Problems that arise when burning a CD-R.

Some suggestions that fix most common problems:

 - RTFM (Read The Fine Manual).  Sometimes it's *supposed* to work that
   way.  If you didn't receive a manual with the product, it may be in
   text or Acrobat form on a CD-ROM.
 - Check your software version.  You may need a newer version of the
   software for correct operation with your hardware (yes, even if you
   received the software with the recorder).  Most, if not all,
   CD recorder software publishers have web sites with updates.
 - Update the software.  Even if the software is new enough to be
   compatible, there's some chance that your bug has already been fixed.
 - Under Windows, check your ASPI layer.  See section (4-44) for URLs
   and notes.
 - If you've tweaked your PC BIOS to the limit and are overclocking
   everything, reset it to defaults and see if your problems clear up.
   You can always tweak it back.  If you're using a motherboard with
   a VIA chipset, make sure you are running the absolute latest version
   of the VIA drivers.

Some ideas that are only relevant to hardware and software from the 1990s:

 - Some problems with PC ATAPI drives go away when DMA is turned off for
   the drive (via the Win9x device manager; see section (5-15-1)).  You
   might also need to uninstall incompatible bus-mastering drivers
   (section (5-15)).
 - Under Windows, rename \Windows\System\Iosubsys\scsi1hlp.vxd to
   something that prevents it from being loaded ("scsi1hlp.vx_").  See
   if your problems get better.  scsi1hlp.vxd is only required for
   compatibility with old SCSI devices.
 - If you have an older recorder, and it seems to be getting progressively
   worse over time, it may need to be cleaned.  See section (3-30).


Subject: [4-1] What does "buffer underrun" mean?
(2002/11/15)

It means you have an attractive new coaster for your table.

Generally speaking, the CD recording process can't be interrupted in
mid-session.  Once the laser starts writing, any interruption would create
a physical gap on the disc that could confuse CD readers.  The recorder
must always have data to write, from the moment the recording starts until
the session ends.  To avoid a situation where a temporary slowdown in the
computer causes the write process to fail, the makers of CD recorders
put a write buffer in the drive, usually between 512K and 4MB in size.
Data read from the hard drive, tape, or another CD is stored in the buffer,
and pulled out as needed by the recorder.

If the recorder requests data from the write buffer, but there's none there,
it's called a buffer underrun.  The disc is still spinning, but there's no
data to write, so the recording process aborts.

This was a very common and very annoying problem for many years, so
most recorders released in 2001 or later have optional "buffer underrun
protection" features available.  See section (2-31).

You can sometimes use a disc that failed during writing by closing the
session and starting another, assuming there's enough space left on the
CD, and assuming your pre-mastering software didn't choose to finalize the
disc for you.  If you were using disc-at-once recording, you're probably
out of luck.

Advice for preventing buffer underruns is scattered throughout this FAQ.
A brief summary:

 - If your hardware and software support it, enable buffer underrun
   protection.  Usually this is just a checkbox.
 - Use a fast, AV-friendly hard drive (i.e. one that doesn't do slow
   thermal recalibrations).  Pretty much all drives sold since the
   late 1990s fall into this category.
 - Record at a slow speed - it takes longer to empty the buffer when
   recording at 1x.
 - Don't do anything else with the computer while recording.  Don't record
   from a file server.
 - Defragment your HD, especially if you're doing on-the-fly recording.
   (But don't defragment *while* you're recording.)
 - Record from a disc image file rather than on-the-fly.
 - Depending on your setup, putting the recorder and your hard drive on
   separate SCSI or IDE controllers may be helpful.
 - Keep your CD-R cool.  Sometimes the drives fail when they overheat,
   with a buffer underrun or an inability to finalize a session.  This
   is rarely a problem with drives made in 2000 or beyond.

Also watch out for things like anti-virus programs that wake up, virtual
memory settings that cause swapping, screen savers that activate during the
CD creation process, unusual network activity, and background downloads of
data or faxes.  One way to check is to run the HD defragmenter in Win9X.
If it restarts every few seconds, it's because something is hitting the
drive.

Some game discs use a form of copy protection where bad sectors are
deliberately placed on the original CD.  Attempting to copy one of these
discs on the fly may fail, because some CD-ROM drives slow down and
repeatedly try to read the "damaged" blocks.  The slowdown may result in
a buffer underrun before the CD-ROM drive reports an error.

A utility included with Microsoft Office, called "FindFast", will
occasionally start up and scan your hard drives.  Disabling this by
deleting the shortcut in the Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp folder may
be necessary.

If you're using Windows, see the sub-sections on Auto-Insert Notification
and VCACHE settings, below.


http://www.roxio.com/en/support/cdr/bufunder.html has a comprehensive
collection of buffer underrun info.

http://www.adaptec.com/support/configuration/cdrec.html is interesting
reading for users with CD-Rs attached to Adaptec SCSI cards.  They're
pretty far on the conservative side, but if you're having trouble this may
help you.

An article by Dana Parker entitled "CD-R on the Safe Side: Seven Rules of
Successful CD Recording" in the April 1997 issue of Emedia Professional
listed the Seven Habits of Successful CD-R Users:

 1. Defragment Your Disk
 2. Use a Partition for Staging Input
 3. Create a Real Image
 4. Test before writing
 5. Stabilize Your System for CD-R
 6. Shut Down Other Applications
 7. After the Burn: Label and Test

If you really want to be careful, you can shut down background stuff under
Win95/98 with WinSolo from http://www.procode.com.au/winsolo/ (the web site
was down at last update, but a search for it on http://www.google.com/
turned up a number of shareware sites that have it).  Another option is
WinTasks from http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintasksstd/; see
http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintasksstd/tutorials/tutorial1/ for
a tutorial.

(Side note for search engines: some versions of Ahead's Nero refer to
buffer underruns as "loss of streaming".)


Subject: [4-1-1] What's the deal with Windows Auto-Insert Notification (AIN)?
(1999/09/12)

Some of the Windows-based recording software recommend turning off
Auto-Insert Notification.  Having this on can interfere with closing
sessions or even just inserting discs into the drive.  Most of the recent
software will disable it automatically, but some of the older products
require you to disable it manually.  You can do so under Win95/Win98 by
opening the "System" icon in the Control Panel, and selecting "Device
Manager".  For each item under CD-ROM, select the device, click on the
"Settings" tab, and make sure the "Auto Insert Notification" checkbox is
unchecked.  [With a vanilla Win95 setup I got SCSI errors when AIN was off
for my CD-R but on for my CD-ROM, even if the CD-ROM drive wasn't in use at
the time.]

If you're using WinNT, you can turn it off with the "TweakUI" program
available in PowerToys (available from the Microsoft web site at
http://www.microsoft.com/), or by modifying a registry key with Regedit32
(0=disabled, 1=enabled):

  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Services \ Cdrom \ Autorun

If your software automatically turns AIN off, and you can't figure out how
to turn it back on, the TweakUI program may be able to help.  Check the
"Paranoia" settings.  (Incidentally, if installing the Power Toys screws up
your icons, select "Rebuild Icons" from the "Repair" menu.)  If you turn it
off and on again, You may have to reboot in some configurations before it
will work again.

Sidebar: the trouble with Auto Insert Notification is that it periodically
attempts to find a valid disc in the CD recorder.  A blank disc isn't very
interesting to Windows, so nothing happens.  When the table of contents is
written to the disc, it suddenly becomes interesting; and if Autorun or
Autoplay are enabled, enough activity is generated by Windows' attempts to
read the disc that the write fails.

Because it only affects CDs with actual data being written to them, a test
write won't end in failure.  It can be very frustrating to have 100%
success with test writes and 100% failures with actual writes!  With
disc-at-once recording, the process will abort very near the start of
recording, probably leaving an empty but useless disc.  With track-at-once
recording, it will fail at the end, and you may still be able to finalize
the disc.  Audio CDs will most likely work fine even if interrupted at the
end of the write process.

IMPORTANT: if you are using DirectCD for Windows, you must have AIN turned
*on*, or some things won't work quite right.  The most obvious failure mode
is that long filenames aren't shown, but some reports indicate that data on
the disc can get trashed as well.  This can make life interesting if you're
also using a conventional writing application, unless the application is
good about turning AIN off before writing.  The other Windows applications
currently sold by Roxio (notably Easy CD Creator) will automatically
disable Auto-Insert Notification when appropriate and re-enable it
afterward, so you don't have to worry about AIN at all.


Subject: [4-1-2] What's all this about Win9x VCACHE settings?
(2001/07/09)

One problem with Win95 is that by default the size of the file cache is
unrestricted.  This means that all available memory will eventually get
filled up with file data, which will cause the virtual memory system to
start swapping out pages from executing applications.  When something needs
to be executed from a page that has been swapped out, it takes time to pull
it back in off the disk.  While this is happening, the CD recorder's buffer
could drain completely.

