Using CDRW as floppy

I am using a CDRW; in fact, I have tried several just in case. Maybe you
found something to tweak that makes it work, because I have been trying by
copying and pasting, drag-n-drop, and right-clicksent to, and neither of
them work--they all place the files to be copied on hold, and the files are
always read-only, which is the most bothersome part. I guess if I could get
rid of the read-only part I would be happy.
Natalie

"James" wrote in message
...

"Shenan Stanley" wrote in message
...
Natalie wrote in message
Is there a way to use a CDRW as a floppy, meaning that one could edit
files directly on the CD? I am using Win XP SP2, and so far, every
time I write to the CD it makes them Read Only on the CD. Also, is
there a way to copy the files to the CD without them being placed
"on hold"? I would be nice to be able to drag files onto the CD or
use Sent to and them go like it would a floppy.

James wrote:
XP's built in packet writer will do this for you - Make sure you are
using a CDRW - not a CDR... - And simply right-click a file or folder
and send it to the CDRW drive - This allows you to overwrite files
and basically creates a floppy type access CD for you.

However well intentioned, James is wrong.

Read up on what you can/cannot do with Windows XP's CD witing abilities:
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpcd.htm

--
- Shenan -
--
The information is provided "as is", it is suggested you research for
yourself before you take any advice - you are the one ultimately
responsible for your actions/problems/solutions. Know what you are
getting into before you jump in with both feet.


Hi - I do this all the time - have done for a long time and have had no
problems with my written cd's - try it and see for yourself. - this is my
main form of backup! - no problems and it overwrites all older files if I
wish - I have never installed another writer softwar - go figure!

Natalie wrote:
Hi,
Is there a way to use a CDRW as a floppy, meaning that one could edit files
directly on the CD?

It's NOT a good idea to edit files directly on a CD. That's how
corruption and loss of data occur. ALWAYS (especially if using Word)
copy the file to your HDD first before editing.

--
Interim Systems and Management Accounting
Gordon Burgess-Parker
Director
www.gbpcomputing.co.uk

James wrote:


XP's built in packet writer will do this for you - Make sure you are using a
CDRW - not a CDR... - And simply right-click a file or folder and send it to
the CDRW drive - This allows you to overwrite files and basically creates a
floppy type access CD for you.

There is no such thing. The inbuilt burning software does *not* use
packet writing; just stashes files to burn later as a ISO 'session'.
Third party software is needed

--
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
Bournemouth, U.K. (remove the D8 bit)

James wrote:


Hi - I do this all the time - have done for a long time and have had no
problems with my written cd's - try it and see for yourself. - this is my
main form of backup! - no problems and it overwrites all older files if I
wish - I have never installed another writer softwar - go figure!

You may have installed a third party package: you are *NOT* using the
inbuilt facility

--
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
Bournemouth, U.K. (remove the D8 bit)

Salut/Hi Natalie,

le/on Sun, 20 Feb 2005 12:51:55 +0100, tu disais/you said:-

I looked into it after I read your suggestion and though it is a very, very
good idea, it becomes inconvenient for me due to only having one USB port on
my laptop which is already being used by an external mouse due to a broken
touchpad, and no mouse would make selecting and copying files a bit of a
hard task. I will keep that in mind for when I get a new pc, which is
probably in the near future. Thanks.

Strongly recommend getting a USB 4 way mini-hub. Costs almost nothing and
you can connect your mouse, a USB key, and a couple of other peripherals.
WELL worth it as an expansion.
--
All the Best
Ian Hoare
http://www.souvigne.com
mailbox full to avoid spam. try me at website

OK if you have Nero then InCD is free to you. It might be on the Nero
installation disk that came with your system or CD Writer as it is often
bundled together. If you don't have it you can download and install it for
free from www.nero.com
DLA likely won't install if Nero is installed.
--

Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


"Natalie" wrote in message
...
Thanks Harry, I will give one of them a try. I have Nero, but I don't know
if I have InCD.

"Harry Ohrn" wrote in message
...
Yes but you need third party software. Both InCD from www.nero.com and
DLA
from www.sonic.com are stand a lone solutions for packet writing.

