Trouble copying CD contents to HD! Please help. (1 Viewer)

[ChristianW]

This is so frustrating. :frowning:
My problem is, that when I try to copy the entire contents of a CD onto my HD, it will copy for a while then just stop. If I select a small number of files at a time and copy them over like that, it works OK. Also when trying to install software, it will get upto a certain percentage (the same at every attempt) and just stop dead.
The discs are fine, they've been used in other computers with no problems, and the CD drive in question is fine in another computer.
The OS is XP and the drive is an Acer 16x10x40.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Brian E]

What kind of MB or controller card? Are your drivers up to date? Try a different IDE cable.

 

[Jesse Leonard]

Are you overclocking your system?

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Since you're trying to install the software, I bet it's copy protected

 

[JohnRice]

I run a Mac, but I used to have the exact same problem extracting an entire audio CD. I finally discovered the computer ran into problems, for some reason, when I tried to extract an entire CD to the same drive as my OS was on. I had segmented the drive into two segments, but it was still physically the same drive. I now have two drives and use the second, much larger one for large files like CDs and high res photos and no longer have any trouble.

Of course, I have never had any trouble installing software, so it sounds like you may also have another thing causing problems.

 

[Steve Berger]

In the old days of DOS these problems could be solved by increasing the D=xxx parameter with EMM386.EXE. Not much help there I'm afraid. If the CD has a very large directory structure you could be running out of low DOS memory where that info is stored. Again not much help on XP. But it could be related to DMA settings. Even though DMA transfer can be enabled it doesn't always work with all drive/chipset combinations. You might try changing that in bios or OS settings.

 

[MikeAlletto]

Did you try copying a few directories at a time instead of the whole thing at once? I once had to do huge file transfers off a jaz drive, but couldn't just select the whole thing and drag it over...it would always crash so I just did a few directories at once until it was all there.

 

[ChristianW]

My motherboard is an Aopen AX34 Pro, not overclocked at all, and i've tried a different IDE cable.

Copy protection shouldn't be a problem. I'm installing a game off the original CD, which works for other people.

Yesterday I installed updated ASPI drivers which helped a bit, in that a program i've tried installing gets a bit further before stopping, but this could just be fluke because it still fails.

I've looked at fiddling with the DMA access settings but haven't actually tried it yet.

I can copy small amounts off a CD at a time. for example, I have almost 3Gb of movie trailers i've downloaded over time, which i've burnt onto CD for safe keeping. If I try to copy a whole CDs contents i'll eventually get an error, but if I grab only 5 or so at a time, there is no problems, except of course for this being very time consuming.

So irritating!

 

[Brian E]

Is it running the newest BIOS? (Be carefull if you've never done it)

Have you tried updating the 4 in 1 drivers?

What happens if you try the drive on the other IDE channel?

 

[ChristianW]

Yeah, the BIOS for the motherboard is the latest I can get, and I flashed the burner the other day too. I have also tried the other IDE channel with the same results.
I am almost convinced my problem is actually hardware related, and most likely the motherboard. I had to check in with you guys though, just in case I'd missed something, but I may as well accept it.
Appreciate the help though.

 

[AndyVX]

This is a long shot, but are your Hard drive and CD burner on the same IDE channel? If so, try moving the burner to the second IDE channel.

 

[ChristianW]

Nah, the HD, which is ATA/66 is running off the primary IDE and is alone. The burner (ATA/33) is running off the secondary IDE and is also alone.
XP is doing the DMA config for the drive automatically, but when I tried PIO mode it did the same thing as DMA mode.
:frowning: Sigh!

 

[John_Bonner]

I've looked at fiddling with the DMA access settings but haven't actually tried it yet.

A while back I was having trouble moving large amounts of data from CD's and also downloading large files (like over 100MB). After enabling DMA I never had the problem again. Go to Device Manager, double click on Disk Drives, highlight your hard drive, click Properties. Under the Settings tab check DMA in the Options section to turn it on. Reboot and see if that helps.

 

[ChristianW]

The plot thickens. I just installed an old 4x CDROM that I had lying around collecting dust. I put it as a slave on the same IDE channel as the CDRW and left the CDRW in the machine as well.

Everything works fine with the quad speed. I also lent the burner to my brother and it worked fine for him. So now I'm really confused.

 

[Brian E]

Could just be one of those wierd, unexplained compatability things. I once had a hard drive that would not work in a certain computer no matter what. Put it in any other computer and it worked fine. No one could explain it.