THe OS was something else I was going to try. It seems like everytime I notice automoatic updates from Microsoft I have problems. When I tried a restore to back when I could successfully burn, I noticed their are a few updates that happened this week. I was planning on backing everything up eventually and "starting fresh" since a co-worker gave me XP professional- I guess now is as good a time as any to try it. As for other things not working properly- I have noticed today that when I go into my computer and try to click on the DVD/CD drive or My Documents, it stops repsonding and I end up having to us the task manager to close it- which also closes explorer. Maybe there is something. If I do the re-start- what exactly do I need to do after I back up files? DO I just put in the new XP Pro CD and let it run itself and then reload everything else?
Now it just got weirder- so I go get some Maxwell DVD's (I know they're not the greatest but all Staples has is cheap stuff) and the DVD burned with no problems- other than it only going at 1.2x rather than 2 or 2.4x like it normally does. Is it possible that something could have happened to the DVDs and CDs at Best Buy to make them all not work? (Something like being rubbed on the security thing, or something??) Or is it possible that the Verbatim DVDs came from a defective batch and that Fuji CDs AND DVDs are just not compatible with my drive since the last batch of DVDs taht didn't wrok were Fuji and the CDs that don't work now are Fuji are as well. Well I just burned a Cd using a new Sony CDr I just bought. Still got the Hardware error when trying to use DeepBurner, but when I used My Documents/Copy to CD/Burn CD that worked fine. So maybe I'm all set afterall (crossed fingers and knocks on wood). We'll see later this week when I try to return the Verbatim DVDs to BestBuy and again when I need to make a couple CDs for friends using iTunes.
Personally I like to format the drive and start over with a fresh install of an OS. The old "clean slate" theory. Just backup things you don't want to lose. I have an update version of XP which updates from older systems. Irregardless, once you have your files backed up, just put in the disc and follow the directions. If you're not formatting, be sure to clean the system up before doing the install. Don't want any malware around to foul things up. If things are working okay, walk softly and hope for the best. I still suspect you may have some drive problems.
Yeah, the plan as of right now it to buy an external burner (saw some at BestBuy for $79-99) and then in the summer when I don't need the laptop on a day to day basis, bring it to the local computer shop and see what they can do about installing a newer one. I figure that way, the one I have now will still be OK when I need to burn at work and I'll have the external one when doing my main burning at home.
http://www.nero.com/nero6/enu/FAQs_Products_NeroBurningROM_Error-Messages.html 8. Why do I get a 'Track following error' message? The "Track following error" message is a hardware error. It can be caused by the following: Poor media - Try more than one brand of CD-R media to rule this out as cause. Poor power - The electric power supply of your recorder could be fluctuating. If you have an internal recorder, try a different power connector and make sure it's not being shared by any other devices. If you have an external recorder, remove it from the external chassis, if you can, and connect it on your system as an internal recorder. If this resolves your issue, you need to replace or service the power source in your external chassis. Optical head is dirty or needs alignment - Please contact your recorder manufacturer to service your unit. *read this else where with HP drive*
Thanks IHoe, guess things work out since I was thinking of getting a dual layer burner a couple months ago but decided I didn't need it. Well, now I do. Thanks to everyone who helped me out. I really appreciate it!
What a difference the external makes! I bought an I/O Magic one (probably not the best, but since I'm planning on getting the internal replaced over the summer, it'll be fine for now. I haven't burned anthing yet, but just in backing up DVD's I've noticed a huge differnce. The one in my laptop took 45 minutes to ANALIZE a DVD using DVD Shrink- the internal encoding the entire 5.9GB movie in 11 minutes. Too bad the DUal Layer DVD-R's are so expensive or I'd really be able to have fun. The cheapest I saw at Best Buy or Staples was $19.95 for a 3 pack of Memorex and $79.95 for a 25 pack of another brand that I can't remember. With those prices I'd rather just cut the larger movies into two seperate discs.
That's what Rebuilder is for. I've done most of my backups on DVD5. Encoders are slower but do a better job than transcoders, especially where more compression is concerned (big movies).
Better than Shrink or any transcoder for that matter. There's a foum on it here at AD and the homesite for the software is http://www.dvd-rb.com/ . There's a free version as well as the donor version. I have the Rebuilder Pro with Cinema Craft Encoder (RB/CCE).
