saving

[jenjen]

I have a problem when I try to save pictures I have restored in photoshop on a disk. I have windows XP and I try to save it on a CD-RW. When i put the disk in and try to save it, it says to insert a disk. It does this most of the time but i can play certain CDs on it. Also the two drives that are installed are DVD rom and also DVD R/RW. The one that is in but not hooked up it a compact Disk Rewritable. I'm not sure which one i'm suppose to use. For example i sucessfully saved a bunch of pictures on a disk, when I tried to open it up again to work on some, it says it didn't read the disk in the drive.

The reason i'm worried with this is because I want to open up a home business restoring pictures and I think I should be able to at least save my pictures on disk instead of on my computer. Any help i would appreciate it. Thanks again!!

Jen

[Kraellin]

this can be a bit confusing. you might want to try a hardware technical web site for more exact help. something like tom's hardware on the web tends to be pretty good.

but i'll try and give you a basic explanation. cd's and dvd's are not the same animals. they are not interchangable. you say you have a cd-rw disk, but a dvd-rw drive. it used to be that you couldnt write a cd-rw from a dvd r/rw drive. on newer models that may have changed, so it would depend somewhat on what you've got installed. but generally, you cant write a cd-rw from a dvd r/rw.

to further confuse the issue, you also have types of cd's and types of dvd's. there is cd -r, cd +r, and cd-rw. there is dvd -r, dvd +r, and dvd -rw. there is also a cd raw, and a dvd raw (i think). those last two arent used much. also, cd -r is now discontinued....or is it +r? i forget. see, this is confusing it also used to be that you couldnt write +r on a -r drive, and vice versa. same with just playing on them. you had to have the right type cd and the same type drive.

now, the good news is, most newer dvd drives will handle cd's of all types. they'll also mostly handle all types of dvds. but, that's only after a certain date of model. if yours is earlier, then it might not. you'll have to check your manual or readme or whatever documentation that came with the drive, or, check the manufacturer's web site, technical support.

and, just to confuse things a bit more, there is now dual layer or double layer, or double density type drives for dvd's. these have double the capacity of normal dvd's, but you do need the dual or double layer media to make use of it.

all in all, the whole +r and -r were a huge mistake in the first place. i mean, this is just what the consumer needed, more choices he/she doesnt understand.

basically, it looks like you're trying to put a round peg (the cd-rw) in a square hole (the dvd r/rw drive).

my solution to all this was to go out and buy two new combo cd/dvd dual layer burners. i put one in each of my machines so i'd never have to worry about +r, -r and so on again.

K.