The procedure is simple:

 (1) Open the file SYSTEM.INI with a text editor.  This file is usually
     C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.INI.
 (2) Find the section labeled "[vcache]".
 (3) Add the following lines *after* the "[vcache]" line:
        MinFileCache = 16384
        MaxFileCache = 16384
 (4) Save the changes to the file, and reboot.

The above values are recommended for a system with at least 64MB of RAM.
A common rule of thumb is to set "maxfilecache" to 25% of your RAM, up
to a maximum setting of 16MB.  Because of (actual or perceived) bugs in
Win95, some people recommend setting "minfilecache" and "maxfilecache" to
the same value.

If you have an older system with only about 16MB of RAM, you might want
to use instead:

  MinFileCache  = 512
  MaxFileCache = 4096

The [vcache] change has reportedly cured severe buffer underrun problems
with some versions of CDRWIN and removed popping noises during digital
audio extraction with Easy CD Creator.  It's a good thing to do to any PC
running Win95.  It's not necessary for WinNT.  It's not clear whether this
will help with Win98, but it doesn't seem to hurt.

If you are uncomfortable tweaking your SYSTEM.INI file, try CacheMan at
http://www.outertech.com/.  It allows you to modify the above settings,
and a few more besides.


Subject: [4-2] I can't get long Win95 filenames to work right
(1998/04/06)

Typical symptoms can be described like this:

 - Works fine in Win95 Explorer
 - Under DOS the directories are visible, but instead of "dirname<tilde>1"
   you get "dirname<tilde>57".  Attempting to read them results in errors.
 - Typing 'cd dirname~102' may fail while 'cd "Long File Names without the ~"'
   will work.

The problem occurs when certain CD-R writing programs are used to create
the discs.  The short and long forms of the filenames are sorted
differently, so some of the files can't be found.  Using newer software
(e.g. Easy CD Creator 3 instead of Easy-CD Pro) should produce better
results.


Subject: [4-3] I can't read the multisession CD I just made
(1998/04/06)

The SCSI driver needs to believe that the CD-ROM drive can handle
multisession discs.  Most likely you will need to update your SCSI drivers
before this will work.

(This problem was reported with an HP4020i and a Buslogic BT946C controller;
if you have an HP drive you should get the c4324hlp.vxd driver from the HP
web site.  See section 6 for the address.)

One possible cause of this problem is writing a multisession disc in MODE-1
format.  Some older CD-ROM drives incorrectly assume that a MODE-1 disc
can't be multisession, so they don't look for additional sessions unless
it's written in MODE-2 (CD-ROM/XA) format.

Also, if the final session on the CD isn't closed, standard CD players may
become confused (the NEC 6Xi certainly does under Win95).  This doesn't
mean that the *disc* must be closed, just that the *session* must be
closed.  (Actually, the NEC 6Xi doesn't like open discs either... sigh.)

A note on one of the Ricoh pages indicates that the Ricoh 1420C is unable
to read sessions smaller than 3 minutes (about 26MB) until firmware 1.6x.


Subject: [4-4] Write process keeps failing N minutes in
(1998/04/06)

There's a couple of possibilities.  One is that your data source can't keep
up with the CD-R; try using disc-at-once writing from a disc image with the
speed set to 1x.  If it seems to be getting worse over time, you may just
need to defragment your hard drive.

If that fails, a number of people have discovered that the problem is a
faulty CD-R unit (similar behavior has been reported on Sony and HP units,
which have different mechanisms).  You should try 1x writing from a fast
source and with different sets of data before contacting the manufacturer,
since they will likely tell you to do exactly that anyway.

Be sure that there aren't environmental factors creating difficulties.
CD-R units are usually built to handle small shocks, but having a set of
speakers playing loud music on the same table as a CD-R may cause it to
skip, resulting in a failed write.  Sonic booms, heavy construction
equipment, and nuclear detonations may have similar effects.

It's also possible that you simply have a bad batch of media.  Try a
different type and brand of disc.  Some distributors (e.g. dataDisc) will
exchange media that's provably defective.

Be careful with Advanced Power Management functions on some PCs.  If the
keyboard and IDE devices are completely idle, the system may decide that
nothing is going on and switch to a low-power mode.  Ditto for screen
savers that kick in after the system has been idle for a certain period.


Subject: [4-5] Why did my CD-R eject and re-load the disc between operations?
(2005/04/05)

CD recorders (and modern CD-ROM drives) have a chunk of RAM that holds
blocks read from the disc.  Some drives provide a way to clear this out,
some don't.

All drives need to have their block cache cleared out after writing
completes and before disc verification begins.  If this weren't done,
the files being verified could be read out of the block cache instead
of from the disc itself, defeating the purpose of the verification pass.
Also, some CD recorders need to have their recording buffers explicitly
cleared between the "test" and "write" passes.

The most reliable, 100%-guaranteed-to-work approach is to eject the
disc and re-insert it.  Watching your CD tray open and close can be
startling at first, but in general it's harmless.

Back in the early days of CD recording, the situation was a bit more
awkward.  Caddy drives were the norm, so an ejected disc had to be
manually re-inserted.  Some poorly-written CD recording software would
automatically start the "write" pass a few seconds after the "test" pass,
without waiting for the disc to be re-inserted, so you either had to be
paying close attention or set the "wait until told to continue" option.


Subject: [4-6] My CD-ROM drive doesn't like *any* CD-R discs
(1998/04/06)

A very simple test is to take a CD that DOES work, copy it, and try both
(this ensures that your problems aren't being caused by, for example, a
drive that doesn't support multisession CDs).

Sometimes the firmware can be at issue.  In one specific case, a Goldstar
GCD580B CD-ROM drive was able to read CD-Rs under Win95 but not MS-DOS
6.22.  Upgrading the firmware from v1.01 to v1.24 solved the problem.

If it fails with different kinds of media, the CD-ROM drive either doesn't
like discs written with your recorder, or doesn't like CD-R media at all.
In one case, returning the CD-ROM for an identical unit resolved the
problems.

While there are stringent specifications for discs, there are no such
specifications for CD players and CD-ROM drives.  They just have to play
the discs.  If the disc and the drive are both marginal, you lose.


Subject: [4-7] How do I avoid having a ";1" on my ISO-9660 discs?
(2008/05/21)

The ISO-9660 standard says the version number (a semicolon followed by a
number at the end of every filename) has to be there.  Most operating
systems simply ignore it, so it's rare to actually see it outside of
data recovery software.

(Some pre-1998 Macintoshes had trouble with this.  Look at "ISO 9660 File
Access" in the System:Extensions folder with Command-I.  If the version
shown is 5.0 or greater, your system should handle the version numbers
just fine.  If not, you should update your system software.)

If you can't find a way to work around it, "mkisofs" has an option to omit
the version number when constructing an ISO-9660 image.


Subject: [4-8] I keep getting SCSI timeout errors
(2008/05/21)

This is was more common pre-2000, before IDE drives took over.

Check your cabling and termination (see section (4-17) for more advice
there), turn off features you don't need, and under Windows try disabling
Auto Insert Notification (see section (4-1-1)).


Subject: [4-9] I'm having trouble writing a complete disc
(2008/05/21)

(This is for failures other than buffer underruns.  For those, see
section (4-1) and perhaps section (4-4).)

If it's failing right as the disc is being finalized, and you're recording
in track-at-once mode, try recording in disc-at-once mode instead.  It has
been suggested that some recorder+media combinations have trouble reading
the PMA (Program Memory Area, where a copy of the TOC is kept until the
disc is finalized) at the end of a write.  With disc-at-once mode the
TOC is written early, so it doesn't have to get read out of the PMA.
See section (2-19) for the low-down on disc finalization.

Try letting the drive cool down (leave the machine off for a couple of
hours if you have an internal drive).  Power up the machine and
immediately record the disc.  Sometimes heat buildup can cause problems,
though this should not happen with modern (post-2000) drives.


Some older notes:

On Windows systems, check your ASPI layer.  See section (4-44).

One user with an ATAPI recorder found that disabling DMA (from the Win98
peripheral properties) made things better.

This was happening frequently with the HP4020i running off an AdvanSys SCSI
card under Win311 (i.e. WfWG).  The solution here was to remove IFSHLP.SYS
from the CONFIG.SYS.  (IFSHLP.SYS is somehow involved with 32-bit file
access and network support, so you may have to disable both of these before
disabling IFSHLP.  You may have better luck under Win95.)

Another user with the same setup found that doing power-up diagnostics and
device reset right before burning the CD helped.


Subject: [4-10] What's the CDD2000 Write Append Error / spring problem?
(2000/08/08)

This seems to happen on Philips CDD2000-based units, such as the HP4020i,
usually a short while after the warranty runs out.  The most common cause
is a spring that weakens with age, but it might also be due to lubrication
breakdown.  After a while, the recorder starts failing when trying to write
beyond a certain point on the disc.

