Saving a file to CD burner

Question

Now there must be an easier way then this? I just bought an inspiron 1000 laptop. I'm trying to save a file 1KB in size. That's not MB but KB in size. I've tried other files as well and get the same result.    I click on said file as 'Save to file'. Then a little message pops up with  'You have files waiting to be written to CD'   When I open my CD file to see what's in there  the file I just tried to save  is in a holding pen which states: 'Files waiting to be written to CD'.   To the left I click on 'Write these files to CD'.   then the CD wizard opens up and I must click finish. After about 1 minute  my 1 KB file is saved. (of minor importance for now)Then the CD ejects. Then I push the CD back in an other windows pop up.

jankerson · Answer

Yes, just save the file in you Documents then later on you can can right click on it and click send to CDRW when you are ready.

tomth · Answer

Thanks. I appreciate your response. I just don't think a new computer should make things slower and more  laborious. I am sure this is not the way it's supposed to work. Now that I'm exploring more of this computer I am finding more problems with the CDWR. It only reads other re-writable disks from my old computer and I am not able to write on them. After trying to format a disc that took over 40 minutes it tells me there are errors and it is not able to format it. I thought a full format would isolate and close off any errors? I put that same disc in my old computer and it had no problem formatting it in half the time. I was able to write and re-write on it. I put it in my new laptop and I got a message that said it was unable to write because the disc was full. I was able to quick format it but the same message came up. No disc space. So for now it's back to square 1. A very simple function. Save to file.

jankerson · Answer

How long have you had the computer? You said you just got it right?

Sounds to me like there is an issue with the drive.

Does it burn CD-R's Ok?

I don't use CDRW's myself because these days CD-R's are so cheap and with the newer burning software you can use them like CD-RW's.

I would give Dell a call or email tech support.

tomth · Answer

Thanks again for the reply. I got the computer right after Christmas but I haven't had much time to play around with it. I did watch a movie on the DVD drive with no problem a few weeks ago. Today was the first day  I spent a lot of time downloading and installing things like Netscape and my internet provider. It seems like I have an issue with something. Now the DVD won't even play movies. I went and restored it to an earlier point and it didn't do much good and now I can't even restore it to any other dates. I did email tech support and I was surprised that they responded so quickly. The way I feel now  I told them I'd like to send it back for either repair or replacement. I was thinking of doing a complete re-installation as a last resort. I'll wait to see what tech support has to say. My first computer that I bought years ago was like this. Never ending problems.   I do have some CD-R's. I'll give them a try.

jankerson · Answer

Sonds like you may have to restore it by rebooting the computer and pressing F12 and choosing Dells restore function, It will put it back to factory default.

GreyMack · Answer

As you may know, drag and drop saving to a CDRW disk requires UDF packet-writing software and formatting. Compatibility between brands and even versions of UDF software can be problematic. What software are you using?

These articles cover some of the points to consider.

http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpcd.php

http://pages.prodigy.net/jdjd/cdr/packet.htm

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Windows+XP+UDF+packet+writing

GM

tomth · Answer

jankersonThanks for the feedback. I think I've got things back to 'normal'. Everything seems to be working like it should. I'm able to play my DVD's with no problem. I lost all my installs that I put on my computer when I went back to an earlier restore but that shouldn't be a problem getting them back on. I even fixed that simple problem of drag and drop. The CD-R's seem to work well on both computers. GreyMack. I'll check those sites out. Thanks.

Storage, Drives & Media

Saving a file to CD burner

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