Question about backing up PC

[Kazza]

OK; I have a bunch of piccies saved on the pc and I want to save them on a CD. When I go to 'My Pictures' I only get the options of sending them to a floppy but not a CD. I don't want to buy blank CD's and then have no use for them. How do I put the piccies on a CD when this option is not available?

[PZelda]

You have to have a CD burner program. CD's aren't like floppies - you can't just move stuff directly to CD. Did your computer come with a CD burner program? Just about all the computers that are new today should have a CD burner. I use the Sonic RecordNow! program for burning - it's what came with my computer when I got it more than a year ago.

Once you are in your CD burner program and you have prepped a CD for burning, you will be able to move your pics over there. :)

[Kazza]

You have to have a CD burner program. CD's aren't like floppies - you can't just move stuff directly to CD. Did your computer come with a CD burner program? Just about all the computers that are new today should have a CD burner. I use the Sonic RecordNow! program for burning - it's what came with my computer when I got it more than a year ago.

Once you are in your CD burner program and you have prepped a CD for burning, you will be able to move your pics over there. :)


I have no idea~! LOL I got Real Player on it
I know that I can play CD's on it and the little boxes say "CD' on one and the other says 'Rewritable'...is that it?

[PZelda]

I have no idea~! LOL I got Real Player on it
I know that I can play CD's on it and the little boxes say "CD' on one and the other says 'Rewritable'...is that it?
That doesn't seem to be it, unfortunately. :( As far as I know, RealPlayer doesn't make any real CD burning programs. Robyrob could give you a more in-depth answer on what to do.

[Kazza]

That doesn't seem to be it, unfortunately. :( As far as I know, RealPlayer doesn't make any real CD burning programs. Robyrob could give you a more in-depth answer on what to do.


I have an XP and when I go to 'My Pictures' tasks and click on the 'Move this file' it takes me to a little chart to pick where I want to move it to. There is an option of 'Presario', 'Other folders' and 'CDRW'...Probably that's it?
Thanks for your help!
*Paging Robyrob* LOL

[robyrob]

do you have a cd-writer drive, or is it JUST a cd-rom?

if you look on the drive door, it should have a logo that TELLS you if it is capable of writing to a CD-R. (it should say something like "CDRW - ReWritable cd" ) You will also need software to let you write files to the cdr - usually it comes with the drive, or its built-in to XP.

if you DON'T have a CDRW drive, you'll have to buy one, but they are fairly cheap (<$50)

[Kazza]

do you have a cd-writer drive, or is it JUST a cd-rom?

if you look on the drive door, it should have a logo that TELLS you if it is capable of writing to a CD-R. (it should say something like "CDRW - ReWritable cd" ) You will also need software to let you write files to the cdr - usually it comes with the drive, or its built-in to XP.

if you DON'T have a CDRW drive, you'll have to buy one, but they are fairly cheap (<$50)

One of the doors of the drive says Compact Disc Rewritable; is that what I need?
I went to the Help files and looked in there and found that on the Picture Tasks I can move them to a floppy and a CDRW..I just need to make sure it can :(

[robyrob]

If the My Pictures folder gives you the option of moving the files to the CDRW, thats the option you want, but you have to have the cdr in the drive first.

You have XP dont you? - you should be able to open two windows and drag and drop the files to the cdrw drive with the CDR in it if you cant do it from the My Pictures. The cd-writing software is built-in to XP, so it should work as long as the CDR is recognized by the drive, put one of the cdr's into the drive marked "Rewritable" and see if a window pops up asking what you want to do with the disk, or if it opens your cdwriter software.

[Kazza]

If the My Pictures folder gives you the option of moving the files to the CDRW, thats the option you want, but you have to have the cdr in the drive first.

You have XP dont you? - you should be able to open two windows and drag and drop the files to the cdrw drive with the CDR in it if you cant do it from the My Pictures. The cd-writing software is built-in to XP, so it should work as long as the CDR is recognized by the drive, put one of the cdr's into the drive marked "Rewritable" and see if a window pops up asking what you want to do with the disk, or if it opens your cdwriter software.

