cd-rw diagnostic software?

LG 8x 4x 32x drive just started acting strange. Seems to read commercial data cds fine. It seems to write to a cdr fine (I have no way at present to check this on a different machine). But it can't seem to read or find the file structure of the cdrs it has created in the past to continue writing to them (none of the cds have been "closed ".)
We always copy to and from the hd with cdr, almost always .docs, .jpegs, .gifs, or .tifs.
Installed is Easy CD Creator 4.05 and DirectCD 3.05, in Win 98 SE.
There are no unusual sounds, no recent changes to hardware config, no new uses of the drive.
There have been minor additions and subtractions to software (an image viewer, and a csv/crc progam) but nothing to do with hardware changes or drivers.
It's never caused problems.
Is there a way of diagnosing the drive without a technician?

 

deathgrip,

I assume you are burning data CD's.

When you burn additional information to a CD, your burn engine, in this case Easy CD Creator, should pop up a sign asking if you want to import the previous session. If it does, & I've never seen one that didn't, you have to say "YES" in order for the computer to be able to find & read the previously burned files.

Deloris.

 

Hi Delores,

Thank you for your reply.

I suspect this would be the case with Easy CD Creator (only once in the few years we have had the burner have we ever continued an Easy CD data cd). Easy CD did ask to continue then.

Almost all the data writing we have done has been through DirectCD. The continuance messages here are optional, but we have never untoggled that choice. The message the we now get from DirectCD is something like "data not found or unrecognizable media ", or something to that effect.

 

deathgrip,

All I know is, that I have tried & used several burn engines. They will "all" ask, "Do You Want To Import The Previous Session," when you are adding additional files to an existing open data CD\R, or CD\RW, when burning with the normal method for data CD's. It's called a Multisession CD, and in order for any CD ROM to recognize & read the previously burned session, or sessions, you must say yes every time. If you don't, then it effectively makes the previous session, or sessions invisable to the CD ROM & computer, as if they were never burned in the first place. It won't ask that question on Audio CD's, "unless" you are burning Audio files as data files, or as a Multisession Audio CD. Mixed sessions are still yet a different procedure.

If you have been "formatting" & using CD\RW's (re-writable CD's) to burn to, using the drag & drop method like you would on a floppy, then this is a whole different ballgame. If I understand that procedure correctly, formatting it will make the files unreadable by any CD ROM, other than the burner CD ROM. If you burn it the normal way, or drag & drop either one, only the burner ROM will be able to read it on a formatted disk, is the way I understand the help sections account of it. I've never formatted a CD\RW, but I understand that is how it works. If you want other CD ROM drives to be able to read the data, use a CD\RW the same way you would a CD\R. Don't format it. I don't think draging & dropping files onto the CD works on unformatted disks, but I am not sure about that, since I've never done it, but according the the help section, "if" I understand it correctly, the above is how it works.

Now as to my unsolicited opinion of Easy CD Creator. My husband & I both had it once & we hated it. It was forever hanging up, stalling out, & refusing to finish the requested burn. It was so unstable that most of the time when it would hang up, or stall out, we'd have to wind up doing Ctrl+Alt+Del to get it off the screen, because hitting cancel didn't work. It would freeze the whole computer up when it stalled out. When Ctrl+Alt+Del didn't work, we'd have to do an improper shut down. This, of course, would cause errors on the drive.

Most people have problems with Adaptec Easy CD Creator, which makes it's very name an Oxymoron.

I now use either Nero, or NTI. I have them both. I've never had any stall outs, or freeze ups, with either one of them, and bad burns don't happen, unless the CD media itself has a bad spot on it. Files don't get corrupted by the burn engine while burning. They have to be corrupted to begin with for either one of them to burn a corrupted file to disk.

Sorry about this being so long. I tend to get gabby sometimes.

Deloris.

 

The good stuff now has what's called DLA, standing for Drive Letter Access. That means you can use the burner just like it was another floppy drive, dragging and dropping files there for instant copying. You can also delete individual file of course. Nice!

Here's on example. They have a free 30 day trial download that's full featured.

I use the above and find it very sociable.

Oh, btw Deloris, you are correct, the disks have to be formatted properly prior to using in the direct access mode. That makes them readable only to destinations that have that same capability. If they are to be used on a computer without that DLA capability, there is an option that allows you to make them compatabile. Then of course you can't add any files until you reformat the disk. Always something...

 

I found what we're looking for

CDR-Diagnostic by Arrowkey is a wonderful program and we were able to use it to significantly narrow down the cause of the problems we were having, as well as being able to recover all the data on some damaged cd-r and cd-rw disks we had.

I would recommend this software to anyone concerned about read-write problems with their cd hardware or software.

It is small, thorough, easy to use, and Arrowkey has excellent tech support.

Thanks to all of you who responded to our question.