New DVD burner need basic info

[gthorley]

During a recent upgrade to my computer I had a DVD burner installed. Aopen 16x dual. I also have installed an LG CD writer. Found the CD writer fairly simple to use, when it was installed DirectCD software was with it and it seems to use this to format my CD-R discs.

How do I set up Aopen to write to CD-R. I notice that a CD-R that I have been using to store jpgs on would not read in the Aopen. It hasn't been finalized, if thats the term, do different companies use different software? Is there something like DirectCD that can be used which is compatible to both pieces of hardware. The Aopen comes with Nero 6.3.1.17 OEM suite. I have not installed this yet. Will this Nero software work with both my DVD and old LG CD-R or is there other software that is recommended that will work with all hardware?

[psx_pirate]

Nero will work with both drives ... however as the nero that came with the aopen drive is an oem version then it will only work with the aopen drive unless you go to the nero website and purchase an upgrade (you get a new serial number) that allows nero to work with all drives. Most writing software will work with both drives (as long as that software can see both drives, older versions of software may need to be upgraded in order to work with both drives) provided that the said software is a universal version and not an oem version supplied with a particular make of drive

[gthorley]

Thanks I d/l'd the Nero Ultra edition trial version but it still cannot read the disk that I have been storing mpgs on. I guess directcd formats of an open ongoing data disc can only be read by DirectCD.

Before I committ to Nero does anyone recommend anything else. Is Roxio Easy Media 7 considered as good or better than Nero? DirectCD is a Roxiio product so I imagine it would read my mpg data diisk. This isn't a big deal though because I could just make a new data disk with Nero I guess.

Can someone tell me how data disks with Nero work. Is it similar to DirectCD where until you close the disk you can keep adding data to a CD-R. I like the box that pops up each time you eject with DirectCD asking whether to leave as is or close. Does Nero do something similar..

[psx_pirate]

Use the nero incd that can be downloaded from the nero site to read the disks ..... it looks like you have formatted the disks to use the udf/packet writing system .... if you just want to save files onto a cd-r there is no need to format the disk ... only udf/packet writing requires the disk to be formatted and this only applies to cd-rw .... it allows you to use the disc like a hard drive or floppy drive