The ways of dealing with this range from minor system changes to the
placement of chicken entrails on selected components.  Reducing the DMA
rate on the AdvanSys SCSI card (for the HP4020i) may help, buying better
SCSI cables and checking for proper termination may make a difference, or
even powering off and on again right before the burn.  For some users,
however, the problem is mechanical rather than spiritual.

One user was told by Philips tech support that if error 50h (write append)
occurs, it means the drive has to be returned to the repair center.  Other
users have been told that the error can occur when attempting to write an
empty directory or zero-length file.  Under Easy-CD Pro '95, this is
reported as error 171-00-50-00 (see the Roxio web site for a complete
list of error codes).

If the fault is caused by the worn spring, it may be possible to fix the
problem by replacing the spring.  This will definitely void your warranty,
and you shouldn't even think about trying this unless the only alternative
is to throw the drive away.  Jonathan Oei posted some details about the
process (search for comp.publish.cdrom.hardware, subject "CDD2000 & Spring
Fix", on http://groups.google.com/), and a detailed description of the
procedure can be found on http://www.fadden.com/doc/fix-hp4020i.txt.

This procedure requires some special tools (mini torx drivers and really
fine jeweller's pliers), and involves disassembling much of the drive.  If
you open up the drive and remove the circuit boards, you will see that the
laser writing assembly is moved by a DC stepper motor.  The motor has a
plastic drive gear that is meshed with a plastic "rack" on the laser.  The
spring in question is a piece of wire that pushes the rack against the
drive gear, so when it weakens the gear slips and the write fails.
Replacing the 0.012" wire with a 0.02" diameter wire solves the problem.

The high temperature in the drive may contribute to the breakdown of the
lubricants that allow the laser head to travel.  You may be able to prevent
the situation by installing a fan.

This question is also covered in the HP4020i FAQ, available at
http://www.cd-info.com/CDIC/Technology/CD-R/HP-FAQ.html.


Subject: [4-11] Getting errors reading the first (data) track on mixed-mode CD
(1998/08/16)

There's a 150-sector postgap at the end of the data track.  Most programs
deal with this automatically, some older ones don't.  If you're getting
errors, try subtracting 150 from the total number of sectors to read for
that track.


Subject: [4-12] My recorder ejects blank discs immediately
(2002/05/02)

There are a few of possibilities, some software and some hardware.

It may be that the system is looking at the disc, not finding a TOC (table
of contents), and ejecting it as useless.  One way to tell the difference
between the operating system rejecting the CD and the drive rejecting the
CD is to unplug the SCSI or IDE cable from the back of the CD recorder
before inserting the disc.

If the drive pauses for a little while before ejecting, it may be rejecting
the media.  On some units you get a blinking warning light instead.  If
this is happening, try a different brand of media.

If the problem is the operating system, you probably need to disable
certain features.  Under Win95, disable auto insertion for all CD-ROM
devices (see section (4-1)).  One user found that reinstalling Win95
helped.  On the Mac, you may just need more recent drivers.  On a Solaris
system, remove the recorder (probably the "cdrom" entry) from
/etc/vold.conf.

If that doesn't work, make sure the CD-R drive is perfectly level.
Apparently some older (1996-ish) units were sensitive to being tilted at
an angle.  Some users have had trouble when a CD-R has been on for a while
and has overheated, so if you only have trouble when the machine has been
powered on for a while, try putting a small fan above the unit to blow
air over it.

With some drives, improper SCSI termination can cause this behavior.

For the Yamaha CDR-200/CDR-400, this may be a sign that the drive has
broken down and needs to be replaced.  See section (5-1-1).

If nothing helps, there's a strong possibility that the drive is mis-
aligned and needs to be serviced.  This has been known to happen to drives
during shipping.

One user with a caddy-based drive reported problems when using the wrong
type of caddy.  It has to be a Sony-type caddy, which is the kind most
commonly found in stores.


Subject: [4-13] I'm getting complaints about power calibration
(2002/12/29)

The optical power output range of the laser in a low-speed CD-R is between
4 and 8 milliwatts.  (By comparison, the read laser runs at about 0.5mW.)
High-speed recorders and CD-RW devices use a greater range, up to about
40mW for 48X CD-R.  At the top end of the scale are DVD-R recorders,
which output around 100mW for 4x recording and 200mW for 16X recording.
CD-R and CD-RW discs have a section outside the standard recording area
called the Power Calibration Area (PCA) that is used to adjust the laser
for the brand of media you're using and the speed at which you're recording.

Power calibration errors indicate that the drive is having trouble
calibrating the power setting.  The most common cause is incompatibility
with the media you're using -- if you just switched to a new brand or
batch of media, this is a likely culprit -- but it can also be caused by
a dirty lens or a dying recorder.

If you're seeing "power calibration area full", it means the recorder
ran out of space in the PCA area.  There are 99 regions in the PCA area.
After 99 attempts to calibrate the power level, there won't be any
places left, and the recorder will report an error.

Try a few different kinds of media to see if the problem is an
incompatibility between your recorder and the discs you're using.  If that
doesn't make a difference, there are a couple of things you can do to
mitigate the problem.  First, you can try recording at a slower speed.
The recorder will use a different "write strategy", which usually means a
lower power level.  Second, if you're storing the discs in a cold place,
you may want to try heating them up to slightly above room temperature
(placing them near a heating vent works).  One user found that this helped.

If all else fails, and the drive is still in warranty, you should have
the drive checked by a repair facility.  If it's out of warranty, or
there's no easy way to have it checked out, you can try cleaning it.
See section (3-30).

Some versions of the firmware for the Philips CDD2000 (and HP 4020i) will
report a power calibration error if you try to do a 1x write after a 4x
read.

It's also good to verify, if your CD recorder is an internal unit, that
your power supply has enough capacity to run everything.  Recent PCs
systems should have a 300W or better power supply.

One user found that his problems went away when he created an image file
with Easy CD Creator, quit out of the program, restarted it, and then
recorded from the image at a moderate speed.  (Doesn't make much sense,
but if it works, use it.)


Subject: [4-14] My Adaptec 2940 pauses after finding my recorder
(1998/04/06)

This was observed with a Yamaha CDR-100.  The solution is to go into the
Adaptec BIOS (hit Ctrl-A during boot), and disable the "support removable
disks under BIOS as fixed disks" option and the "boot from CD-ROM" option.


Subject: [4-15] I can't see all the files on the CD-R
(1998/04/06)

There's a couple of possibilities: either they aren't there, or they're
there but you can't see them.  Looking at the disc from different machines
(e.g. Mac and PC) should give you some idea.

Out-of-date versions of MSCDEX have been known to "forget" certain files
when browsing a disc.  If you're using DOS or are using the "real mode"
drivers from within Win95, make sure you're using the most recent version
of MSCDEX.

Old versions of certain CD creation programs would occasionally omit things
when asked to burn a large number of files.  These problems haven't been
reported for some time, however.

If you were burning a multi-session CD, read the next section.


Subject: [4-16] My multi-session disc only has data from the last session
(2004/07/22)

A common mistake when burning a multisession CD-ROM is to forget to link
the files from the previous session(s) into the current one.  This results
in a CD-ROM where you can see the new files but none of the old, unless
you have a program that lets you choose which session you look at.

Most recording applications these days will ask you if you want to preserve
the data from the earlier sessions, or will default to keeping it.  Earlier
versions of the software either defaulted to throwing it away or didn't
support the feature at all.

The files themselves aren't really lost.  Some programs are available that
will let you access the "lost" data, including IsoBuster (section (6-2-20))
and CD-R Diagnostic (6-2-6).  Some CD recording software will allow you to
extract the data track from a specific session, which you can then access
with IsoBuster or WinImage (6-2-2).

A more transparent solution is to use a "session selector", such as the one
that ships with Roxio software.  This lets you choose which session you see
in Windows explorer.

Some older CD-ROM drives had a "feature" that caused them to stop looking
for sessions after a certain point, so if you wrote too many of them you'd
"lose" the data from the last session rather than the next-to-last.  This
is also curable with the above solutions, though you may have to use a more
recent drive.


Subject: [4-17] I'm getting SCSI errors
(1998/07/26)

Good SCSI cables and correct termination are absolutely essential.  SCSI
bus errors can cause buffer underruns or corrupted data (especially since
some vendors ship drives with parity checking disabled).

Bertel Schmitt wrote an excellent article on the ins and outs of proper
cabling and termination.  The article can be found in text form at
http://www.fadden.com/doc/scsi-trm.txt.  Granite Digital, a company
that makes high-quality cables and terminators, can be found at
http://www.scsipro.com/.

If you're using an HP 4020i with the AdvanSys SCSI card, reducing the DMA
transfer rate may help.


