Packet Writing Software

[Wijono]

Currently I am using InCD Version 3.52.40 Packet Writing Software with my Win98SE. That version is practically the last version of InCD that works reasonably OK with Win98SE. The early Version 4 of InCD will bring BSOD at boot time, i.e., Win98SE will not be able to start. Whereas the most recent versions, such as Version 4.3.23.2, will work with Win98SE, but it is resources hungry, it will almost use up the CPU time, furthermore it will access hard disk every few seconds and then, really annoying!

Back to Version 3.52.40, it has following drawbacks:

1. InCD runs in the background and stays at System Tray (I don’t really like it).

2. CD-RW formatted with InCD cannot be written by other packet writer, such as DLA, it can be read though.

3. When we right-click the drive and click “Properties”, InCD will generate an Invalid Page fault error, very annoying.

I have heard that DLA (be it from Sonic or Roxio) is more stable compared with InCD, it is integrated within the Windows Explorer. However, due to the fact mentioned under Point 2 above, if we want to migrate to it, we will have to do the following with each and every CD-RW written before by InCD: Backup -> Reformat CD-RW with DLA -> Restore from backup. That can be very cumbersome.

Therefore, before doing such a thing, I would highly appreciate advices from those of you that are experienced with DLA, whether DLA is really stable and cause no problem with Win98SE, and if so which version of DLA is recommendable.

[Andromeda43]

I've used Nero for years and InCD likewise with various OS's.

But, I've never allowed it to run as a TSR. That's rediculous!

Take it out of your startup folder (DE-Select it in MSCONFIG) and put a shortcut to it on your desktop and only run it when you need it.....then shut it off. Then it won't be hogging your resources.

But why do you really need it?

I find NO need for it at all. In fact, I find no need for rewritable CD's.

They cost more money, are not cross-platform compatible and can only be read reliably on the drive what made them.

CD-R's on the other hand, can be read on any CD drive anywhere, cost much less and are more reliable.

And, with Nero, you can write a data CD, for instance, in Multisession mode and write to it several times before you have to retire it and open a new disk. I limit re-writes to just 4, for best reliability.

Good Luck and DO have a nice day,

Andromeda43 B)

[Wijono]

Thanks Andromeda for your nice information.

I fully agree with your counter argument against CD-RW, however I have a habit to treat CD-RW like a big floppy, where I can write data to it, modify it if need arises, only when the CD-RW is almost full and the contents are well arranged, then I will burn it into a CD-R for final backup or archiving.

BTW, I have tried Sonic DLA Version 4.95, unfortunately right-clicking the CD drive and click “Properties” will result in “Explorer has caused an invalid page fault in module kernel32.dll”. I tried Version 4.90, above problem does not come up, but another more serious problem instead, i.e., when I either plug a USB thumbdrive or unplug it, the PC will freeze or BSOD is coming up. I think I will still try another version or two, if it really sucks with Win98SE, then the only option I have is revert back to InCD and follow your good advise, i.e., not to let InCD run at startup but create a shortcut to start it when needed, and another shortcut to a script to turn it off when writing is done.

[Wijono]

I feel I am obliged to tell the result of my experiment with DLA.

After failures with Version 4.95 and 4.90 mentioned earlier, I tried to install Version 4.60, but the installation was stopped for incompatibility problem with "Intel Application Accelerator".

I then tried Version 3.59, I was quite happy at the beginning, because it seemed to be OK, no problem like those I tried before, unfortunately when I tried to insert a CD-R disc, the system suddenly rebooted itself, what a pity.

The next Version I tried is 3.26, it looked also pretty good, until it failed to reformat one of the CD-RW, that I finally could reformat with InCD.

The conclusion is, DLA may be a good packet writing software for say WinXP, because in my PC that runs WinXP, the Version 5.20 really works fine, and I really like the way DLA works, but unfortunately it really is not compatible with Win98SE, what a shame.

It seems to be no other option left for me, I followed Andromeda's advice, I don't run InCD on startup, just turn it on when I need to write to CD-RW, and I write a VBScript to turn it off when writing is finished.

Nevertheless, if someone should have a good solution that can make DLA work with Win98SE, I would highly appreciate it for sharing such a solution.

Thanks.

[Wijono]

It seems that no DLA solution is available for Win98SE users up to now, what a pity.

Meanwhile I feel like to share my precious experience with the InCD 3.5.24.

As I said earlier, I don't run it at Windows startup but instead only turn it on when I need it, meaning when I want to format a CD-RW or I want to write/modify it, and I wrote a VBScript to turn it off when done.

Just now by chance I found out, that I only need to turn it on when I want to format a CD-RW. When I want to write/modify a previously formatted CD-RW, I don't need to have InCD running, simply insert the CD-RW into the my "TDK CDRW4800D" drive, then I can handle the CD-RW as a large floppy disk, I can write to it, I can delete what is not needed! To verify that it really works properly, I check what I have written that way in another CD drive "Compaq CD-ROM LTN403", and it can read it with no problem at all. Great!!

From now on, I only need to turn on the InCD when I want to format a CD-RW. A word of caution, this may only work with the versions of InCD 3, it won't work with version 4.