Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
•Someold1xCD-ROMdrivescan'treadCD-Rmedia.Replacethedrivewithanewer,
faster, cheaper model.
•Manyearly-model DVDdrivescan'treadCD-R,CD-RWmedia; checkcompatibility.
• The CD-ROM drive must be MultiRead compatible to read CD-RW because of the
lower reflectivity of the media; replace the drive.
• If some CD-Rs but not others can be read, check the media color combination to see
whether some color combinations work better than others; change the brand of media.
•Packet-writtenCD-Rs(fromAdaptecDirectCDorDragtoDiscandbackupprograms)
can't be read on MS-DOS/Windows 3.1 CD-ROM drives because of the limitations of
the operating system.
• Sometimes older drives can't read the pits/lands created at faster speeds. Record the
media at a slower speed.
•Ifyouaretryingtoreadapacket-writtenCD-RcreatedwithDirectCDorDragtoDisc
on a CD-ROM drive, reinsert the media into the original drive, eject the media, and
select the option Close to Read on Any Drive.
• Download and install a UDF reader compatible with the packet-writing software used
to create the CD-RW on the target computer. If you are not sure how the media
was created, Software Architects offers a universal UDF reader/media repair program
calledFixUDF!(alsoincludedaspartofWriteCD-RW!Pro).WriteDVD!Proincludes
the similar FixDVD! UDF reader/media repair program for DVD drives.
Failure to Read a Rewritable DVD in DVD-ROM Drive or Player
If your DVD-ROM or DVD player fails to read a rewritable DVD, try the following solu-
tions:
• Reinsert DVD-RW media into the original drive and finalize the media. Make sure
youdon'tneedtoaddanymoredatatothemediaifyouuseafirst-generation(DVD-R
2x/DVD-RW 1x) drive because you must erase the entire disc to do so. You can unfi-
nalize media written by second-generation DVD-R 4x/DVD-RW 2x drives. See your
DVD-RW disc-writing software instructions or help file for details.
• Reinsert DVD+RW media into the original drive and change the compatibility setting
to emulate DVD-ROM. See the section “
DVD+RW and DVD+R
,” earlier in this
chapter, for details.
• Write a single-layer disc and retry if the media is dual-layer. Most DVD-ROM drives
can't read DL media.
