Troubleshooting

About Buffer Underruns

CD writing is a real-time process which must run constantly at the selected recording speed, without interruptions. The ZipCD^™ drive's buffer is constantly filled with a reserve of data waiting to be written, so that small slowdowns or interruptions in the flow of data from the computer do not interrupt writing.

A buffer underrun error means that for some reason the flow of data from the source (e.g., hard disk, CD-ROM drive) to ZipCD^™ drive was interrupted long enough for the ZipCD^™ drive's buffer to be emptied, and writing was halted. If this occurs during an actual write operation rather than a test, your recordable disc may be ruined.

Enabling DMA on Your Source CD-ROM Drive:

CAUTION! The troubleshooting steps below walk you through enabling DMA (Direct Memory Access) on your CD-ROM and hard drive, which may enhance your system's performance. However, some older CD-ROMs and hard drives cannot use this setting and problems could result. Before enabling DMA on your system, check the documentation that came with your computer to see if your hard drive and CD-ROM support DMA.

Windows^® 95/98:

NOTE: On some systems, you need to change the BIOS settings to add DMA support, check the user's manual that came with your computer for more information.

1. Right mouse click My Computer on the Windows desktop and select Properties.
2. Click on the Device Manager tab.
3. Double click CD-ROM.
4. Double click on the icon for your source CD-ROM drive.
5. Click the Settings tab.
6. If the box next to the DMA setting does not already have a check mark in it, click on the box to enable DMA.
7. Click on OK.
8. Double click the Disk drives icon.
9. Double click the icon for your computer's hard drive.
10. Follow steps 5-7 to enable the DMA setting for your hard drive.
11. Click on OK to finish.
12. Begin the recording session again.

Windows^® 2000:

NOTE: On some systems, you need to change the BIOS settings to add DMA support, check the user's manual that came with your computer for more information.

1. Right mouse click My Computer on the Windows desktop and select Manage.
2. Click on Device Manager.
3. Double click on IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers.
4. Double click on location of your source CD-ROM drive.

   NOTE: To determine whether your source CD-ROM drive is connected to the primary IDE channel or the secondary IDE channel, refer to the drive installation instructions.

5. Select the Advanced Settings tab.

   NOTE: Device 0 means the same as Master, and Device 1 means the same as Slave. To determine whether your source CD-ROM drive is connected as master or slave, refer to the drive installation instructions.

6. Select Transfer Mode and highlight DMA if available.

If Enabling DMA Did Not Fix Your Problem:

1. Click the Start button located on the left side of the taskbar.
2. Select Programs, point to Iomega ZipCD™, and select Easy CD Creator.
3. Click on the Tools menu and select CD-Recorder Properties.
4. Click on the Write Speed drop-down menu and select 2x 300 kb/sec.
5. Select OK, then begin the recording session again.

Other Possible Causes of Buffer Underruns

Hard Disk

• Extremely fragmented hard drive

• Not enough space in temporary directory (20MB recommended)

• Hard disk compression may cause buffer underruns. We do not recommend writing from a compressed hard disk or disk partition

• Very old hard drives

Other Hardware

• Spindown of CD-ROM drives you're copying data or audio from (for information on preventing CD-ROM spindown see your computer's manual or contact the CD-ROM drive manufacturer)

• Slow source devices

• Source devices that transfer data in bursts

• Incorrect recorder controller settings

• Inability of the devices to sync properly

• Overall system configuration

• Computer unable to allow fast enough data transfer

• Conflicts with old device drivers. Do not use 16-bit (real-mode) device drivers in Windows^® 98. REM out any old CD-ROM drives you may have in your CONFIG.SYS file. (You don't need them anyway.)

• Setting hard drive read ahead optimization to "none" may cure buffer underruns in some cases. (Go to the Start menu | Settings | Control Panel | System | Performance | Advanced Settings/File System | Hard Disk and set "Read-ahead optimization" to "None.")

Networks

• Recording across the network (a network may be too slow to maintain adequate throughput speed)

Files to Be Recorded

• Recording many small files

• Damaged source files (data loss)

• Trying to record files in use by the system or other applications

Other

• Copying from a CD that is scratched, dirty, or damaged

• Recorder malfunction

Checks/Prevention

• Defragment your hard drives at least once a week.