--

Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


"Natalie" wrote in message
...
Hi,
Is there a way to use a CDRW as a floppy, meaning that one could edit
files
directly on the CD? I am using Win XP SP2, and so far, every time I
write
to
the CD it makes them Read Only on the CD. Also, is there a way to copy
the
files to the CD without them being placed "on hold"? I would be nice to
be
able to drag files onto the CD or use Sent to and them go like it would
a
floppy.
TIA

Natalie I should have added that if you choose to use InCD (or any other
packet writing software) make certain that you eject your discs before you
shutdown the computer. To do that always use the program's software ejection
method rather than just pressing the drive's eject button. The reason for
this has to do with the packet writing program storing some of it's data in
a temporary cache that get written to the disc only at the time it is
ejected. If that data fails to get written the disc will end up being
corrupt and probably unreadable. Always ejecting the packet written disc
correctly will minimize that problem. Scroll down to the UDF section here
http://www.mrichter.com/cdr/primer/primer.htm

It is very wise to have a program like the full version of ISO Buster
http://www.smart-projects.net/ or
CD Data Rescue http://www.naltech.com/ handy if you use packet writing
software a lot. The day will come when you won't be able to read the disc
and this software will help you extract data off it.

--

Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


"Natalie" wrote in message
...
Thanks Harry, I will give one of them a try. I have Nero, but I don't know
if I have InCD.

"Harry Ohrn" wrote in message
...
Yes but you need third party software. Both InCD from www.nero.com and
DLA
from www.sonic.com are stand a lone solutions for packet writing.

--

Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


"Natalie" wrote in message
...
Hi,
Is there a way to use a CDRW as a floppy, meaning that one could edit
files
directly on the CD? I am using Win XP SP2, and so far, every time I
write
to
the CD it makes them Read Only on the CD. Also, is there a way to copy
the
files to the CD without them being placed "on hold"? I would be nice to
be
able to drag files onto the CD or use Sent to and them go like it would
a
floppy.
TIA

I personally use a 1 in 4 out hub - posssibly there's a 2-way splitter or
something similar, although I haven't had need to look into that part of it.


--

johnf

I looked into it after I read your suggestion and though it is a very,
very good idea, it becomes inconvenient for me due to only having one
USB port on my laptop which is already being used by an external mouse
due to a broken touchpad, and no mouse would make selecting and copying
files a bit of a hard task. I will keep that in mind for when I get a
new pc, which is probably in the near future. Thanks.

"johnf" wrote in message
...
Natalie, you're talking about "files", which usually don't take up much
disk space, how much space do you actually expect to use?

If you're only talking about, say, anything up to the equivalent of
one to two CDs, why not look at the option of a Memory Stick, just
plug it into a USB port, the PC sees it as a virtual HD, you can
delete files off it, open & change files, take the whole thing with
you anywhere you go - they're usually slim, only 2-3" long & come
with a lead to hang around your neck.
--

johnf

Hi,
Is there a way to use a CDRW as a floppy, meaning that one could edit
files directly on the CD? I am using Win XP SP2, and so far, every
time I write to the CD it makes them Read Only on the CD. Also, is
there a way to copy the files to the CD without them being placed "on
hold"? I would be nice to be able to drag files onto the CD or use
Sent to and them go like it would a floppy.
TIA

Excellent piece of info... Thank you.

"Gordon" wrote in message
...
Natalie wrote:
Hi,
Is there a way to use a CDRW as a floppy, meaning that one could edit
files directly on the CD?

It's NOT a good idea to edit files directly on a CD. That's how corruption
and loss of data occur. ALWAYS (especially if using Word) copy the file to
your HDD first before editing.

--
Interim Systems and Management Accounting
Gordon Burgess-Parker
Director
www.gbpcomputing.co.uk

I have installed InCD and it seems to do what I wanted. For now I think that
I will stick with it, but, as I said earlier, I will buy an new laptop (this
one is getting old) and then I will go with a memory stick, and use a CD-RW
for backup only. The idea of a hub is good to have; thank you.

"Ian Hoare" wrote in message
...
Salut/Hi Natalie,

le/on Sun, 20 Feb 2005 12:51:55 +0100, tu disais/you said:-

I looked into it after I read your suggestion and though it is a very,
very
good idea, it becomes inconvenient for me due to only having one USB port
on
my laptop which is already being used by an external mouse due to a broken
touchpad, and no mouse would make selecting and copying files a bit of a
hard task. I will keep that in mind for when I get a new pc, which is
probably in the near future. Thanks.

