External DVD Writer

Question

Evening to ALL and a Happy New Years, About 2 1/2 yrs ago I installled an HP dvd 215i DVD writer with the accompaning software that came with it. To be honest, I have burned about 150 CD's but had never attempted a DVD. Last week I wanted to start backing up all the data on my Dimension 4400. Opened the software an clicked on 'back up data'. I opened the drawer and asked me to place in a blank DVD+R Disc. The drive door closed for about 10 seconds then re-opened and asked for a blank DVD+R disc. I attempted to few other DVD disc's with  the same results. Contacted HP and they had me do a complete un-install / re-install. However this time there was a conflict with an Intel Application Accelerator so part of the HP installation did not complete. Hp now has dumped me to Intel Chipset for support... HP support tels me that they no longer offers E-mail or phone support for their accelerators. So, back to square one...  My current train of thought is to purchase an external DVD Writer. This has now led me to the experts on the Dell forum. My purpose for the dvd writer was to back up quite a bit of data... Music, Pictures and text data. My HP 215i writer has worked for many years doing a great job burning CD's. This past weekend I tried to back up some data to CD. Started with the pictures... I got about a 6th on one CD and it was filled. So my thinking DVD and to do the job with an external... Any suggestions, thoughts would be GREATLY appreciated.  My Best to ALL for a Wonderful New Year and Thanks for the time that someone may take on my behalf...   Art    :smileysad:

Predator · Answer

Happy New Year Art !!Did you have a good Christmas ?What software are you using with the drive?Seasons Greetings ! CD/RW Link

ArtC · Answer

Happy New Years Jeff to you and yours. Hope your Christmas went well also.... And I thank you for the fast response to my problem... The software I'm using is Veritas that came with the drive. I then chose the 'Recordnow' option to start backing up data on the Dimension 4400 computer. Well that was my goal. I even used the DVD+R disc that came with the unit. HP has not been very helpful and I have seen MANY posts on the Forum from people having DVD burning issues. I'd like to get this burner to work buy my other thought is to get an external drive. So, sort of at a loss and VERY willing to accept any suggestions. I just realized that I really used the wrong forum for my original post. Tried to sneek a fast one past the old Predator. But you found me just the same... I thought the Predator was a heat seeker. And disc are rather cold... But it seems NOTHING gets past you!!! Anyway, any suggestions when you get the chance would be Greatly appreciated. As usual, I'm totally at a loss. This has been my first attempt with DVD burning. I guess I'm not off to a very good start. And I browsed through the posts of so many others having problems... Then to top this off... I want to get a DVD recorder for my home entertainment center. I have a pretty good Panasonic player that came with all the bells and whistles. Its been giving us some random problems with playing certain discs. And I have many, many VCR's that I would like to burn to DVD just for preservation AND space recovery. They seem to be getting very popular.. Any thought on this is also welcomed...  I'll await your response whenever you get the time.. Jeff thanks (as always) for ALL the help you and many others on the forum may provide. Have a great weekend...  art   :smileysad:

Predator · Answer

Hi Art,I ran a quick check of your drive, it does support DVD+R and DVD+RW but not the DVD-R or DVD-RW. When you mentioned 'back up' does the Veritas have a back up utility, per say like Microsoft`s Back up? The reason I mention this is because Windows Back up does not to my knowledge back up to the media.I am not familiar with that software, did HP support have any updates for it or suggest firmware updates for the drive? Have you tried one of the free burning programs, Section 7-5, article 16 of the cD/RW link?Dell has a board that might interest you, try here:Photo/Video EditingJack, Dave, Jim, Ken frequent it alot and may have some ensite on the software or help with the steps. The issue may be more software related.As for the stand-a-lone recorder, that too has been mentioned/talked about in the above link, especially for converting those VCR`s of yours, that may be your best option in that area.Had a great Christmas and New Year, hated going back to work ;) !!Best Regards! God, grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway,the good fortune to run into the ones I do and the eyesight to tell thedifference. CD/RW Link

Storage, Drives & Media

External DVD Writer

Was this post helpful?