Subject: [4-18] Why doesn't the copy of an audio CD sound the same?
(1998/04/06)

There are actually two questions here, so I've split them into separate
sections.  The most common problem is that the audio extracted to the hard
drive doesn't quite match the original.


Subject: [4-18-1] Why doesn't the audio data on the copy match the original?
(1998/04/06)

Most problems are due to poor digital audio extraction from the source
media.  Some CD-ROM drives will return slightly different data every time
an audio track is read.  Others, like the Plextor line (e.g. 4Plex, 8Plex,
and 12Plex, but not 6Plex) will return the same data every time so long as
the source media is clean.

The most fundamental problem is that, if the CD is dirty, the error
correction may not be able to correct all of the errors.  Some drives will
interpolate the missing samples, some won't.

Another problem some CD-ROM drives face is "jitter".  See section (2-15)
for details.

See also section (3-3) on avoiding clicks in extracted audio, and section
(5-5) on which CD-ROM drives are recommended.


Subject: [4-18-2] The audio data matches exactly, why do they sound different?
(2008/05/02)

Suppose you extract the audio track from the copy, and it's an exact binary
match of the track you wrote from your hard drive, but the CDs don't sound
quite the same.  What then?

Most people don't notice any difference between originals and duplicates.
Some people notice subtle differences, some people notice huge differences;
on better CD players, the differences are harder to hear.  Some say CD-R is
better, some say worse.  While it's true that "bits are bits", there *are*
reasons why CD-Rs may sound different even when the data matches exactly.

An excellent paper on the subject is "The Numerically-Identical
CD Mystery: A Study in Perception Versus Measurement" by Ian Dennis,
Julian Dunn, and Doug Carson, presented to the Audio Engineering Society
in April 1997 (paper MOA-06).  It's available for download in PDF form
at http://www.prismsound.com/m_r_downloads/cdinvest.pdf.  The paper is
primarily concerned with why pressed CDs created at different plants or
with different methods sound different, but the observations are relevant
to CD-R as well.

The conclusions in the paper suggest that low-frequency modulations in the
disc affect the servo and motor electronics, causing distortion in the
analog outputs that are noticeable to a critical listener.


One prominent theory is jitter.  This isn't the DAE "jitter" described
in section (2-15), but rather a timebase error.   A good overview can be
found in the jitter article on http://www.digido.com/.  A brief explanation
follows.

The digital-to-analog ("D/A") conversion at the output of the CD player
is driven by a clock in the CD player.  The clock is tied into feedback
mechanisms that keep the disc spinning at the proper speed.  If the digital
signal being read from the disc has irregular timing, small errors can
be induced in the output clock.  Even if the CD player gets all of the
digital bits accurately, it will produce inferior results if the timing
of the bits on the disc isn't precise.  Put another way, something has to
send a sample to the speakers 44100 times per second, and if it's speeding
up and slowing down many times each second your ears are going to notice.

There is some question as to whether the clock driving the output will
actually be affected by the input.  If the output clock in the CD player
is isolated and stable, jitter from the CD will not affect it.

If you play a CD digitally (e.g. by ripping it and then playing it through
a sound card), the quality of the CD doesn't matter, because it's the
timing of the clock in the sound card that drives the D/A conversion.

It has been asserted that the clocking of bits on a CD-R isn't as precise
as on a pressed CD.  Writing at different speeds on different types of
media requires adjustments to the "write strategy" (section (3-31)) that
can result in individual "marks" being sloppier than at other speeds.
This could account for inferior -- or at least different -- sound.

Yamaha believes they have found a partial solution for jitter problems
with their Audio Master Quality feature.  See section (2-41).

There do not appear to be any carefully constructed (double-blind)
tests published on the web that confirm that jitter is the cause of this
phenomenon.  The "Numerically-Identical CD Mystery" paper rejects jitter
as a possible cause.


Some people have asserted that *any* two CDs, pressed or otherwise, will
sound slightly different.  Some claim to hear differences in identical
CDs from different pressing plants.  The former is silly, but the latter
has a lot of anecdotal evidence to support it.

It's possible that a poorly-written CD-R will be harder to read and
result in more errors than a simple CD player can correct, resulting
in interpolation and audible differences.  These effects, which can be
measured as C1/C2 error counts on many CD-ROM drives, don't show up in
disc scan results because the computer-based drive is built better.

The manual for the CDD2000 reportedly states that the drive uses 4x
oversampling when playing pressed CDs, but switches to 1x for CD-R.
This affects the quality of the D/A conversion, and can make an audible
difference.

http://www.mrichter.com/cdr/primer/losses.htm has some further thoughts,
including a table showing signal level differences.

An extremely technical introduction to CD reading is available at
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~erick205/Papers/paper.html.  This may shed some
light on why reading audio CDs is difficult, as well as explain concepts
like aliasing and dither.

If you are finding your CD-Rs to be noticeably inferior, try different media,
different write speeds, a different player, or perhaps a different recorder.
There is some evidence that different brands of media and recorders may
work better for audio, but in the end it's a highly subjective matter.
Some people say CD-Rs sound worse, some people say they sound better (and
some people think vinyl records are still the best).


Subject: [4-19] Digital audio extraction of a track is shifted slightly
(1998/04/06)

Some recorders don't correctly extract digital audio if the pregap of the
first track isn't exactly two seconds.  A bug in the firmware causes the
drive to start extracting slightly past the start of the track, and stop
extracting slightly past the end.  This can result in an audible glitch if
the music starts at the exact start of the track, and can cause the drive
to fail with an error when extracting the last track on the CD.

CDs that start at 00:02:32 (0 minutes, 2 seconds, and 32 blocks) are
surprisingly common.  The problem can be worked around manually, by looking
at the output of Jeff Arnold's freeware TOC program (available from
http://www.goldenhawk.com/) and supplying "/start=" and "/end=" parameters
that adjust backward by the number of blocks in excess of two seconds.

For example, if the first track started at 00:02:32, you would subtract
32 from the starting and ending Logical Block Addresses.

A better solution is to use a CD-ROM drive that doesn't have this problem
(and most likely can extract audio more quickly than the CD-R can).

The Yamaha CDR-100/102 and the Philips CDD2600 are known to have this
problem, though it may get fixed by a firmware update.  The Ricoh 6200S
reportedly does not return the disc's table of contents correctly for these
sorts of discs.

Newer recorders, and newer software, should deal with this situation
correctly.


Subject: [4-20] I can't play extracted audio files by double-clicking in Win95
(2001/07/09)

The default audio player in Win95 tries to load the entire file into
memory.  When an extracted track is 40 or 50MB, and you don't have that
much RAM, Win95's virtual memory system starts writing pieces out to disk.
The disk thrashes, and you get nowhere.

There are several ways around this.  If you right-click on the file
and select "properties", you will see a "preview" tab.  This will play
it directly from disk.  Another way is to use a different program.
One possibility is the Media Player, which is optionally installed
with Win95.  You can make it the default WAV file player by selecting
View/Options from Win95 explorer, clicking on the "File Types" tab, and
choosing "Wave Sound".  Double-click on Play and change the program name
from "sndrec32.exe" to "mplayer.exe", leaving the "/play" and "/close"
flags intact.

The WMA player in more recent versions of Windows should work correctly.


Subject: [4-21] I can't read an ISO-finalized packet-written disc
(1998/04/06)

This problem is often experienced by HP7100/7110 users.  HP chose to ship
packet-writing software with their drives rather than conventional
premastering software, leaving users with discs that couldn't be read on a
fair number of systems.  (The HP7200 is the same drive, shipped with
updated firmware and a more complete set of software.)

The following is an excerpt from an Adaptec readme.txt file.  It talks
about DirectCD, but the problem is inherent in all packet writing
solutions:

  "When the disc is in the native format used by DirectCD, you will 
  only be able to read the disc on a CD-R device running DirectCD. 
  This is a direct result of the technology used when writing to a 
  CD-R disc. In order to make the disc readable on a standard CD-ROM 
  DirectCD must write certain data to the disc. This provides 
  compatibility with many of the current drives on the market today.  
  Unfortunately, there are still a number of CD-ROM drives that 
  cannot read the packet written media that DirectCD produces. If 
  you experience problems in this area, you should go to System in 
  Control Panel, select Performance, File System, CD-ROM and set the 
  Access Pattern to "No Read-Ahead". If you still experience 
  problems after making this adjustment, it is likely that the CD-
  ROM drive itself is having problems reading packet written media. 

  It should also be noted that there is an industry initiative 
  called MultiRead that addresses these issues and has the support 
  of all the major vendors of CD-ROM and CD-R/RW devices. This 
  initiative will eliminate the above problems and should be 
  available on all new drives."

If you want to share data between systems, and the remote system isn't
guaranteed to have a MultiRead CD-ROM drive, you should write the disc
with conventional software.