Thanks Rob! I'll go to the store tomorrow and buy the CDR's and let you know how it turned out. I don't want to lose my 300+ photos :D

[Janice]

ignore

[Kazza]

I went to the store and got some Memorex CDR's and when I try to move the data to them I get an error msg that 'the disc may be corrupted or is not compatible for Windows'...huh?
Now I'm confused and not too happy

Update: I've been using Record Now and for some reason it ejects the CD before it's done. Even when doing one pic at a time. :rolleyes:

[robyrob]

couple of quick questions, then I'll make some suggestions,

- did this computer come with XP, or was it an upgrade?

- did the CDRW drive come with the computer, or was it an upgrade?

- what is the speed of the CDRW drive (should say on the drive door, or on the specs for the pc, but may not) and what is the speed of the disks you bought - it should say something like 24x or 48x ?

- have you ever been able to write to cd's successfully?

- what model # is the computer - if its a Compaq, it should have a model# on the front, and a product# on a barcode sticker on the back of the case

- have you installed any updates from Compaq?

- what version of RecordNow are you using? (go to the Help>About.. menu in the program)

- what version of Windows Media Player do you have installed (some cdwriter drives are incompatible with the cdwriting components in WMP)

suggestions:

1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
2. Right-click the CD-RW drive, click Properties, and then look for the Recording tab.
3. In the dropdown box for Write Speed (by default it should say "Fastest") set it to the second highest speed available
4. There should be an checkbox that says "Enable cdwriting on this drive" - make sure it is checked.
5. click OK to close the window.
6. do a disk cleanup on your hard drive (right-click the C: drive in My Computer, click Properties, click the General tab, and then click Disk Cleanup) cdwriting needs a lot of free space on your hard drive

- try to right-click the files and SendTo the cd drive...

you may need to look for updates to the RecordNow software or for the drive itself - if you can find the model # I can probably help you find them.

[Kazza]

couple of quick questions, then I'll make some suggestions,

- did this computer come with XP, or was it an upgrade?

- did the CDRW drive come with the computer, or was it an upgrade?

- what is the speed of the CDRW drive (should say on the drive door, or on the specs for the pc, but may not) and what is the speed of the disks you bought - it should say something like 24x or 48x ?

- have you ever been able to write to cd's successfully?

- what model # is the computer - if its a Compaq, it should have a model# on the front, and a product# on a barcode sticker on the back of the case

- have you installed any updates from Compaq?

- what version of RecordNow are you using? (go to the Help>About.. menu in the program)

- what version of Windows Media Player do you have installed (some cdwriter drives are incompatible with the cdwriting components in WMP)

suggestions:

1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
2. Right-click the CD-RW drive, click Properties, and then look for the Recording tab.
3. In the dropdown box for Write Speed (by default it should say "Fastest") set it to the second highest speed available
4. There should be an checkbox that says "Enable cdwriting on this drive" - make sure it is checked.
5. click OK to close the window.
6. do a disk cleanup on your hard drive (right-click the C: drive in My Computer, click Properties, click the General tab, and then click Disk Cleanup) cdwriting needs a lot of free space on your hard drive

- try to right-click the files and SendTo the cd drive...

you may need to look for updates to the RecordNow software or for the drive itself - if you can find the model # I can probably help you find them.


Lemme see if I don't miss any of your questions
1- Computer came with XP, the CDRW came with it
2- I found the speed on the CDRW's and it says 4x? 700mb, 80 min
3-This is my first time to copy to CD's. I backed up before with floppy's but they take too much room
4-The model is Presario 6000
5-Not that I know of (updates)
The Record Now version is the one that came with the computer which is almost 2yrs old. It got a purple logo
6- I have WMP 9
7- I went to the Properties on the CDRW and enabled recording. Went to My pictures and clicked on 'send to cd' and apparently they were sent but the CDR won't run to check .

[robyrob]

Lemme see if I don't miss any of your questions
1- Computer came with XP, the CDRW came with it
2- I found the speed on the CDRW's and it says 4x? 700mb, 80 min
3-This is my first time to copy to CD's. I backed up before with floppy's but they take too much room
4-The model is Presario 6000
5-Not that I know of (updates)
The Record Now version is the one that came with the computer which is almost 2yrs old. It got a purple logo
6- I have WMP 9
7- I went to the Properties on the CDRW and enabled recording. Went to My pictures and clicked on 'send to cd' and apparently they were sent but the CDR won't run to check .
- if you open the cdrw drive in My Computer, in the Tasks pane on the left, does it say "Write these files to cd" and are the files visible in the folder?

