Can't Upload Photos from CD

Use Windows Explorer to locate the disc.  You can create an icon on the desktop if you right click with the mouse and select "new", "shortcut", then type "explorer.exe" in the box.  Press Enter.

Use Windows Explorer to "explore" the disc in the drive.  Look for the drive that has your CD and then see if you can right click the drive.  If it finds the files, then you can use the copy and paste functions to transfer the files.

More than likely, the disc was created at high speed and your PC drive cannot read it.

The other alternative is to have the shop remake the disc and tell them to burn it at a slower speed.

Thank you, Tall Tiger. I followed your advice and it didn't find anything in the drive. But why would they make the disc that way - would it have been accidental? Other discs from other photo labs open fine, and I can open this disk on my computer at work, which is an antique. Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

Surely.  If you can open the disc at work, do you have the ability (with respect to the machine and permission from the bosses) to make another copy?  Do you have a flash drive that you can transfer them to when you view it on another PC?  The process that finalizes the CD burning may have not been done.  If that is the case, then the only way the CD can be viewed is by putting the CD into another system that has a writer drive AND the ability to find the files using the same settings as the software that wrote the disc.

You didn't say what software you have at home on your PC.  There are about 6 major software disc burning packages out there and I have seen numerous complaints from those who for example burn a CD with Roxio and then try to read it on a different PC.  Maybe the other PC uses Nero and the software cannot read the disc because it wasn't burned with settings that made it compatible with all other PC's.

If it is more trouble to take the disc back, then I would transfer the photos to another disc or a temporary device like a flash drive.  Just create a folder and use Windows explorer.  When you get to the folder that has the photos, just click Edit from the menu bar above and click "Select All";  Click Edit again and select "Copy".  Minimize the screen and then use Windows Explorer to locate the flash drive.  When you open the drive, click Edit, and "Paste".  Be sure that you can read the files once you transfer them.  Be sure to properly disconnect the flash drive on the screen before you actually unplug it or it may have unexpected results.

I have a very good solution for making all my data CD's and Data DVD's.  I use an open source software that was free and it makes reliable copies every time.  The nice part is that the CD is readable by any computer I have to read it with later.

How many photos do you have on the CD?  If it is not too many, you also have the option of retrieving them on another PC (that hopefully has high speed Internet) and sending yourself an e-mail with the photos as attachments. 

If you need additional assistance, please let me know.  Glad to be of assistance!

Hi, Isabella:

If Tiger doesn't mind, I'll make a suggestion. The message you get when you try to eject the disc (unable to write) hints that you may have a UDF-writing program running, such as Sonic DLA or Roxio Drag-to-disc. Please check Add/Remove programs and look for one of these and uninstall that program if you see it.

Thank you for sharing your ideas.

I thought she only had the problem with that one CD.

Did you get your photos recovered?

Yes! I got rid of Sonic and that did the trick. Thank you both so much for your help!

Izzie

One of the best free CD burner software applications I have used is

InfraRecorder.  The only problem I had was getting a good version.

The best version I have found so far is ver. 0.43.0.0

There is a newer version out (0.45.0.0) but I couldn't get it to work.

The version that works best can be downloaded from this site:

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/infrarecorder/ir043_unicode.exe?download

If you are interested in creating reliable data discs of your data files, this application works flawlessly every time.  I have tested the various capabilities of it and the only parts I recommend using are the following

utilities:

Create CD Data discs - (be sure to set the burner speed at 4x for the best reliability).

Create DVD data discs - (be sure to set the burner speed at 2X for DVD disks!)

There is also a nice Copy utility that works flawlessly.  You have to first select the option to "Create Image From Disc" and then customize the location where you want to store the data file.  The tricky part for most users is to learn how to navigate the directories and folders to find the right folder.  I created a folder called "My CD Images" and another called "My DVD Images" and when the application asks for the name you want to save the image as, simply navigate the list of folders (up or down as needed) until you find the specified folders you created.  You have to also give the image file a unique name so that you can easily recognize the image file and what it actually contains.

After you create the image file, you can take a blank CD or DVD media and then use the other option "Burn Image To Disc".

These are the only four options that I would recommend which basically covers many of your routine burning projects.

Be sure and keep a copy of that version in case you ever try to use a newer version.  In the event the newer version does not work, you can always uninstall it and reload the previous version.

After you install it, you can create CD data discs and DVD data discs.