Some of my Disney CD-Rs are not Reading

B

bryan29

Member
Hello I need some help with my disney CD-Rs. Some of my disney CD-Rs are not reading in my DVD-R. I have tried cleaning the CD-R, but it does not work. If I try them on another computer the CD-Rs read. I would like for them to read on my computer. What could be causing this? Thanks for the help.

Bryan
 
might i suggest that you upload the audio onto the hard-drive of the other computer. Then copy the files onto a flash drive. Then you can take that flash drive to your new computer, and copy them back onto your hard-drive. I think the issue is that your CD-R's may be set up for an older system, and your newer computer cannot translate them.

Or - I know you have WavePad - See if you are able to open the files directly onto Wave Pad. Load the CD into your drive, then open that program. Click on "Load Audio Cd tracks" and see if the files come up.
 
Is it just that the tracks are not reading or are the CD-R discs not recognized at all by the DVD-R drive?
Were the discs previously readable in this particular drive?
Are these CD-R discs you burned yourself or were they bought?
Do you remember installing or updating UDF drivers?

Some other things to check:
Unable to read a CD-R or other recordable disc
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000666.htm

 
Okay thanks for the help I will try some of these methods. Some of the CD-Rs do load for some reason and some do not. Thanks

Bryan
 
Okey-doke, Windows 7.
If Windows cannot recognize the CD-R, typical user-level applications (e.g., WavePad) will not be able to read it because they will go through Windows to access the CD.

Can you post screen grabs of the Properties windows for the DVD-R drive for both a readable and a non-readable CD-R?
That is:
- put a non-readable CD-R in the DVD-R drive,
- open the My Computer window (WINDOWS key + E),
- open the Properties window for the DVD-R drive (right-click on the DVD-R icon to bring up the Context Menu and Properties is the last item in that menu),
- confirm that the General tab in the Properties window is displayed,
- get a screen shot of the Properties window with the Snipping Tool (Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Snipping Tool)
- save the screen shot somewhere on a hard drive

Then repeat this process for a readable CD-R.
And finally post both screen shots by attaching them to a forum posting.

 
I have a "print screen" button on my keyboard. All I have to do to get a screen shot is to press Control and Print Screen at the same time. The print screen button is normally to the far right of all the function "f" keys, at the top of the keyboard.
 
you could also try removing the drive (not physically of course) rebooting and let Windows find it again and reinstall it.  Check the discs for any damage too. Some drives are more sensitive than others and some makes of discs better than others. My reader (Win 7) can have it's moments (especially "please insert a disc into drive X messages). I bought an external USB drive which is far better than the one supplied.
 
Thanks for the help. I really do not understand how to do the print screen thing. I guess I will try something else. I do not understand why some of the CD-Rs read and some do not.
 
Okey-doke, Windows 7.
If Windows cannot recognize the CD-R, typical user-level applications (e.g., WavePad) will not be able to read it because they will go through Windows to access the CD.

Can you post screen grabs of the Properties windows for the DVD-R drive for both a readable and a non-readable CD-R?
That is:
- put a non-readable CD-R in the DVD-R drive,
- open the My Computer window (WINDOWS key + E),
- open the Properties window for the DVD-R drive (right-click on the DVD-R icon to bring up the Context Menu and Properties is the last item in that menu),
- confirm that the General tab in the Properties window is displayed,
- get a screen shot of the Properties window with the Snipping Tool (Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Snipping Tool)
- save the screen shot somewhere on a hard drive

Then repeat this process for a readable CD-R.
And finally post both screen shots by attaching them to a forum posting.

I do not understand how to do this. Take a screenshot of my DVD-R drive.
 
there is a button on your keyboard that you probably have never used. It says Prt Scr on it (usually on the top row of keys after the f12 key - on the right). Pressing that will copy the screen you are on (in this case, to the clipboard. Open your graphic program (the one you open pictures with) and click on (usually the edit tab) and you should find "paste as new image". Click that and a copy of your screen will appear . You can then crop it remove anything you don't want to show and then save it as a jpg somewhere.  Add that to your post by clicking the additional options below the reply box (to the left) NOW SELECT THE PICTURE YOU JUST SAVED and post your reply.
To get the properties box up, just double click on my computer, select the CD drive. right click and select properties. When that comes up. press the Prt Scr button and follow what I said at the start.
See how that goes.
 
