Re: DVD R/RW+- Drive not recognized by some software

First off TYVM for your response.

I may not have been clear in my intial post, but I am using DVD RW+ discs,
not DVD RW- discs. Also, the software I mentioned from Iomega doesnt
recognize that the DRIVE is there, not that there is no disc, or an
improperly formatted disc. The programs dont get that far. When I try and
open Hot Burn Pro i get the error message stating there are no RW capable
drives on my computer. That is very different from a disc issue. Also, I
have used both programs sucessfully in the past, so this is some kind of
problem that has developed, not one of a software incompatibility issue.

While the DVD Recorder i have, the LG DR1F9H, will take a RW disc and
initialize it into VR+ mode, it requires a low level formatting first. It
will not recognize a blank DVD RW+ disc. Unfortunately the only utilities I
have that currently recognize my drive change the book type to DVD-ROM during
format and the recorder wont recognize the discs at all. I used Hot Burn Pro
to perform the initial format, or the format found on the right-click of the
drive (which I mentioned befroe is now missing). If you know of any
utitillities that do formating and allow control of the book type, please let
me know. Also I am stiill confused as to why the DRIVE isnt being recognized
by certain software anymore.

Thx again.

"M.I.5¾" wrote:


"SteelWheel" <SteelWheel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:497EF85E-2B9E-42D4-9285-03FB3C701C09@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
This is a rather odd problem that has developed...some software that has
always recognized my DVD R/RW+- drive now does not, while some other
software
still does. In addittion some aspects of Window XP SP2 recognizes the
drive,
but other functions cannot now be performed.

Specifically, on the Windows side, the Device Manager says it is working
properly (Microsoft Drive ver 5.1.2535.0 dated 07/01/2001, and when
searched
for, no "better" driver found) and when I open Explore i can see the
drive,
the contents of a disc on the drive, and open files from it. However, if
I
right-click on the drive in My Computer when I have a blank DVD+RW disc in
it, the format option has dissapeared from the options. This is important
to
me b/c I need to format new blank media for my DVD Player/Recorder and it
will not recognize an unformatted disc. The XP format function also does
not
change the book type, which every ohter format option I have found does.
Also, If i try to format a disc from a command prompt window, I get an
"Invalid Drive Specificatation" error.

On the Program side. Roxio DVD Info Pro recognizes the drive, can read a
disc and can format it (it changes the book type to DVD-ROM). Also, Sonic
Record Now can write to the disc and the write is good. However two
programs
that used to be able to see the drive now can't: Iomega Hotburn Pro and
Iomega Automatic Backup Pro. It maynot be a coincidence that they are
both
progs from the same company, but I am not sure what it means.


Windows XP does not support formatting of DVD-RW disks, or indeed writing of
such disks. Also the majority of third party DVD writing utilities do not
require the disk to be formatted before being able to write to it. There
are only 2 scenarios where the disk requires to be formatted before use.
The first is where the disk is being used in a 'packet incremental format'
writing mode. Generally, these utilities add a 'format' option to the right
click menu for the drive. The second is where the disk is being used in a
video recorder in 'VR' mode (though many recorders will also perform a basic
format for 'Video' mode recording).

I am not familiar with the Iomega products that you mention but their blurb
refers to drag and drop functionality which suggest that they operate in
packet incremental format. If this is the case then the disk must be
formatted before these utilities will recognise the disk. Formatting should
always be carried out using the format option in the utility of your choice
because there have been several versions of formats which not every utility
fully supports (and indeed every DVD drive). If the disk is in an
unrecognised format then the utility generally won't see it, and sometimes
won't even allow you to reformat it.

The same is true of formatting for VR mode (in a video recorder). All VR
disks are not created equal. In general DVD+VR seems to be more universal
than DVD-VR.



.

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