Subject: [4-22] I'm finding corrupted files on the CD-ROMs I write
(2000/10/20)

There have been a fair number of people who have burned a CD-ROM only to
discover that, while they can read text files, run applications, and look
at graphics, they can't extract from .ZIP archives or run compressed
applications (e.g. some "Setup.EXE"s under Win95).  A common complaint
is a dialog with "the file is not a valid win32 application".

The problem they're seeing isn't just corruption of .ZIP files though.
Most kinds of files have a lot of redundancy in them.  If a single bit is
lost out of a long text file, the chances of it being noticed are very
slight.  For an application, the chances of it causing a failure depend on
where in the file the error falls.  For a compressed file, though, every
bit is significant, and in a .ZIP archive the CRC has a very high
probability of detecting errors.  (CRC is cyclic redudancy check.  Most
file archivers compute a 32-bit CRC on the uncompressed input and store it
in the archive.  When you extract the files, the CRC is checked to ensure
that nothing has been damaged.)

Eliminating these errors could be as simple as replacing a bad SCSI cable.
One way to narrow the possibilities down is to try the disc in different
readers on different machines.  If the same error shows up in the same
place, the error was introduced during writing rather than while reading
the data back.  Another thing to try is to burn the same disc twice.  If
the data written to the CD-Rs doesn't match the original, but they do match
each other, then the errors are happening in the same place every time,
rather than at random, so the trouble might be with a driver or firmware
instead of a flaky cable or bad RAM.

If a file appears to be getting corrupted on the CD-R, try copying it back
to the hard drive and then comparing it to the original.  If possible, see
if the file is missing large chunks or just has sporadic damage
throughout.  You can use the DOS "fc" command (e.g. "FC /B FILE1 FILE2")
or one of the fancier applications listed in section (3-22).

If you can identify the problem as being with the reader or the writer you
may be able to focus on just one part of your system.  If the trouble
appears to be with your writer, and you can't get it to work, try to move
it to somebody else's system and see if it works from there.  It's
possible, though unlikely, that the CD recorder is flaky.

Whatever the case, the place to start is to check all cables, connections,
SCSI termination, L2 cache, and RAM.  One user with an otherwise properly
functioning system was able to fix the CD-R corruption problems by correcting
the RAM timings in the BIOS setup.  Use a memory tester, such as "Memtest86"
from http://www.memtest86.com/, to look for bad RAM.  A couple of others
found that their problems went away when they disabled the L2 cache on the
motherboard.  Sometimes adding a new device will make cables (especially
longer ones) turn flaky.  Sometimes the flakiness only affects one device.
Swapping the cables is inexpensive, easy, and very likely to root out
the cause of your problems.  Section (4-17) has some tips on SCSI stuff.
If your problem is media compatibility, and the errors are a result of the
BLER (error rate) exceeding the error correction's ability to fix them,
then changing to a different brand of media might help.

One last thing: make sure the original files are valid before you go on a
wild goose chase!


Subject: [4-23] Having trouble playing an audio CD in a home or car player
(2001/07/09)

There are a few possibilities.  First and foremost is media compatibility.
Not all players get along with all brands of CD-R media.  You need to find
a combination of recorder, media, and player that get along.  Read section
(7-2) to learn more.  A CD-R media identifier (like the one listed in
section (6-2-9)) can help you be sure that you're trying discs from
different manufacturers, but they aren't 100% reliable (section (2-33)).

If you're trying to use CD-RW media, your odds of success are worse than
with CD-R.  CD-RW discs simply won't play on most CD players.

Another common problem is failing to close the disc at the end of writing.
You can't play an audio CD on a common CD player until the session has been
closed.  You may be able to play it back with the CD recorder though.
Also, don't forget that you have to write all of the audio data into the
first session of a multisession CD.  CD players don't know how to find the
later sessions, so tracks written there won't get played.

Sometimes the CD player will spin the disc up but won't start playing it.
Sometimes it will have no problem playing the tracks, but will have a great
deal of difficulty seeking between tracks or moving fast-forward.  Using a
different brand of media or a different CD player may produce better results.

If you're getting skips and jumps, make sure that you don't have anti-skip
protection enabled.  This is usually only available on portable or car
players, and you may not be able to disable it on car players.  Car CD
players are notoriously picky about media.  See also section (4-40).

One user with a Jensen car CD stereo was unable to use blanks immediately
after recording them.  After a couple of days, the discs suddenly started
working.  This "delayed finalizing" behavior appears consistently repeatable,
not a one-time event.  Recording at 1x instead of 4x resulted in discs
that were immediately usable.

Some media works better at 1x, 2x, or 4x than it does at other speeds.  You
may find that slowing down or speeding up the recorder helps.

If the disc plays okay at first and starts sounding bad later, or it
sounds okay on the first few tracks but gets noisy toward the end of
the disc, see section (4-47).

One reader reported that many CD players have a laser power adjustment that
can be tweaked to improve things.  Fiddling with the insides of devices
you don't have manuals for is generally unwise, so don't go looking unless
you're desperate.

Finally, remember that you have to write the disc in CD-DA format!  If you
just write a bunch of .WAV files to a disc in CD-ROM format, it's not going
to work in your home stereo.


Subject: [4-24] Having trouble using a CD-ROM on a different machine
(2002/09/22)

As with audio CDs, discussed in the previous section, there are several
possibilities.  The media compatibility issues mentioned above apply to
CD-ROM as well.

If you're using CD-RW media rather than CD-R media, you have to be sure
that the CD-ROM drive in question is MultiRead compliant.  Some older
drives are able to read CD-RW media, but most are not.  Newer drives
should work fine.

If the disc was written using a packet writing application like DirectCD
(where you format a disc and then copy files directly to it, instead of
creating a disc layout and recording a whole bunch of stuff all at once),
some CD-ROM drives will stumble on packet boundaries.  Refer to section
(4-21) for information and a possible workaround.

If a packet-written disc was closed in ISO-9660 Level 3 format, it won't be
usable on systems that don't support ISO-9660 level 3 (e.g. DOS).  If the
disc was *not* closed as ISO-9660, and is still in UDF, you will need a UDF
driver; see sections (6-3) and (6-3-1) for an overview and pointers to free
drivers.  If the failing system is running Windows XP, see
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q321640& for an
article on using UDF discs under XP.


Subject: [4-25] I can't copy a VideoCD
(1998/08/29)

If you put a VideoCD (White Book) into your CD-ROM drive, you will see a
bunch of files and directories like you would on any other CD-ROM.  In
fact, with the appropriate software installed, on some platforms you can
double-click on a file to play the video.

In practice, however, the video files are stored on separate tracks, using
CD-ROM/XA MODE-2 FORM-2.  This allows more data to be stored on a VideoCD,
at the price of less error correction.  If the video is short enough, you
may be able to copy the disc as a collection of files, but some players may
be unable to play back selections if the original disc had more than one
track.

You need to use a program like Roxio's CD Copier or GoldenHawk's CDRWIN
to copy the disc track-by-track, preserving the mode of the original.

If your drive only supports track-at-once recording, you may have trouble
copying VideoCDs because the starting address gets shifted when the drive
writes a gap between tracks.  NTI's CD-Copy (section 6-1-12) gives you the
option of dropping the last part of the previous track to preserve the
start position of the next track.

Note that MODE-2 FORM-2 holds 2324 bytes of data per sector, so instead of
a total capacity of around 650MB, you can put closer to 740MB on a disc.
If you don't record the VideoCD data files in the correct format, you will
find yourself running out of room.  (The extra space is gained by throwing
out error correction codes that aren't necessary for video data.  Writing
ordinary data in this format is not recommended.)


Subject: [4-26] The test write succeeds, but the actual write fails
(2002/08/16)

This often used to be a problem with auto-insert notification being enabled
when it shouldn't be.  See the discussion in section (4-1).

If you're using track-at-once recording, and the actual write is failing
when the disc is 100% complete and the TOC is being written, you may be
able to solve your problems by using a different brand of media.  See
the notes in section (4-9).

One person supposedly fixed a similar problem by replacing the power
supply in their computer.  Apparently the 200W supply wasn't enough to
handle everything that was connected to it, and the resultant "brown out"
may have been causing problems during writing.


Subject: [4-27] I can no longer erase a particular CD-RW disc
(2001/06/26)

It's possible that the disc has developed a region that can't be erased.
More likely is that the software or firmware is acting up.  If you're using
Easy CD Creator, insert a good CD-RW disc, and start the Erase process.
Just before you hit the final "OK" button to start the erase, swap the
troubled blank disc in place of the good one.

If this succeeds, you probably ought to run it through the erase procedure
one additional time before using it.

Super Blank, from http://www.ping.be/kris-schoofs/, reportedly accomplishes
the same thing without requiring a disc swap.