Strongly recommend getting a USB 4 way mini-hub. Costs almost nothing and
you can connect your mouse, a USB key, and a couple of other peripherals.
WELL worth it as an expansion.
--
All the Best
Ian Hoare
http://www.souvigne.com
mailbox full to avoid spam. try me at website

Thank you for this update. I got InCD installed, but there seems to be a
small glitch. I have a 700Mb CD-RW which it formatted as 600Mb. Now, I don't
mind having lost 100Mb if this is normal or for a logical reason, but I
don't want it to be because there is something wrong somewhere. Any ideas?

Also, I noticed that if I read the CD in another PC--which has a CD recorder
but not InCD--all the files are Read-Only; is this normal? I'm not going to
try to solve this one unless it's a little tweak somewhere... not THAT
important.

Thank you for all the info and time you have taken.

"Harry Ohrn" wrote in message
...
Natalie I should have added that if you choose to use InCD (or any other
packet writing software) make certain that you eject your discs before you
shutdown the computer. To do that always use the program's software
ejection
method rather than just pressing the drive's eject button. The reason for
this has to do with the packet writing program storing some of it's data
in
a temporary cache that get written to the disc only at the time it is
ejected. If that data fails to get written the disc will end up being
corrupt and probably unreadable. Always ejecting the packet written disc
correctly will minimize that problem. Scroll down to the UDF section here
http://www.mrichter.com/cdr/primer/primer.htm

It is very wise to have a program like the full version of ISO Buster
http://www.smart-projects.net/ or
CD Data Rescue http://www.naltech.com/ handy if you use packet writing
software a lot. The day will come when you won't be able to read the disc
and this software will help you extract data off it.

--

Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


"Natalie" wrote in message
...
Thanks Harry, I will give one of them a try. I have Nero, but I don't
know
if I have InCD.

"Harry Ohrn" wrote in message
...
Yes but you need third party software. Both InCD from www.nero.com and
DLA
from www.sonic.com are stand a lone solutions for packet writing.
--
Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


"Natalie" wrote in message
...
Hi,
Is there a way to use a CDRW as a floppy, meaning that one could edit
files
directly on the CD? I am using Win XP SP2, and so far, every time I
write
to
the CD it makes them Read Only on the CD. Also, is there a way to
copy
the
files to the CD without them being placed "on hold"? I would be nice
to
be
able to drag files onto the CD or use Sent to and them go like it
would
a
floppy.
TIA

Natalie wrote:
Thank you for this update. I got InCD installed, but there seems to be a
small glitch. I have a 700Mb CD-RW which it formatted as 600Mb.

That's perfectly normal - it threw me when I first saw that as well!
Remember the old 2MB floppies? When they were formatted they went to 1.4MB!

--
Interim Systems and Management Accounting
Gordon Burgess-Parker
Director
www.gbpcomputing.co.uk

Hi,

I've been fascinated by this thread.

I have been using "copy and paste" in My Computer to a CD-RW as my main
method of backing up data for 2 months on my Toshiba laptop and it seems to
work fine.

I am always prompted that "xxx file already exists....overwrite??" and it
does so.

I have XP Home SP2 with no 3rd party adds.

What am I doing "wrong"???????

Simon.

"Natalie" wrote in message
...
Hi,
Is there a way to use a CDRW as a floppy, meaning that one could edit
files directly on the CD? I am using Win XP SP2, and so far, every time I
write to the CD it makes them Read Only on the CD. Also, is there a way
to copy the files to the CD without them being placed "on hold"? I would
be nice to be able to drag files onto the CD or use Sent to and them go
like it would a floppy.
TIA

noone wrote:
I've been fascinated by this thread.

I have been using "copy and paste" in My Computer to a CD-RW as my
main method of backing up data for 2 months on my Toshiba laptop and
it seems to work fine.

I am always prompted that "xxx file already exists....overwrite??"
and it does so.

I have XP Home SP2 with no 3rd party adds.

What am I doing "wrong"???????

You are believing you don't have a third-party add-on.

--
- Shenan -
--
The information is provided "as is", it is suggested you research for
yourself before you take any advice - you are the one ultimately
responsible for your actions/problems/solutions. Know what you are
getting into before you jump in with both feet.