Skip to Main Content
PC Hardware Annoyances
book

PC Hardware Annoyances

by Stephen J. Bigelow
November 2004
Intermediate to advanced content levelIntermediate to advanced
272 pages
10h 6m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from PC Hardware Annoyances

PERFORMANCE ANNOYANCES

NO SPACE AFTER FORMATTING

The Annoyance:

Why do I see 0MB of usable space after I format a CD-RW disc?

The Fix:

The trouble is often in the writing software itself. For example, this issue occurs with Nero’s InCD Version 4.0.3.2 and some AOpen CD-RW drives (DRW2412Pro) under Windows XP (SP1). Check with the writing software maker for a patch or update. For InCD, update to 4.0.1.11 or later to resolve the problem (http://www.nero.com/en/nero-up.php). If no suitable patch or upgrade exists, try an alternate RW utility, such as Roxio’s Drag-to-Disc (http://www.roxio.com).

MOVING TO 80 MINUTES AND BEYOND

The Annoyance:

Why can’t I burn 80 minute CDs with my drive? Do I need an upgrade? Can I upgrade the drive I have?

The Fix:

Ordinary CD-R discs can fit 74 minutes (650MB) of music onto a single disc. CD manufacturers normally leave the last six minutes blank to prevent fingerprints and other goop along the edge of the disc from interfering with reading or writing. If you want to use all 80 minutes (700MB), you’ll need a disc specifically marked for 80-minute use. You’ll also need a drive and writing software (such as Nero 6) capable of burning 80 minute discs (check the specifications of your drive and software).

However, that only gets you an extra six minutes (50MB). What about those funky discs that promise 90 or 99 minutes? To pack even more data on a CD, you can use a technique called “overburning,” which ignores the stated storage limit of the CD. As with oversized ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Start your free trial

You might also like

Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 Inside Out

Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 Inside Out

William R. Stanek
Windows® 8.1 IN DEPTH

Windows® 8.1 IN DEPTH

Brian Knittel, Paul McFedries

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0596007159Catalog PageErrata