Computer help: CD R/W Problems

CD R/W Problems

This post is similar to Songbird’s “CD Drive Trouble”, below, but I didn’t want to hijack his post and mine specifically concerns Read-Write disks..

I bought two, Verbatim R/W CDs the other day. Both were meant to save copies of a large, multi-chapter manual I had just revised. I burned the two CD copies of my manual files using Nero 5 on my Win98 (SE) machine.

But when I tried to change a few words in one chapter saved on the first CD, the CD would not open. Even after the green lamp on my CD-R/W stops blinking, no title of the R/W CD appears in my Windows Explorer menu. Also, when I double click on the D: drive icon, a pop message says “the drive is not ready”.

However, the second CD R/W I purchased *does* open. And I can open the chapter files on the CD. However, when I try to (re)save an open file the error message says:” Word cannot save or create this file. Make sure the disk you want to save this file on is not full, write protected or damaged”.

I don’t think the CDs are damaged. I bought both from a reputable office supply store. However, I have more than a few times had trouble with my CD R/W hardware in opening and working with CD R/W disks. Sometimes I have successfully burned CD R/W disks, but sometimes not.

Still, that the problem is (almost) intermittent makes it difficult for me to determine what is wrong with (1) the drive or (2) the disks.

I tried opening several CD-ROM Read Only disks this morning and they open okay, just like the second R/W disk I bought. I don’t have another CD-R/W in the house to test.

Any ideas how to repair what’s wrong or to even figure out what is causing my troubles with CD R/W disks?

Thanks.