If this doesn't work, there is an (unconfirmed) report that a UV EPROM
eraser will do the trick.  Experiments have shown that leaving the disc
out in direct sunlight for a couple of hours may also help.  The resulting
disc won't be fully erased, but it may be "blank enough" that you can
then use Super Blank to finish the job.  (Somebody else has reported that
polycarbonate is opaque to UV light, suggesting that the discs should be
left label-side-up if this is to work at all.)

If nothing at all works, make a careful examination of the write surface
of the disc.  It's possible the disc is physically damaged and can't be
used.


Subject: [4-28] Having trouble formatting discs with DirectCD
(2001/07/09)

First off, see section (3-40) for an explanation of the different ways to
make a disc look empty.  For conventional CD recording, you don't want
to format the disc at all.

If it's a CD-RW that you've used before, try erasing it first.  If you
can't seem to do that either, see section (4-27).

One user with DirectCD 5.01 had troubles that went away by changing the
VCACHE settings from min=2048 max=6144 to min=0 max=10240.  See section
(4-1-2) for information about the surprisingly important VCACHE settings.

It has been reported that some virus scanners, notably TBAV, can interfere
with the format process and should be disabled.


This was sent to me by Jac Goudsmit, regarding formatting CD-RW media
with DirectCD for Windows 2.0a:

"When [Roxio] DirectCD refuses to format a CD-RW for packet-writing, it's
possible that the disc is not completely blank. This may happen because you
chose the "quick" option when you last erased it. The quick-erase option
only erases the lead-in area to make the hardware and software think the
disc is empty. This is fine if you're going to use the disc for "normal"
writing as a CD-ROM, audio disc or whatever.

The packet-writing formatter in DirectCD 2.0a however (apparently) requires
the disc to be totally empty, so you really have to do a full erase if the
disc contained data previously.

BUT: there's another problem: after you do a full erase and shut down the
program you erase with (e.g. EasyCD Pro or Easy CD Creator) it's possible
that the DirectCD program won't recognize the disc as valid media, and you
still won't be able to format it, until you restart the computer.

Unfortunately this means that if you want to start using a previously
recorded CD-RW for packet writing, you'll have to wait a total time of at
least an hour and a half for the erase and format to complete..."


Subject: [4-29] I can't write CD-Rs after installing Windows 98
(1998/07/07)

(Many users had trouble with Win98 shortly after it was released.  These
problems can still arise if you re-install the original Win98.)

If you're using Easy CD Creator 3, try uninstalling it, rebooting, and
then reinstalling it.  This seems to fix the problems for the people
reporting them.  Doing the same for other software may have similar
beneficial effects.  Apparently ECDC3 installs its own versions of some
system drivers (e.g. ASPI), which get overwritten when Win98 is installed.
Uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers puts the ECDC3-friendly versions
back.

Make sure your ASPI (Advanced SCSI Programmer's Interface) layer is up to
date, even if you have an IDE recorder.  See section (4-44).


Subject: [4-30] I can't use the copy of a CD-ROM after installing Windows 98
(1998/09/14)

(This refers to systems upgraded from Win95 to Win98.)

This problem has been recognized by Microsoft.  The resolution is posted on
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q186/2/97.asp.

The basic problem is that, after upgrading to Windows 98, copies of some
CD-ROMs (usually copy-protected games) will refuse to run, insisting that
you insert the original disc.  Microsoft has recommended two methods for
resolving this issue.  The first is to simply use the original disc.

The second recommendation is to make a new copy of the disc under Win98.
Why this works is unclear, and the Microsoft support pages aren't much
help.  They only say that the behavior is not caused by a bug, but rather
"design changes in Windows 98".  (It appears that using Win98 to write a
new session onto an existing disc will also cure the problem, but if you
aren't in the habit of leaving a new session open on copies of game discs,
this won't help you much.)

One possibility is that Win98 returns a value for the volume label that is
closer to what is actually stored (perhaps there was some sort of character
set conversion or truncation going on in Win95).  Copy protected games
often check the volume label as a way of obstructing inexperienced software
pirates.


Subject: [4-31] The disc I was writing with DirectCD is now unreadable
(2006/09/04)

Start with http://www.mrichter.com/cdr/primer/udf.htm to get an
understanding of what DirectCD is doing.

A popular way to screw up DirectCD's UDF handling is to remove the disc
without letting the software finish up.  You can accomplish this by rebooting
while it's working, attempting to disable it by doing something other
than uninstalling it (see section (3-45)), or by turning off auto-insert
notification.

If you have DirectCD 2.x, you may be able to recover the data with the
included Scan Disc utility.  CD-R Diagnostic (6-2-6) and IsoBuster (6-2-20)
may also be able to recover data.

Rule of thumb: don't delete data off your hard drive until the disc is
finalized and verified readable.  Too many bad things can happen when
writing to a disc.


Subject: [4-32] I'm getting a message about 100 form transitions
(2000/05/05)

When attempting to copy certain discs, Easy CD Creator (as of v3.x) will
say something like:

  "The current track contains more than 100 form transitions.  Easy CD
  Creator cannot handle more than 100 form transitions on a single track.
  The disc cannot be copied."

This appears to be a form of copy protection, where a disc uses both FORM-1
and FORM-2 on a CDROM/XA MODE-2 disc.

One user reported that this only happens when trying to copy a Playstation
game by first copying the tracks to the hard drive.  If you make a copy
directly from one disc to the other, the errors won't occur.

According to Roxio, the message can also occur if the source drive is
reporting more than 100 tracks on the disc, or if the source drive is
defective in some specific way.


Subject: [4-33] My system hangs when I insert a blank disc
(1999/10/10)

You may have a bad installation of a CD recording program like DirectCD.
When you insert a blank disc, the software tries to identify it to give
you the opportunity to format it for packet writing.

If you have packet software like DirectCD or PacketCD installed, try
uninstalling it and see if the problem goes away.  In some cases you
might need to get rid of windows\system\iosubsys\scsi1hlp.vxd manually.


Subject: [4-34] My CD-R discs don't work in my DVD player
(2000/02/06)

Not all DVD players can handle CD-R media.  See section (2-13).

Some players that don't work with CD-R discs will work with CD-RW discs.
If you're having trouble, try CD-RW media instead.


Subject: [4-35] I need help recovering data from a CD-ROM
(2004/03/05)

Some diagnostic and recovery software is available:

 - CD-R Diagnostic (6-2-6)
 - IsoBuster (6-2-20)
 - CD Data Rescue (6-2-22)
 - BadCopy Pro (6-2-23)
 - CDRoller (6-2-24)

If these can't help you, there are data recovery companies that might be
able to.  Some examples:

 - CD Recovery Services, http://www.cdrecovery.com/.
 - Acodisc CD Data Recovery, http://www.acodisc.com/.
 - CD Data Guys, http://www.cddataguys.com/.


Subject: [4-36] What does "not convertible to CD quality" mean?
(2000/03/12)

Some applications, notably Easy CD Creator, can only do very simple
conversions on audio files.  If you are trying to create an audio CD,
but the WAV file isn't 44.1KHz 16-bit stereo PCM, you will have to convert
it to that format with something like GoldWave (section (6-2-21)) before
you do the write.


Subject: [4-37] I inserted a CD-ROM but Windows thinks it's an audio CD
(2002/03/18)

Sometimes a Windows system will get into a state where it thinks that a
CD-R or CD-RW data disc is an audio CD.  This is very peculiar, since the
CD-ROMs aren't "enhanced" discs with both audio and data content.  In some
cases the problem only happens with a CD recorder -- a CD-ROM drive in the
same machine will work correctly -- or vice-versa.

One situation where this is reported to occur is with a JVC XR-W2080 with
v2.06 firmware (or an equivalent OEM version).  If you have the Roxio UDF
reader loaded, whether manually or as part of installing DirectCD 3.x, the
problem will occur.  Removing the UDF reader, either with Add/Remove Programs
or renaming \Windows\System\Iosubsys\Udfreadr.vxd, is said to fix the problem.

Another occurrence has been reported with Toast 3.7 on a Mac.  If a disc
was recorded with Toast as CD-ROM/XA instead of CD-ROM, Win98 would see
the disc as audio.  Win95 and WinNT worked fine on the same disc.

One user found that replacing the IDE cable made the problem go away.
Another found that using MODE-1 rather than MODE-2 helped (check the
advanced recording options in your software).

Another user got the problem to go away by uninstalling "Wavelab".

Somebody else found that the problem went away on a SCSI device when
he disabled wide negotiation and limited the data rate to 16MB/sec.


Subject: [4-38] I get read errors when trying to copy a game
(2000/04/17)

You are most likely running into copy protection.  The game publisher has
placed "unreadable" sectors on the disc, in an effort to confound disc
duplication programs.

Instructions for making "backups" of copy-protected games can be found
on the web.  See also section (3-39).