No worries.  The Internet has plenty of online tutorials and I will add my own screen shots to fill in the gaps.  I apologize for the amount of space this post is going to take up because my screen shots haven't been resized to avoid losing details.

1) Put an unreadable CD-R in the DVD drive.

2) Open the My Computer window:
How to Open My Computer in Windows 7
How to Open My Computer in Windows 7

3) In that My Computer window, left-click on the icon for the DVD drive to select that drive:
My_Computer_DVD_selected.jpg


4) Now right-click on the DVD drive icon to bring up its Context Menu:
My_Computer_DVD_right_click.jpg


5) Move the mouse pointer to the bottom of that menu, down to the Properties menu item:
My_Computer_DVD_right_click_pointer_at_Propertie.jpg


6) Click on the Properties menu item to display the Properties window for the DVD drive (either left-click or right-click will work):
DVD_Properties.jpg


I have a regular audio CD in my DVD drive so the Properties window for your DVD drive will look different.

7) Follow eyore's instructions on how to take a screen shot of your computer screen and how to post it.  Or you can watch this video on how to use the Windows 7 Snipping Tool:
How to Use Windows 7 Snipping Tool
 
Thanks for all the help. I put the non-readable cd-r in the DVD-R and it just hangs and the circle goes around and around. It will not let me to the properties of the CD-R.
 
Can you read that CD-R on the old computer?  If you can, which OS is the old computer running?
Also, do you know the brand and model number for the DVD-R drive on the new computer?
 
It really may just be a case of the CD-Rs being poor quality (especially if they are rather old ones). There's a disclaimer on all CDs and DVDs that they may not play on all machines.
I have some really cheap ones which may, or may not, play on my various players.
I'd really suggest copying them onto whichever plays them and reburning them using a decent disc (pop the new disc in the new PC first and see if it recognises them as discs). It looks like that may be the problem and your new PC just can't see them as valid discs. It happens.
I doubt this is going to be a PC/OS problem and it's very common with CD-Rs especially when trying to play on a different reader to the one they were created on if they were burned on an older burner with a different OS.
As I said, I bought a USB burner after getting similar problems and they play fine on that.
I'd still uninstall the burner via device manager, reboot and  and let Windows reinstall it though - just in case good old Windows has a corrupted file somewhere in the burner software.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=uk&lc=en&docname=c01897812#N206

especially this section
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=uk&lc=en&docname=c01897812#N258

 
Quality of the burn itself may not be the issue, they only have a life expectancy of about 10 years before the materials start to degrade to the point it no longer is readable. This is also why they are not that great of a medium to store stuff on for archival purposes.
 
bryan29, do you still have the old computer?  From your original post you said the CD-Rs that are unreadable on your new computer (Windows 7) are still readable on another computer.  Is that other computer the old Windows XP computer?

Did you burn these CD-Rs on the old computer?  If you're willing to physically open up both computers, you can temporarily remove the CD/DVD drive from the old computer and connect it to the new computer to see if the unreadable CD-Rs work in the old optical drive on Windows 7.
If the unreadable CD-Rs still work in the old drive, then the problem is some difference between the old and new CD/DVD drives, probably in the laser used to read the disc.
On the other hand, if the CD-R is still unreadable in the old drive while running on Windows 7, then the problem is with the OS.

I think I had a similar problem when I upgraded from Windows XP to Windows 7.  I don't remember if my burned CDs and DVDs wouldn't be recognized and just keep spinning, as in your situation, or if they would be recognized by Windows 7 but showed as being empty.  The problem was the UDF support in Windows 7 and I should be able to find out how I fixed that.

Which software did you use to burn the unreadable CD-Rs and how did you create the CD-R?  Was it the "drag-and-drop" method or did you open a CD burning app and burned an entire CD all at once?
Did you use the same software and method to burn the CD-Rs that are readable?
 
I'd only add that I have had unreadable CDs which after several dozen attempts, suddenly read. I'm presuming that the laser has to hit a certain spot on insertion (I used to note the orientation of the disc and then try, replace it say 10 degrees further to the left/right and so on. I have burned several thousand CDs and only a few did this but maybe worth a try.
I've also had those stupid blanks that it isn't obvious which way up they go in (both sides silver) so I was playing the wrong side  :-[
 
Thanks all for the help. I will try some of these methods that you have told me to do. I really do not want to lose these mp3 audio files. These are my disney audio collection. The only thing I do not understand is. Why some of the mp3 audio cd-rs read and some do not now? Also when I try to load the unreadable cd-r the light on the DVD-R just stays on the whole time while I guess it tries to load.
 