• Do not record across a network. Copy the desired files to your local hard drive.

• If your source hard disk is more than five years old, make sure it does smart thermal recalibration (contact your hard drive manufacturer for more info).

• Record at a slower speed.

• In any operating system, always use the newest drivers from your SCSI controller card manufacturer.

• It may be necessary to write audio at slower speeds than those you can achieve for data, since writing CD-DA audio requires streaming more bits per second to the ZipCD^™ drive.

• Keep the CDs, the recorder, and your source CD-ROM drive free of dust.

• Do not try to copy empty directories, zero byte files, or files that may be in use by the system at the time of recording.

• If your data includes more than 10,000 very small files, create a disc image first, or record at a slower speed.

• The temporary directory should always have free space at least twice the size of the largest file you are recording.

• The entire computer, from the motherboard bus to the ZipCD^™ drive itself, needs to be configured properly for faster recording and highest maximum sync transfer rate.

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Why Does My ZipCD^™ Drive Write at a Speed Lower than I Set?

If your ZipCD^™ drive is writing at the 2x speed here are some explanations and suggestions to optimize the performance of your drive.

The ZipCD^™ drive's safety feature may slow down the performance of your ZipCD^™ drive

The Iomega ZipCD^™ drive has a safety feature, which is designed to prevent possible damage to the CD disc or the loss of data. If this safety feature detects any problems during the process of creating a CD the ZipCD^™ drive will spin down to a speed of 2x or slower. This helps to maintain a continuous flow of data and safeguards both the CD media and your information.

Using CDs of poor quality may affect the performance of your ZipCD^™ drive

For optimal performance we suggest using brand name CD-R and CD-RW discs. Using top brand name discs may help to ensure the optimal performance of your ZipCD^™ drive.

NOTE: Some name brand CD-R media may perform differently in different drives. If you are not getting the performance that you expect from your ZipCD^™ drive, experiment with different brands of CD-R media until you find one that works well with your ZipCD^™ drive.

Check your DMA Mode

To optimize the speed of your ZipCD^™ drive it is best to enable the DMA mode for your CD-ROM drive. See Enabling DMA on Your Source CD-ROM Drive for step-by-step instructions on enabling DMA.

NOTE: If you have any problems formatting, you may need to disable the DMA mode in order to format a CD.

The compatibility of your source device can affect the speed of your ZipCD^™ drive

The source device refers to a CD-ROM drive, a Network, or any type of device from which you can copy data to the ZipCD^™ drive.

For example when recording from a Network the Network may be too slow to maintain an adequate throughput speed and may cause the ZipCD^™ drive to run slow. CD-ROM drives that are not DAE (Digital Audio Extraction) compatible can also be an issue. Many CD-ROM drives do not support DAE and those that do may not support the DAE effectively.

We strongly suggest testing your system before burning a CD-R or CD-RW from any source. Easy CD Creator^™ comes with a variety of system tests that checks different parts of your system for compatibility. Please use the following steps to test your system for compatibility.

1. Run the System Tests in Easy CD Creator^™.

2. If your CD-ROM drive is not DAE compatible, or if you are copying from the Network and it is too slow, another solution is to copy your data or audio files to your hard drive and record the files back to CD. To copy from your hard drive please use the steps in About Digital Audio Extraction.

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Testing your System Configuration for Adaptec Easy CD Creator^™

You should perform the system tests if any of the following conditions apply:

• Before making your first CD
• After making changes to any of the following:
  • Location of your temporary files
  • Selecting devices (such as using a different CD-Recorder)
  • Adding devices (such as hard disks, Zip^® drives, CD-ROM drives, etc.)
  • Configuration settings

To run the Systems Test:

1. From the Tools menu, select System Tests. The Systems Test dialog box will appear.
2. Select one or more of the following tests:
• Data Transfer Rate Test—this test determines the average rate data is read from the drive.
• Audio Extraction Test—this test determines the average rate digital audio is extracted from the drive.
• Recording Test—this test determines the recording speeds supported by the system.
3. Click Test to perform the tests.
4. Follow any onscreen instruction.