If you don't believe the disc is protected, then it might simply be dirty
or scratched.  You can try to clean the disc -- use a lint-free cloth,
wiping from the center out -- or see section (7-12) for notes on scratch
removal.


Subject: [4-39] Restarting or shutting Windows down after recording causes hang
(2000/04/26)

This is a situation where recording discs proceeds without difficulty, but
the system hangs when you tell it to halt or restart.  One possible culprit
is anti-virus software.  Try disabling it and see if the problem goes away.


Subject: [4-40] Why do CD-Rs play poorly when anti-skip protection is enabled?
(2004/02/20)

When a CD player is playing a disc without any sort of anti-skip protection,
it spins the disc at 1x, and attempts to correct whatever errors it gets.
If it can't correct them, it does the best it can and keeps going.

When an anti-skip feature (such as Sony's "ESP") is in use, the disc is
played at a faster speed (perhaps 2x), and when uncorrectable errors are
encountered, the failed section is re-read.  Because it's reading faster
than it's playing, the player occasionally has to stop reading and wait for
the player to catch up.  Because the disc is still spinning, this requires
seeking back along the spiral track to the point where the player left off.
A common symptom of media incompatibility is trouble seeking between tracks,
so the need for frequent seeking magnifies any problems that the player
is having with the disc.

The skip protection feature can usually be turned off on portables.  On
car players you may have to find a brand of media that works better.


Subject: [4-41] I'm having trouble recording under Windows 2000 or WinXP
(2003/04/23)

Make sure the software you're using supports Win2K or WinXP.  Don't assume
that, just because it runs, everything will work correctly.  You may need
to update to a newer version.

Under Win2K, you may need to be running as an Administrator equivalent
to record.  The reasons for this appear to be access permissions on the
device, on certain registry keys, or both.  Similar problems may arise
under WinXP.

Installing Windows Media Player 7 in Win2K may mess up Easy CD Creator
and DirectCD.  One solution is to uninstall and reinstall both, and make
sure ECDC is at 4.02c or later and DirectCD is at 3.01c or later.  A simpler
solution involves a registry fix.  For a complete discussion of the problem,
go to http://ask.adaptec.com/, and in the "Search all Products by Keyword
or Article Number" section enter "000726-0003", click on "Article #",
and press the "search" button.

IDE recorders may need to be the master device when used with ECDC under
Win2K.  If you are having trouble with an IDE recorder, and it's not set
up as the secondary master, try configuring it that way.

Running ECDC v3.5c under Win2K is not recommended.  Only Version 4.02 and
later are officially supported.  For WinXP, you need version 5, and even
then you'll probably have trouble.  See also section (4-49).

Installing WinXP Service Pack 1 may cause problems with DirectCD.  The
solution is to uninstall and re-install DirectCD after installing the
WinXP SP1 update.

A few people were able to fix problems by disabling the in-built CD
recording features of WinXP.  This can be turned off for each drive by
right-clicking on the drive in My Computer, selecting Properties, then
clicking on the Recording tab and disabling the appropriate checkbox.
A more thorough approach is to open the "Administrative Tools" control
panel and disable the "IMAPI Burning Service".

See also Microsoft Knowledge Base article #324129, "HOW TO: Troubleshoot
Issues That Occur When You Write Data to a CD-R or CD-RW Optical Disc in
Windows XP", at http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;324129.


Subject: [4-42] I formatted a CD-RW and only have about 530MB free
(2000/10/29)

This is the expected behavior when formatting CD-RW media for use with
Roxio's DirectCD packet-writing software.  CD-RW discs are formatted
with fixed-size packets, which takes up more space but allows you to
erase individual files.  With variable-size packets, you get to use more
of the space on the disc, but when you delete a file it is simply marked
as gone.  The space is still in use.

To use variable-size packets on a CD-RW with DirectCD, format a CD-R with
DirectCD and then do an image copy from the CD-R to the CD-RW.

Packet writing programs from other companies may work differently.

Don't forget that it is only necessary to format a disc if you want
drive-letter access.  Conventional pre-mastering and creation of audio CDs
should be done on unformatted discs.  See section (3-40).


Subject: [4-43] My CD recording software keeps crashing
(2000/10/29)

There are many possible reasons for this.  Most people are quick to blame
the software, but sometimes the problem is elsewhere in their system.

First things first: make sure you have the latest version of the software
that is available.  Perhaps you have found a bug that has already been
fixed.

If you have overclocked your system, or tweaked it in a way that gains
performance at the expense of reliability, un-tweak it and try again.

Under Windows, make sure your ASPI layer is up to date.  See (4-44).

Also under Windows, look for \Windows\System\Iosubsys\scsi1hlp.vxd.
If it's there, rename it to "scsi1hlp.vx_", so it won't get loaded.
Reboot and try again.  (This file is required for compatibility with some
old SCSI hard drives.  Occasionally it can intefere with other things.)

If your system looks good, contact the appropriate customer support center.
If you bought the software retail, contact the company who developed the
software.  If it came with something else, and was distributed as an "OEM"
version, you may need to contact the vendor you got it from instead (see
section (6-8) for an explanation).


Subject: [4-44] Do I need to update my ASPI layer?
(2004/08/17)

See http://www.mrichter.com/cdr/primer/aspi.htm for an introduction to ASPI.

Win2K and WinXP software can use an alternate set of interfaces (SPTI).
This avoids the whole issue of having ASPI drivers installed.  Use of
SPTI is becoming more common.

Many people have solved problems by updating their ASPI layer.  In the
past, it has been the first thing that customer service would ask you
to check.  Adaptec makes it easy with a program called ASPICHK, available
from http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/support/driverdetail.jsp?language=English+US&filekey=aspichk.exe&sess=no.
(If it has moved yet again, do a google search for it.)

At any rate, according to Roxio, as of version 4.02 of Easy CD Creator
(ECDC), the ASPI layer is no longer used by their product.  The necessary
bits are included in the application, so there's no need to check or
update the layer.

For non-Adaptec owners, there is a program (of questionable legality)
called "ForceASPI" that forces the Adaptec ASPI layer to install.  Usually
Adaptec will ask sites to remove it, so it's a bit of a moving target.
http://www.mindspring.com/~tburke1/aspi.htm had a list of active sites,
and it can occasionally be found with a Google search.  You can also try
http://aspi.radified.com/.

Some other software uses and/or modifies ASPI -- poorly.  Known examples
are some USB SmartMedia readers and the Creative Labs Infra system.
Updating the ASPI layer when one of these devices is present may be unwise.

It's unclear what interactions Windows ME has with ASPI.

As of September 2001, the Adaptec ASPI layer causes problems on Win2K and
should not be used.  The LSI "w2kaspi" layer may work better; it can be
found at http://www.lsilogic.com/support/support+drivers/scsi/w2kaspi.html.
[At last check, the links in the page were broken.]  WinXP may have
similar problems.


Subject: [4-45] The write process completes, but the disc is still blank
(2001/09/17)

This problem has been reported by a number of people.  The cause is
unclear.  This has been known to happen suddenly to otherwise fully
functional CD recorders.

Models where this has been seen:

 - Smart & Friendly 2224
 - HP 9710

If this happens to you:

 - Have you changed media recently?  Perhaps your recorder doesn't
   like the new blanks.
 - Have you "upgraded" operating systems recently?  Could be an OS
   issue.
 - Try at least one other piece of software (e.g. a demo version of
   Nero or CDRWIN) just to see if something broke the software.


Subject: [4-46] My CD-RW drive doesn't work with my CD-RW blanks
(2004/01/23)

If the disc is recognized but won't erase or format, see section (4-27).

One possible source of difficulty is there are different blanks for
"slow" recorders (1x - 4x), "high speed" recorders (4x-10x), "ultra speed"
recorders (12x-24x), and "ultra speed +" recorders.  The disc manufacturers
had to change the way the discs were made to accommodate each successive
improvement, so older recorders don't work with the newer disks.

It is possible for some 4x-capable "slow" drives to use the "fast" blanks
with a firmware upgrade, but there is no advantage to doing so since you're
still limited to 4x recording (unless, of course, you're unable to find
"slow" CD-RW blanks).

CD-RW discs for the faster drives are labeled with a "High Speed",
"Ultra Speed", or "Ultra Speed +" logos.  Make sure you buy the right blanks
for your drive.

A press release for Verbatim's Ultra Speed + 32x CD-RW discs is available
from http://www.eetimes.com/pressreleases/bizwire/97782.


Subject: [4-47] Audio discs have crackling sounds on the last few tracks
(2008/04/29)

A not-uncommon complaint is:

"I've made lots of audio CDs.  They sound fine in my computer or home
CD player, but when I put them in the car they have lots of static."

A variation on the theme:

"...the static is only on the last few tracks."

Or, more rarely:

"...the discs sounded fine for a couple of weeks, and still sound fine
on most players, but they sound really bad now in the car.  The more I
played them the worse it got, to a point."