Different brands of CD-R can differ when played. CD players get better and less tolerant of errors so you can get something playing great on one and nothing on the other. I've read pages and pages of stuff over the years of people having exactly the same problems from Win95 onwards. As was said, CD-Rs deteriorate over time anyway.  Your new player/reader isn't recognising the plastic as a CD. Do you have a DVD player that plays mp3s or a portable CD player? I tend to check discs play by using one of those (they will still read after a lot of abuse, I've found),
How old are the actual discs (from when you bought them) and are they a named make?
 
Okay I tried something. I have a laptop computer that runs Win 7. I tried the unreadable CD-Rs and all of them worked for some reason. The CD-Rs that were unreadable were the Imation, FujiFilm, TDK, Sony, and Memorex CD-RW. I do not understand why the CD-Rs worked in my laptop, but not my desktop and both are running Win 7.
 
It's probably more to do with the reader (hardware) then that's on the PC or the software. As I said, some hardware is more tolerant than others to home-burned discs. They'll play fine on some PCs and not on others.
It's a very common problem and there are slight differences between drives.
There isn't a quick fix for it. The drive they were burned on and the one on your new PC just are not compatible with one another. That's fairly normal, unfortunately. It could be as simple as one of the lasers being very slightly out. The laser reads the data at a certain focus/width with a little give and take. If the new one is slightly different then, in simple terms, it's reading a bit of one set of data and a bit of the one next to it so gets confused.
This was very common with tapes where the head had to be adjusted slightly to match what was on the tape when playing on a different machine. It's not something you can do yourself with a laser.
Your only real solutions are to rip the CDs to a PC that can read them and copy to you current PC (I'd suggest a flash drive) and burn them again on your new PC if you need them on CD. You could replace the CD drive on your new machine. You could get an external USB drive.
The fact that all of them worked on another PC means it's the differences in the readers that's the trouble. Put it down to mis-aligned laser in the Win7 machine. Do CDs burned on the new machine play on the old one by the way? Best to check that or you could get the same problem when you change the PC again.
 
You can try opening this Microsoft Support web page on the Windows 7 desktop computer and clicking the green "Run Now" button to see if it fixes the problem with the new computer.  It's something simple to try before resorting to something more involved such as copying the discs or replacing the DVD-R drive.
Fix problems with CD or DVD drives that can’t read or write media
http://support2.microsoft.com/mats/cd_dvd_drive_problems

eyore said:
Your only real solutions are to rip the CDs to a PC that can read them and copy to you current PC (I'd suggest a flash drive) and burn them again on your new PC if you need them on CD.
Click to expand...
Since the laptop and the new desktop both run Windows 7, it's probably easier to enable Simple File Sharing on the laptop instead of doing the flash drive dance ;D:
Simple File Sharing in Windows 7
http://www.home-network-help.com/file-sharing-in-windows-7.html
Windows 7 - Simple File Sharing
Windows 7 - Simple File Sharing
 
bryan29 said:
The CD-Rs that were unreadable were the Imation, FujiFilm, TDK, Sony, and Memorex CD-RW.
Click to expand...

Are all the unreadable disks CD-RW ?
The technology ( and format ) is different for the two types of disks ( R vs RW ). If the RW was not closed, you may have trouble reading them in drives/systems different than the disk/system they were created/formatted on.
You may want to copy the disks ( especially the RW's ) to a backup while you have access to the system that can read them.

 
Good point Pixelated. I tend to shun home networking as I failed miserably to understand the instructions for connecting my old XP computer. I did, however, manage to get it to work with my Humax PVR.

Some1, I'd forgotten about finalising CD-RWs (the reason I gave up using them - same problem with DVDs on a DVD recorder attached to the TV - one broke down and nothing else would play the discs I'd made including the new recorder).
 
Well we are trying every aspect.  ;D
I honestly feel it's going to turn out to be the usual reason of a slightly differently aligned laser in your current PC hardware. Everything seems to be pointing at that.
Were all the others burned on the same burner? It may be that one that was a little "off" if they were. If they were burned on different burners, it's the current one.
As a final thought, do the CDs play on non-computer players? (CD/Mp3 compatible players, DVD players etc)? If they do, that would pretty well rule out bad media.
Home burned CDs and commercial CDs differ remember - home burned cause far more problems.
 
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