Problem: I am unable to burn CD-Rs with files having long filenames (longer than the Joliet standard of 64 characters) when using Easy CD Creator.  I would appreciate any comments about what is going on here and advice on how to resolve this issue.

I am using a Dell Dimension 8250 running XP Home SP1, equipped with a Samsung CD-R/RW (SW-240B) and Roxio's Easy CD Creator 5 Basic (version 5.2.0.26.)  My version of Easy CD Creator offers three file formats: ISO9660, Joliet, and UDF.

The files I want to record on the CD-R are mostly *.jpg image, MS Word, and MS Excel files - 981 files in 81 directories/subdirectories, all totaling 605 MB.  I need to make multiple copies of the CD.

The default format for my Easy CD Creator software is the Joliet standard, which allows filenames up to 64 characters and full pathnames (directory path + file name) up to 128 characters.  However, the files I want to copy have filename lengths ranging from 10 to 88 characters, including the three-character extensions.  (The full pathnames (directory path + filename) are 124 characters or less -- within the Joliet standard limit.)  When in Easy CD Creator I attempt to transfer the desired files/directories to the CD-project window, Easy CD Creator says some filenames are too long and offers a shorter replacement name.  Because the filenames contain important identifying information that I want to keep, truncating the filenames is not an option.  If I cancel all of the offered truncated filenames, I could continue with the CD recording session, but only about one half of the data (313 MB vs 605 MB), one-third of the files (382 vs 981), and 72 of the 81 directories would be recorded.

Attempts to record using the UDF format give the same result as above; I can burn a CD but many of the files and some directories are left out.

The format ISO9660 just truncates all of the file directory names to the DOS 8+3 format, so using this format provides no help at all!

FYI, I have successfully burned all of the desired data to a CD-R (with intact long filenames) by transferring it via my LAN to another machine - a Dimension XPS T500 running W98SE and equipped with an HP 9100 CD-Writer and the HP software (possibly from Veritas) that came with it.  While no choice of recording formats is offered by the HP software, the properties of CDs made with this equipment indicate that the format is CDFS.  I have no trouble reading these CDFS-format CDs on any of the DVD or CD drives on my 8250 and XPS T500 machines, the DVD of my laptop running ME, or the CD of my mid-nineties-era Micron P75 running W98SE.

As a fallback solution, I could just use the HP burner to make the CDs, but the Samsung burner is five times faster!  A workaround that would be better is to make a good master CD on the HP burner and then make copies of that disk using the Samsung burner on the 8250 machine with the disk copier function of Easy CD Creator.  I have tried this and Easy CD Creator successfully burns a complete and accurate copy of the original, including the CDFS format.  Still, it would be simpler and faster if I could just perform all of the recording steps on the 8250 machine.

So why does the HP with HP software using the format CDFS succeed, while Easy CD Creator with formats Joliet/UDF fail?  Does Roxio offer a version of Easy CD Creator that includes the CDFS format?  Is there other XP-compatible CD-burning software that I can use on my 8250 machine that will allow me to record the CDs that I need (including long filenames?)

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

TAH