Since 2001, I have been using my HP CD-RW drive for burning data files on my PC. My drive came with both Adaptec's [Roxio's] Easy CD Creator v4.02 and DirectCD (now re-named by Roxio as "Drag To Disc") v3.01. Of these two programs, for my particular needs, I use the excellent (IMO) packet-writing DirectCD v3.01 in conjunction with my CD-RW discs which gives me the convenience of drag & drop (i.e., frequent adding, updating and deletion of files and folders).

After some thorough reading of reviews on the Web, I soon plan on purchasing two new, faster internal drives to possibly replace outright my 4-year old HP CD-RW drive. They are:

1) OptoRite DVD+/-R/W drive (model no. DD0405); for some images and details, see http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Sp...?ArticleId=9279
http://www.optorite.com/_english/web/1_pro...hp?hChk=Y&hID=3 and http://www.optorite.com/_english/web/1_pro..._spec.php?hID=3

2) MSI CD-R/W drive (model no. CR52-M); for some images and details, see http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.html?i=1860
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/optical...sp?model=CR52-M
http://hongkong1.cnet.com/reviews/hardware...9018242p,00.htm


I find that both drives are bundled with Nero 5 or 6 which includes their packet writing program InCD. Personally, I seriously prefer NOT to use/install InCD (or for that matter any of the other burning programs that are part of Nero 5 or 6).

Once I connect these two new drives (as drive letters D & E; secondary master & secondary slave) to my system:

a) Will I still be able to successfully use my already-installed DirectCD program with each of these two new drives so that when I insert rewritable discs in both of them I will be able to format them and then use them for drag & drop purposes?

b) Can packet-writing software such as my DirectCD be used with rewritable DVDs for drag & drop purposes in the same manner as CD-RW discs? If so, which type of rewritable DVD will work? DVD-RW and/or DVD+RW? And is the speed (2.4x, 2x, 4x) of the rewritable DVD important during packet writing?

c) When I format a 650 MB CD-RW with my DirectCD packet-writing software, it leaves me with approximately 533 MB of useable, free space. When I format a 700 MB CD-RW with my DirectCD packet-writing software, it leaves me with approximately 570 MB of useable, free space. If a rewritable 4.7 GB DVD can indeed be formatted with packet writing software such as DirectCD, approximately how much useable, free space will I have? And, about how much time does it take to fully format the rewritable 4.7 GB DVD?


Thank you kindly for your helpful, accurate answers.

Qualified yes. It should work for both drives, but only for CD-RW writing, not for DVD. There is also a chance of strange things happening when you put in a new drive. The roxio software is fairly infamous for doing a lot of low level alterations in windows that have the potential to screw things up in bad ways.

No. DirectCD v3 is too old, it does not know how to write a DVD-/+RW. Also the Easy CD Creator version you have will not be able to write to any sort of DVD either.

N/A

I have no experience with any type of packet writing software on DVD. But there are a few things that will make it different from how it works on CD. For one thing there are some very different specs. On DVD-RW, for example, there is a mandatory 100+ megabyte empty buffer between sessions. I don't know if packet writing uses "sessions" per se, but things like that might change your experience.

Klyith (or anyone else),

Since my version of DirectCD (v3.01) is older having been released four years ago at a time when Adaptec, Nero, etc. did not (likely) offer packet-writing for rewritable DVDs, if I were to uninstall my v3.01 and then obtain and install a more current version (say, v6.x or v5.x or v4.x) of DirectCD (now called 'Drag To Disc' as most of you know by now) then do you confidently think that my new Optorite DVD +/-RW burner would certainly work with the more current version(s)?

BTW, as far as Easy CD Creator is concerned, like I stated in my original post, I do NOT use it (never have & never will). For the past 4 years, in addition to my mostly dedicated use of DirectCD v3.01, I have occasionally been using three very small & reliable, non-packet-writing data/audio burning programs: BurnQuick (at http://www.burnquick.com ), SongsToCD (at http://www.songstocd.com ), and DropToCD (at http://www.sateira.com )

I remember reading somewhere that formatting DVDs will not take up space unlike with CDs, but don't quote me on that.
Regarding the speed, it depends if your DVD drive supports Mt. Rainer. If it does, most of the formatting process takes place in the background so you can start copying and deleting files almost right away. You can even eject the media while it's being formatted and the DVD drive will continue formatting it when you insert it again.
If your drive doesn't support Mt. Rainer, I guess the formatting will take as much as it would take to burn a full DVD at the highest speed the media supports.
If you also activated checking the disc after formatting it, it might take twice as long.

Why you don't want to use InCD? I remember it had serious stability/compatibility issues when it was v3, but it was long time ago, current versions (v4) are rock-stable.
I use it with CD-RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM and it works perfectly.
As for speed, my drive doesn't support MtRainer, but DVD-RAM & DVD+RW (not sure about DVD-RW) discs take no time to format. Only CD-RW (and perhaps DVD-RW) discs need to be fully formatted before you can use them. Speed is equal to the one supported by the disc/drive, unless you set InCD to write with verify, then writing speed halves (read speed stays the same).
As for space, I just inserted formatted DVD+RW and it has ~4,37GB of free space, so you don't lose much.
Also, InCD supports most recent versions of UDF file-system (up to v2.6), so you can use "duplicate metadata" feature to increase secureness of your data.
Drag'n'drop works too of course. So, reconsider using InCD

rutra80:

Isn't the latest version of Nero's InCD either version 5 or 6?

With my DirectCD v3.01, I am able to open the D:\ drive icon (representing my HP CD-RW drive) in Windows Explorer or in My Computer and view, add, delete, modify files & folders just like I can if I were to open my floppy A:\ drive. Does InCD v5 and/or v6 also offer this same exact convenience feature and facility?

Rather than install the entire Nero (or Nero Express) v5 or v6 program, would I be able to place the bundled Nero (or Nero Express) CD [included with my new Optorite DVD burner and MSI CD burner] and ONLY install InCD? If so, which particular folder on the CD must I locate and which particular file should I click on to install InCD properly? Also, will I need to reboot on my Windows 98SE-based PC?


EVERYONE:

For packet-writing (whether with InCD or DirectCD/DragToDisc), am I better off using a DVD+RW disc instead of a DVD-RW? Is a packet-written DVD+RW disc more stable and reliable than a packet-written DVD-RW disc? What are the pros and cons, if any?

Thanks.

If I were to use Packet-Writing on DVD media, I'd definitely go for DVD-RAM (which means buying an LG DVD writer at this time would be the premier solution) ... In my opinion, its defect management makes it far superior over any Mount Rainier solution.

The downside is its rather low writing speed which commonly is additionally reduced by 50% due to write-check cycles ...

The latest version of InCD is 4.3.20.1 (from August 5th, 2005).

Yes, you can do all the things that you do with floppy, in all applications.

I don't know, perhaps you can install InCD only, depends how it's bundled. Even if both things will install, later you may uninstall Nero and leave InCD only.

Yes.

Theoretically DVD+ is designed better than DVD-, from both security and speed points of view. Practically you shouldn't be aware of any differences, except that DVD- is supported by more hardware probably. If you're interested in some technical details see the article on CDFreaks.