- the disks say 4x? these are CDRW not CD-R's? you probably need to try create a data disk in Record Now, the built-in cdwriting for Windows can be kinda flaky with them

- what write speed was it set to on the recording tab of the cd drive properties? - usually you want the write speed to be not the fastest setting, if the drive is a couple of years old, in a Compaq, I'd guess that is a 24x or 32x drive - try manually setting the write speed to 24x

- look for that sticker on the back of the computer, it should have a product# on the sticker with the serial# and barcode - if you have the EXACT product# or model#, it makes it really easy to find ALL of the updates for that model on the hp site. (6000 is just the series we need to know which specific model it is)

[Kazza]

- if you open the cdrw drive in My Computer, in the Tasks pane on the left, does it say "Write these files to cd" and are the files visible in the folder?

- the disks say 4x? these are CDRW not CD-R's? you probably need to try create a data disk in Record Now, the built-in cdwriting for Windows can be kinda flaky with them

- what write speed was it set to on the recording tab of the cd drive properties? - usually you want the write speed to be not the fastest setting, if the drive is a couple of years old, in a Compaq, I'd guess that is a 24x or 32x drive - try manually setting the write speed to 24x

- look for that sticker on the back of the computer, it should have a product# on the sticker with the serial# and barcode - if you have the EXACT product# or model#, it makes it really easy to find ALL of the updates for that model on the hp site. (6000 is just the series we need to know which specific model it is)


1-On the tasks it says :View system info/ Add/removeprograms/ Change a setting/ eject this disk
2- The discs say 4x and are CDRW's..I tried creating a data disk on Record Now but before the process was over an error msg came up saying that recording couldn't be finished and to have a new disk handy, ejecting the disk
3-It doesn't have 24x on the speed 16,32 ect and it's set on 'fastest'. There's a little chart that shows up under 'General' and it shows to be full and with no space left:shocked: (I have no idea about that)
4-The system # is DA 208A n the serial # is MX 24412751

p.s Thanks for helping me

[robyrob]

1-On the tasks it says :View system info/ Add/removeprograms/ Change a setting/ eject this disk
2- The discs say 4x and are CDRW's..I tried creating a data disk on Record Now but before the process was over an error msg came up saying that recording couldn't be finished and to have a new disk handy, ejecting the disk
3-It doesn't have 24x on the speed 16,32 ect and it's set on 'fastest'. There's a little chart that shows up under 'General' and it shows to be full and with no space left:shocked: (I have no idea about that)
4-The system # is DA 208A n the serial # is MX 24412751
p.s Thanks for helping me
1. & 2. - this tells me that XP does not recognize that CDRW as a writable disk, it may be because of the disk or because of the software, you should get a CDR and try IT instead - as for the software,

3. - because we DID see a Recording tab for the drive, we know that XP recognizes it as a drive, so it must be a problem with either the driver, RecordNow, or possibly even the WMP cd-writing plugin. Some notes on this:
- make sure that the write speed on the Recording tab is NOT set to "Fastest", set it down to the second fastest setting or the speed of the CDR you get (whichever is lower)
- make sure you have any cd-burning updates from http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ installed
- lets try to uninstall the WMP cdwriting plug-in (you'll still be able to make music cd's just not directly from WMP), click on "Run" on the Start menu, and enter
rundll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\inf\roxio.inf,Uninstall and reboot
- try to copy the files to the CDR in RecordNow again,
- if its still not working, you can reinstall RecordNow, there are instructions here (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?dlc=en&tool=softwareCategory&lc=en&product=213908&os=228&cc=us&docname=c00003818#)
- there are some instructions here (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?dlc=en&tool=softwareCategory&lc=en&product=213908&os=228&cc=us&docname=c00003821) for reinstalling the driver for the drive, and the IDE channel (if we need to go this far I can give you some more specific instructions)

4. - seems like the model# is 6301rsh, the download page for it is here: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?dlc=en&tool=softwareCategory&lc=en&product=213908&cc=us&os=228
- it DOES list an update for RecordNow here (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?dlc=en&tool=softwareCategory&lc=en&os=228&product=213908&cc=us&softwareitem=pv-14001-2), but it doesnt mention any 'fixes' that refer to your specific problem, so I wouldn't install it unless everything else we've tried fails.