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The ZipCD^™ Drive is Not Assigned a Drive Letter

This could be due to a hardware installation problem. The following suggestions will help you check your installation:

1. Try a different connector or cable.
2. Make sure none of the pins on the ZipCD^™ drive's data connector are bent and that the data cable is connected properly (see the Installation Guide).
3. Make sure the cable connections are straight and on all the way.
4. Make sure the ZipCD^™ drive is connected to an IDE channel on the computer's motherboard and that the jumper on the back of your drive is set correctly for your computer's configuration (see Identifying the IDE/ATAPI configuration)

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You want to Change the Drive Letter Assigned to Your ZipCD^™ Drive

NOTE: Changing your drive letters may cause letters assigned to other devices to be reassigned. Some links and dependencies may be broken.

NOTE: It may be necessary to reconfigure the software that came with your ZipCD^™ drive after following these step, since changing drive letters may break some links within the software.

Drive letter assignments are controlled by the operating system—in order to change a drive letter assignment, you must work with the procedures required by your computer's operating system.

Windows^® 95/98 Users:
If your computer is running Windows^® 95/98, use the instructions below to assign the desired drive letter to your ZipCD^™ drive.

1. Right mouse click on the icon for My Computer and select Properties.
2. Click the Device Manager tab.
3. Click the plus sign (+) next to CD-ROM drives, then click the icon for the ZipCD^™ drive to select it.
4. Click the Properties button located at the lower left of the Device Manager window.
5. Click the Settings tab.
6. The Settings window will inform you of the current drive letter for the ZipCD^™ drive. To set a specific drive letter, select the desired drive letter in the dialog box for Start drive letter. Note that the same drive letter should appear in the dialog box for End drive letter.

Windows^® 2000 Users:
Drive letter assignments are controlled by the operating system. In order to change a drive letter assignment, you must work with the procedures required by your computer's operating system. The following instructions describe how to change drive letters for removable drives under Windows^® 2000.

NOTE: You must have administrator privileges for your local computer in order to change drive letters under Windows^® 2000.

1. Select Control Panels, Administrator Tools, Computer Management, then Disk Management.

2. Right click on the icon for the ZipCD^™ drive and select Change Drive Letter & Path from the shortcut menu.

3. Click the Edit button.

4. Click on Assign a drive letter and select the letter you want to use for your ZipCD^™ drive.

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Your Standard CD-ROM Drive Won't Read Recordable CDs

Sometimes, it appears that you wrote a CD without trouble and can read it on your ZipCD^™ drive; however, when you put it in a standard CD-ROM drive, one of the following happens:

• The CD is ejected
• You get error messages such as no CD-ROM or not ready reading.
• You have random problems accessing some files or directories.

The problems may vanish completely when you use the disc on different CD-ROM drive.

The lasers of some CD-ROM drives, especially older ones, are not calibrated to read recordable CDs because their surface is different from that of factory-pressed CDs. If your CD-ROM drive reads mass-produced (silver) CDs but not recordable CDs, check with the CD-ROM drive manufacturer to determine if this is the problem. In some cases, an upgrade may be available to resolve the problem. The combination of CD brand and your ZipCD^™ drive can make a difference.

Problems Reading Recordable CDs on Any CD-ROM Drive

If you have successfully written a CD but have problems reading it, there are a number of possible reasons:

• If the CD can be read on the CD-R or CD-RW drive but not on a standard CD-ROM drive, check in Disc Info and Tools to make sure that the session containing the data you just wrote is closed. CD-ROM drives cannot read data from a session that is not closed. If the CD session is not closed, go ahead and do so.

• If your CD is ejected, you receive an error message, or you have random problems accessing files from the CD, your CD-ROM drive may not be well-calibrated to read recordable CDs.

• The CD can read fine, but all of the files have a read-only attribute. This occurs because the file system extensions used to read back ISO 9660 discs in Windows assume that CDs are a read-only medium, and therefore set the read-only attribute for files on CD. If you copy files from CD back to hard disc, this attribute is maintained until you change it using Windows Explorer.