There are a few things going on here.  First and foremost is media
compatibility.  The combination of recorder, player, and media just
isn't working.  Unless you're willing to change your player, the easiest
thing to do is change the brand of media you're using.

The reason tracks out past the N minute mark (typically 40) sound worse
might be due to speed changes.  For 1x audio playback the player is in CLV
mode, so the disc is spinning more slowly near the outside of the disc.
(You'd think that'd make it easier, not harder.  Go figure.)

You should make sure that it's a problem with writing and not with reading
tracks near the edge.  Try writing the tracks in a different order.  A good
way to do this is to extract the tracks into WAV files with a reliable DAE
program (EAC, from section (6-2-12), works well).  Play them from the hard
drive to make sure they extracted well, and then record them onto two CD-Rs,
using a different track order for each.  If the problem is always on the
last track then the disc is being recorded poorly.

The slight deterioration of the media after being played a few times
isn't expected, but does seem to happen with some discs.  It appears that
the compatibility between the discs and the player is marginal to begin
with, so a slight degradation in error rate on the disc results in a
dramatic increase in noise during playback.

Crackling noises have been associated with drives configured for PIO
mode rather than DMA.  See section (5-15-1) for some information about
checking the DMA setting on the drive.


Subject: [4-48] Files in deep directories can be seen but not opened
(2001/10/25)

The ISO-9660 standard allows discs with directories nested 8 deep.  If
you try to go deeper than that, you may have trouble reading the files.
Win2K and WinNT4 seem to work, but Win98SE doesn't.

Programs like "mkisofs" can use the Rock Ridge extensions to work around
the problem.  Directories are "re-rooted" at a higher level, and invisible
links are created from the deeper directories.  Unfortunately, Windows
still doesn't support Rock Ridge.

The UDF format, used by packet writing applications, may (?) allow
deeper directories.  However, not all systems can read UDF discs.


Subject: [4-49] My CD-ROM drive stopped working after uninstalling software
(2002/06/27)

There is a problem with Roxio DirectCD 3.01/3.01c and Roxio Easy CD Creator
version 4.02c and 5.01.  If you uninstall them from WinXP or Win2K, your
CD-ROM drive may stop working.  It appears that VOB InstantCD/DVD and
Nero InCD can have the same effect.

Any CD-ROM drives will be inaccessible from My Computer, and the device
manager will show a "code 31", "code 32", or perhaps "code 19" message
for the drives.

The page at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q270/0/08.ASP
describes the symptoms and the resolution of the problem.


Subject: [4-50] Audio CDs recorded from MP3s play back fast and high-pitched
(2002/01/17)

Somebody described this as listening to songs recorded by Alvin and the
Chipmunks.  What's happening is the software used to uncompress the MP3
files is doing a poor job, and the uncompressed data is effectively being
recorded at a lower sample rate.  When the CD player tries to play it
back at 44.1KHz, it sounds like the artists are inhaling a crude mixture
of amphetamines and helium.

This has been reported with Easy CD Creator v4.05 and v5, NTI CD Maker 2000+,
and something called Orion Liquid Burn.

The work-around is to expand the MP3 files into 44.1KHz 16-bit stereo
PCM WAV files on your hard drive, and record from those instead of from
the MP3s.  Use a decoder/player such as WinAmp (http://www.winamp.com/)
or a sound editor to convert the files.


Subject: [4-51] Windows says access denied, can't create or replace file
(2004/11/02)

Sometimes, when trying to copy files onto a disc from Windows explorer, you
get a message to the effect that it can't create or replace a file because
access is denied or the disc is full.  Some not-so-helpful suggestions about
checking write protection and making sure the file is not in use are offered.

This most often happens when trying to use DirectCD with an unformatted disc.
A common way to cause this is to disable the DirectCD user interface
with msconfig or a similar utility (a mistake -- see section (3-45)),
which prevents the "do you want to format this disc" dialog from coming up.

The solution is to let DirectCD format the disc.  If you don't see the CD
icon in the system tray (usually the lower-right corner), you will need to
re-enable it.  Under Win98, click on the Start button, select "Run...", type
"msconfig", and click "OK" to bring up the System Configuration Utility.
Now click on the Startup tab and make sure that anything with the word
"DirectCD" in it is enabled.  Under Win2K, click on Start, Settings, Control
Panels, Administrative Tools, then Computer Management.  When the program
opens, in the left-hand pane click on System Tools, System Information,
Software Environment, then Startup Programs, and make sure DirectCD
is present.  If not, you may need to re-install.

If the above doesn't seem to help, or you're not using DirectCD, you
may be able to manually format a disc.  How you do this depends on what
software you're using.  For example, HP DLA has a utility available from
their CD recording application that lets you format a disc or close it to
ISO-9660 format.

See section (3-40) for more information on formatting CD-R and CD-RW media.


In some rare cases, after formatting a CD-R or CD-RW disc for packet writing,
Windows still claims the disc is full when you try to copy files onto it,
or complains that the disc is "locked or protected".  This can happen
after files have already been copied onto the disc.

This error message can apparently also occur when trying to copy files 
*from* a CD-RW that has been previously written to.

The problem is rare and isn't well understood.  It has been reported with
DirectCD 3.x (part of ECDC Deluxe 5.x) under Windows XP.  Another instance
of "locked or protected" was reported under Win98.  In any event, start
by checking the "msconfig" situation described above.  This *might* also
be a media compatibility issue, so if it happens it might be worthwhile
to try different brands of media.

If the disc was closed to ISO-9660 format, you will need to reopen it.


A similar complaint comes up when you try to delete files from a disc without
having packet writing software installed.  You can't delete individual files
from a disc written with conventional pre-mastering.  See section (6-3).


Subject: [4-52] I can't see any files on a CD-R or CD-RW from MS-DOS
(2002/05/08)

If the disc was created with a packet writing program (like DirectCD
or HP DLA), it will either be in UDF or ISO-9660 Level 3 format.  Either
way, you're not going to be able to see files on the disc from DOS.
You need to use a more modern OS, such as Windows or Linux, or create
the disc with a conventional premastering application like Nero.

Some backup programs, such as Symantec Ghost, use packet writing when
backing up to CD-R.  The software runs under DOS, but uses a special driver
to create and access the backup data.  You can see the files from Windows,
but won't be able to get at them from DOS.


Subject: [4-53] My OS doesn't support ISO-13346 "UDF"
(2004/03/03)

The UDF filesystem is based on the ISO/IEC 13346 standard, now ECMA-167,
and remains compliant to that standard.  Anything that knows how to read
discs conforming to ISO-13346 should be able to read UDF discs.

When some Windows owners have inserted an older disc written with UDF
(using one of the drag-and-drop approaches like DirectCD, InCD, or HP DLA)
they received a message like this:

  "This disc contains a "UDF" file system and requires an operating system
  that supports the ISO-13346 "UDF" file system specification."

This seems to be happening primarily with CD-RW media.  It's not really
clear what's going on.

In theory, installing a UDF reader will solve the problem.  Recent versions
of Windows come with UDF support, so it shouldn't be necessary to do
anything to get the disc to work.  However, the problems persist.

One possibility is that the disc isn't using a quite standard version of
UDF, and the reader is having difficulty.  Installing the software that
created the disc in the first place will help.

When exchanging data, "closing" the disc to ISO-9660 format can help avoid
these difficulties.


Subject: [4-54] Why don't I get disc and track titles on my CD-Rs?
(2006/06/19)

The disc and track names are not stored in the disc TOC (Table Of
Contents).  In many cases, they are not stored on the disc at all.

Programs like Apple iTunes generate an identification number from a CD,
usually based on the number and length of the tracks (measured down
to 1/75th of a second), possibly taking a "fingerprint" of the audio
data itself.  The program queries an Internet database for a match.
For a commercially-produced audio CD, chances are good that somebody
has already entered the data, so when you insert your CD the computer
recognizes it immediately.  In rare cases you may be asked to choose
between one or more discs, because it is possible for more than one disc
to map to the same identification number (referred to as a "collision").

If you make an exact copy of a CD, the track positions and lengths are
unchanged, the same identification number is computed, so the disc will
be identified correctly.  If you add, remove, or rearrange tracks, the
number changes, and the disc will not be recognized.

The only common way to add titles to a CD is to use CD-Text (3-28).
Support for this is present in most CD recording applications, but is
usually not enabled by default.  Some CD player software will use the
CD-Text data if the disc can't be found online, others won't.  A different
mechanism for specifying disc and track info was defined for CD Extra,
but it's not widely supported.

Adding personal "mix CD-Rs" to public databases is discouraged, because
it increases the chances that two discs will "collide".  Programs like
iTunes will usually keep a local database with disc information for your
private collection, and will allow you to edit the ID3 tags embedded in
the MP3 files.

See also section (3-7).