[Kazza]

1. & 2. - this tells me that XP does not recognize that CDRW as a writable disk, it may be because of the disk or because of the software, you should get a CDR and try IT instead - as for the software,

3. - because we DID see a Recording tab for the drive, we know that XP recognizes it as a drive, so it must be a problem with either the driver, RecordNow, or possibly even the WMP cd-writing plugin. Some notes on this:
- make sure that the write speed on the Recording tab is NOT set to "Fastest", set it down to the second fastest setting or the speed of the CDR you get (whichever is lower)
- make sure you have any cd-burning updates from http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ installed
- lets try to uninstall the WMP cdwriting plug-in (you'll still be able to make music cd's just not directly from WMP), click on "Run" on the Start menu, and enter
rundll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\inf\roxio.inf,Uninstall and reboot
- try to copy the files to the CDR in RecordNow again,
- if its still not working, you can reinstall RecordNow, there are instructions here (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?dlc=en&tool=softwareCategory&lc=en&product=213908&os=228&cc=us&docname=c00003818#)
- there are some instructions here (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?dlc=en&tool=softwareCategory&lc=en&product=213908&os=228&cc=us&docname=c00003821) for reinstalling the driver for the drive, and the IDE channel (if we need to go this far I can give you some more specific instructions)

4. - seems like the model# is 6301rsh, the download page for it is here: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?dlc=en&tool=softwareCategory&lc=en&product=213908&cc=us&os=228
- it DOES list an update for RecordNow here (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?dlc=en&tool=softwareCategory&lc=en&os=228&product=213908&cc=us&softwareitem=pv-14001-2), but it doesnt mention any 'fixes' that refer to your specific problem, so I wouldn't install it unless everything else we've tried fails.


Oh my! It's worse than I thought! I don't even know where to get started :eek:
At least I want to clean out the drive because the little graph shows me that it's 'full' how do I do that?
I think I'll stick my head in the ground with a box of floppies

[robyrob]

Oh my! It's worse than I thought! I don't even know where to get started :eek:
At least I want to clean out the drive because the little graph shows me that it's 'full' how do I do that?
I think I'll stick my head in the ground with a box of floppies please dont be overwhelmed - its NOT as bad as you think, but to put it bluntly, there is NOT a simple answer here - it could be a number of things causing this.

The graph is "full" because the disk is not being recognized properly, in other words, something is wrong.

Let me try to make it simpler here, try this:

1. buy, beg or borrow a CDR from someone and try that first.

2. copy and paste this line into the run command (hold the Windows key and press the 'R' key):

rundll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\inf\roxio.inf,Uninstall

3. go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and look for any updates related to cd burning, I can't tell you which ones you need because windows update will have to scan your system to see which updates you have installed and which ones you need.

- try to create a data disk in RecordNow with the CDR disk, if it does NOT work:

4. try install the update for RecordNow from here. (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?dlc=en&tool=softwareCategory&lc=en&os=228&product=213908&cc=us&softwareitem=pv-14001-2)

if it still doesn't work after that, we'll need to reinstall things and I can help you from there if necessary.

[Kazza]

please dont be overwhelmed - its NOT as bad as you think, but to put it bluntly, there is NOT a simple answer here - it could be a number of things causing this.

The graph is "full" because the disk is not being recognized properly, in other words, something is wrong.

Let me try to make it simpler here, try this:

1. buy, beg or borrow a CDR from someone and try that first.

2. copy and paste this line into the run command (hold the Windows key and press the 'R' key):

rundll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\inf\roxio.inf,Uninstall

3. go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and look for any updates related to cd burning, I can't tell you which ones you need because windows update will have to scan your system to see which updates you have installed and which ones you need.

- try to create a data disk in RecordNow with the CDR disk, if it does NOT work:

4. try install the update for RecordNow from here. (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?dlc=en&tool=softwareCategory&lc=en&os=228&product=213908&cc=us&softwareitem=pv-14001-2)

if it still doesn't work after that, we'll need to reinstall things and I can help you from there if necessary.


My brother's computer is a little more modern than mine. Probably I can go by his place and try it there...
Thanks a lot for your help Robyrob! You Rock!!