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About Digital Audio Extraction

CAUTION! Digital Audio Extraction (DAE) is designed to assist you in reproducing material in which you own the copyright or have obtained permission to copy from the copyright owner. Unless you own the copyright or have permission to copy from the copyright owner, you may be violating copyright law and be subject to payment of damages and other remedies. If you are uncertain about your rights, contact your legal advisor.

Copying audio digitally from a CD requires a CD-ROM drive or ZipCD^™ drive which supports DAE. All ZipCD^™ drives can perform DAE. Many CD-ROM drives do not support DAE at all; others do it, but not very well. Few (if any) high speed CD-ROM drives can extract audio successfully at or even near their top-rated data speed.

Unsuccessful audio extraction is easy to detect: it sounds bad (clicks, pops, or hissing within the track). The most common reason is that DAE was performed at too high a speed for your source CD-ROM or ZipCD^™ drive to maintain proper synchronization of the audio data it was passing to the hard disk or ZipCD^™ drive. Audio samples are skipped or repeated, causing errors which sound to the human ear like clicking, popping, or hissing.

The solution is to slow down DAE. However, with some drives, getting a clean audio extraction requires reading at very slow speeds, with lots of going back and rereading the same audio samples over again to make sure that everything is in the right place (this is called audio-resynching or jitter correction). Sometimes the read will be so slow that it becomes impossible to copy directly from your source audio CD to the ZipCD^™ drive—the read speed is slower than the ZipCD^™ drive's write speed. In this case you will have to copy the audio tracks to hard disk and then record them back to CD (follow instructions below).

1. Start Easy CD Creator^™.

2. Click the Audio tab.

3. Click the Audio CD tab.

4. Insert the CD you want to copy tracks from into your ZipCD^™ drive or source CD-ROM drive, and open that drive in the Explorer.

5. Select the track you want to extract.

6. Click the Extract button on the toolbar. The Extract Audio Track(s) to File(s) dialog box appears.

7. Select a location for the file in the Save In drop-down list.

8. Select a file name for the extracted file in the File name text box.

9. In the Save As Type drop-down list box, select the type of file you want the track saved as: WAV and MP3

10. In the format drop-down list, select the audio format you want for the extracted file and click save.

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About File Systems and File Names

Not all CDs can be read by all operating systems; much depends on what file system and filenaming option are used when the disc is created. If you need to make a disc readable on more than one operating system, please consult the table below to determine the best filenaming option for the combination of platforms the disc will be read on.

* As reported by end-users; this information has not yet been verified by Adaptec.

ISO 9660 (8+3 characters set)
If you are going to make an ISO 9660 Level 1-compliant disc, we strongly suggest that you take ISO 9660's filename limitations into consideration from the start when creating your files and applications. Use this option to record discs with filenames which comply strictly with ISO 9660 Level 1 restrictions.

Any MS-DOS 8+3 filenames (unrestricted character set)
Windows^® 95/98/2000/NT allows you to use file and folder names up to 255 characters long, which may include spaces. To maintain DOS compatibility, a DOS-standard (8+3) filename is associated with each file; these names are created automatically by Windows and can be viewed in Properties for each file. To create these DOS-standard names, long filenames are truncated and the tilde (~) is added; a number may also be added to distinguish between files which would otherwise have identical names when truncated. For example, the filename "Letters to Send.DOC" might become "LETTER~1.DOC."

If you select the "Any MS-DOS 8+3 filenames" (Easy CD Creator) or "DOS names only" (Easy-CD Pro) option, these DOS names will be used in recording the files to disc, and any long filenames will be lost.

Joliet
Joliet is an extension of the ISO 9660 standard, developed by Microsoft for Windows 95, to allow CDs to be recorded using long filenames (it also allows for using the Unicode international character set). For files recorded to CD, Joliet allows you to use filenames up to 64 characters in length, including spaces. Easy-CD Pro 95 and Adaptec Toast also record the associated DOS-standard name for each file. CD Creator only records the long filenames, so Joliet discs recorded with CD Creator will not be readable under DOS or Windows 3.1.

