. It didn't matter if the disc was ejected before its completion; formatting went on the next time the disc was inserted, starting from where it had left off.

I suppose Nero can do all that?

I have only Nero in my machine for quite some time now. I find it good and dependable. Only that I haven't so far used it on CD-RWs. I'll follow your advice and see what happens.

Regards.

[ammck55]

OK, let's get on the same page. :)

I understood you to mean that you were concerned with trying to write additional data to a disc that had been written to the first time with your old Adaptec software. This would be a "multi-session" burn, meaning that you can insert the disc at a later date and write new data to the existing files. Providing, that is, that your disc has been set up for continuing a multi-session burn, and not "closed out".

Take a look at this .pdf tutorial on running Nero Multi-Session Burns (ftp://ftp6.nero.com/Support_doc/PDFData/Multisession1.pdf). These screenshots will give you a good clue on how to drag-and-drop your files for a compilation disc inside Nero's "explorer" interface. It will look like a windows explorer, but you're totally inside Nero. This tut may have been written for Nero's older "5" versions, but the documentation is still good.

That specific example I linked to was used to illustrate the creation of an .ISO disc (somewhere around step #7), but the same methods will hold true for any compilation you wish to build.

If you drag files from a Windows explorer and drop them onto your burner's drive letter, the burning software that came pre-packaged may be set as the default burning app. and take over; I've always found it easier to just open Nero, click on File > New, and make my selections and run from there. You'll figure this out pretty quickly, if you haven't already.

If you want to format and wipe all of the old data from your RW-able discs, I see no reason why Nero can't do this and carry right on, that is, if the discs are still in good shape.

What? Not a single acronym in this thread? Since discovering the acronym list, I thought you'd gone "CIA" on us--covered in acronyms. :)

Bottom line is, just get in there and rassle around with that pup and see what you can and cannot do. That's what it always boils down to, anyway.

ammck55

[mudda_t]

Originally posted by ukb008
...One shouldn't use two burning softwares simultaneously in the same OS...
Maybe not on the same disc, but thats not true for XP.
.
I have more than 5 on mine and have no problems at all.

[ammck55]

mudda_t--True, the box on which I had the software conflict mentioned earlier was running 98 SE. I should have mentioned that...;)

[ukb008]

Nero's InCD is the packet writing software that writes on a CD-RW, just like Adaptec's DirectCD did. The formatting procedures are similar, carry on in the background, and can be interrupted AAT.

Now whether a CD-RW that has data written by DirectCD can also accept data wrtten by InCD is questionable. I'll try that and report. I guess it's too much to expect from rival softwares. Although both use the UDF file system, there are bound to be differences.

Of course, as ammck55 has said, InCD can erase all data from the DirectCD-fortatted and written CD-RW and begin writing on it afreash if the discs themselves are OK.

As mudda_t observes and ammck55 endorses, WinXP can harbor multiple writers without fuss, but I am yet to learn whether there's something I want done by a writing software that Nero can't do, for me to have other writing softwares beside Nero.

TYVM for the patience that you have shown, and IAITY all.