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All your
CD Writing Questions Answered:
We
often get requests for CD RW drivers. Please note that CD writers do not
come with special drivers. Optical drives like CD and DVD drives
are automatically picked up by modern BIOS/CMOS and operating
systems. In older operating systems you did need to have drivers
so you could use the CD drive in DOS. That is not relevant anymore
as Windows ME, Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating system CDs
allow you to boot from the Windows CD itself without the use of
any special drivers.
Should you choose
to install MS DOS or PC DOS on your sytem and need to have a
working CD in DOS you can use
the Windows 98SE or Windows ME boot floppy disk drivers or download standard ATAPI drivers off the
net. With
respect to CD writing and DVD
writing software, Windows XP has a built in program
for writing to CDs via a CD Writer or DVD Writer. It's as simple
as dragging and dropping. For DVD writing there are several good
software packages that make this complicated task relatively
straightforward. For more information on DVD Drives and DVD
Writing click here. FAQ
on CD Writing, how to write, what hardware and software to use, common
problems with CD writing and what they mean, questions on media and other
FAQ: McFadden Other
sites covering same topics: M
Richter , Octave.com
, CDR Info Terminology
Guide: CD
ROM Guide
Links to commercial CD
Writing software (Please note that not all CD Writing software works with
all drives):
There are several freeware
and shareware CD Writing packages. CNET
for example had a page for free
CD writing sofwtare (if the link does not work trying searching manually at
CNET and these other sites):
TuCows , The
Free Site .
Please note that not all CD Writing software works with all
drives.
Further problems with CD
Writing? Try some of the forums
- alt.cdr.reviews
- alt.comp.periphs.cdr
- alt.philips.cdr.discussion
- comp.publish.cdrom.hardware
- comp.publish.cdrom.software
- comp.sys.hp.hardware
- comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.cd-rom
- msn.computingcentral.hardware.general
- msn.computingcentral.hardware.beginner.questions
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Currently there are at
least 25 different data CD protection schemes, and maybe five protection
schemes for audio CDs. But these formats are going right to the edge and
beyond of the Orange Book and Red Book CD industry standards. This can mean
compatibility problems and degradation of playing quality, as Tom's
Hardware's David Stellnack research points out: Mysteries
of CDRWs and Backups Revealed. A
must read if you are having problems copying CDs.
We do not condone the
illegal duplication of copyrighted material but if you need to make a
genuine backup of a CD that has a copyright lock preventing copying, this
site may help: CD
Media World
*Note: There seem to be
some reports of Easy CD Creator "killing" some PCs running Windows
2000: click
here
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