Versions of Windows NT up to 3.51 build 1057 do NOT read the long filenames on Joliet discs. NT 4.0 does support Joliet. If you select this option, filenames up to 64 characters long will be allowed. If a filename is longer than 64 characters, a message will appear allowing you to edit the filename.

Long File Names (30 characters max)
(Easy CD Creator) Windows 95/98/2000/NT long filenames are used, but converted to upper case. Filenames longer than 30 characters are truncated and the tilde (~) is added; a number may also be added to distinguish between files which would otherwise have identical names when truncated.

Romeo
Romeo allows you to write to disc filenames up to 128 characters long, including spaces. This is not part of the Joliet standard, and the Unicode character set is not supported. If read under DOS or Windows 3.1, file and directory names will appear truncated to 8+3. (However, if two or more filenames become identical when truncated, you will probably be able to see only the first.) Romeo long filenames can be read on Windows 95 and NT 3.51 systems. Romeo discs can be read on Macintosh^® systems if the filenames are not longer than 31 characters.

When you select this option, your disc can include filenames up to 128 characters long. File and directory names are automatically converted to uppercase for maximum compatibility with NT 3.51 and DOS.

Macintosh^® HFS
HFS (Hierarchical File System) is the "native" file system used by the Macintosh^® operating system to organize data on hard and floppy disks. It can also be used for CD-ROMs; in this case, Macintosh^® file attributes such as custom icons and the Macintosh^® desktop will be preserved.

About File Version Numbers

In strict interpretations of the ISO 9660 standard, all directory entries of files must contain the file name followed by a semicolon and the file version number, ";1." Most operating systems automatically remove these two characters from the filename when accessing a file or displaying a directory, but versions of the Macintosh^® operating system prior to 7.5 did not. The result is that when you look at an ISO 9660 disc on a Macintosh^® with System 7.0 or earlier, all the filenames appear as "FILENAME;1". This could cause problems with an application that must run from CD on the Macintosh^® : if your application looks for a file named "MYFILE.TXT", it will only find a file named "MYFILE.TXT;1".

NOTE: With later Mac^® system software, if the option key is held down while the disc is being mounted on the desktop, the System will display file version numbers.

Some UNIX systems require a setting to make the version numbers "disappear."

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Windows^® system problems when creating CDs

If you are experiencing problems with your Windows^® Operating System when creating CDs, Iomega suggests that you try one or more of the following:

• If you have other applications open when using the software that came with your ZipCD^™ drive, try closing those other applications when creating a CD.

• Turn off any screen saver, power management or suspend mode that may be enabled on your computer while a CD is being created. These can be reenabled once the CD creation process has finished.

• If you have anti-virus software installed, disable any active virus scanning during the creation of a CD or when copying a large amount of files to a disc. Make sure that you reenable the active anti-virus software and scan the disc that you created before using or distributing it.

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Can I use CDs I Create on My ZipCD^™ Drive on Any CD player?

CD-R and CD-RW discs created on a ZipCD^™ drive can be read on MultiRead CD players. Virtually all CD-RW drives sold today are MultiRead compatible. Many PC OEMs provide MultiRead compatible CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drives as standard equipment with the computers they sell. You should always check with the owner's manual that came with your computer equipment to be sure that the CD player is MultiRead compatible.

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Your ZipCD^™ Drive Will Not Play DVD-Videos from a Different Region

All DVD players are assigned a region code. Your ZipCD^™ drive can only play DVDs that have the same region code as your ZipCD^™ drive or that do not have a region code. Your ZipCD^™ drive may not be set to your region by default. The first time you insert a DVD-Video, your DVD software (not included with this package) may prompt you to change the region code of your ZipCD^™ drive. You will not be prompted to change regions again unless you put in a DVD from a different region. If you are unsure which region to select, consult the map below.

Although it is simple to change the region code of your ZipCD^™ drive, you should avoid changing it after the initial set up.

CAUTION! The region code of your ZipCD^™ drive can only be changed four times. After four times the region code will be permanently set to the last region selected.

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