AHEAD Software

www.nero.com

InCD 4 - FAQ

Do not forget to also read the manual (in the instalation path of InCD 4.0 (usually c:\Program files\Ahead\InCD)) or the help available throught the systray icon right-click menu.



  1. Minimal requirements

  2. [Un]Installation

  3. General

  4. Graphical User Interface

  5. Basic features

  6. MRW

  7. DVD

  8. EasyWrite Reader

  9. Other / Known bugs



Minimal requirements

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[Un]Installation

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General

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Graphical User Interface

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Basic features

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MRW

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DVD

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EasyWrite Reader

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Other / Known bugs

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Minimal requirements

- Q -

What are the minimal requirements ?

- A -

Operating system:

Free hard disk space: RAM: Recorder: Processor: Any AMD processor of the equivalent speed should be ok as well.

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[Un]Installation

- Q -

I have InCD 3.x. Roxio's DirectCD, VOB's Instant write or any other packet writing software. When I want to install InCD4, I get a message telling me I have to remove this software first.

- A -

Having several packet writing softwares installed on the same PC is not recommanded: there would be different programs trying to acess the same hardware ressources at the same time. The case of InCD 3.x is even more trivial: we want to avoid confusion bewteen files of the same name.

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- Q -

I uninstalled InCD but I still have the icon in the tray bar.

- A -

Just pass your mouse over the icon. Windows will then update the traybar icon cache and the InCD 4 icon should disappear. If not, please verify that InCD has been properly uninstalled (Control Panel > Add/Remove Software )

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- Q -

While updating InCD 4 I got this error: 'An error occured (could not copy ) error : 32'.
I have tried updating from previous version, but failed to update. An error can not copy file "DriveLocker.dll" occurred.

- A -

Just finish the update, then try again. If you get this error again, remove (uninstall) InCD 4.0 first then reinstall it.
You will most likely get this problem for 'Drivelocker.dll' if you update from version 4.0.0.[11-14] to versions 4.0.0.[18-23]. From version 4.0.0.24 this problem is gotten rid of.

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- Q -

I installed InCD 4.0 and for some reasons, I want to go back to InCD 3.x. What should I do ?

- A -

First uninstall InCD 4.0, then install InCD 3.x

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- Q -

What will happen if I do not reboot after an installation, resp. an update, a deinstallation ?

- A -


On 9x systems you will not be able to uninstall InCD and reinstall it without rebooting first
On NT systems (NT 4 / 2k / XP) there is no such restriction

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General

- Q -

I found a bug. How do I report it ?

- A -

Send a mail to your contact in Ahead Software. In order to allow the InCD 4.0 engineers to efficiently process this mail, it must contain:

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- Q -

Compatibility with disc made/used with other Packet writing software

- A -

We have tested InCD 4 with discs made with: DLA Veritas, Roxio - Direct CD, BHA - Bs Clip, Software Architects (SAI), VOB - InstantWrite.There are problems for writing (with InCD) on media formatted by those products under NT4 and VOB Instant write is in general not fully compatible with InCD 4.

PacketCD can't read medias formatted with InCD 4

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- Q -

I can't mount/see the disc I formatted/used in the Explorer
I can only see a file called OpenHtml.exe and a few other files

- A -

1. check that InCD is installed
2. check that Nero isn't running, with this media selected.
3. Install the Easywrite reader (go to you burner drive, go into the FILES folder and double click on the 'readme.html' file for instructions)

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- Q -

Can I use 20 minutes CD-RW ?

- A -

Yes.
And 90 minutes as well, provided your burner supports this capacity.

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- Q -

On an NT4 system I have two recorders, one being empty, and the other one is formatting a media.During the formatting process I refreshed the explorer by hitting F5. It crashed.

- A -

We are working on this issue, but right now please avoid doing this.

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- Q -

What will happen if I have both Ahead's EasyWrite Reader and InCD 4.0 installed on the same machine ?

- A -

It is completely harmless.
Actually, on NT4 systems, in order to have EWR 4 to work you must install InCD 4 beforehand.

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- Q -

What will happen if I have an anti-virus real-time scanner installed and running ?

- A -

For very big zipped or rarred packed files, or for zipped or rarred packed files that contain a lot of files, you will notice a slowdown when copying a file to your RW media. This happens because the anti-virus scans the files during the copy process. The slowdown varies depending on the compression scheme, the anti-virus software, etc.

Be also aware that using DrWeb and InCD on the same computer might lead to some instability.

Anyway, three situations are possible :
  1. everything goes ok - no comment
  2. writing file to the RW media or reading files from it is noticeably slowed down - disable the real time scanning for files on removable media
  3. windows crashes when a file is accessed (read or write) - from InCD 4.0.0.13 this should not happen (or else it's not our fault) but disabling the real time scanning for files on removable media can help. If the problem persists, please contact the Anti-Virus vendor first.

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- Q -

What will happen if I installed Windows Media Player 7 ?

- A -

If you install WMP 7 *AFTER* InCD 4.0 then you might not have our shell extensions (right-click menu entries) anymore (however InCD still works).
Workaround: install WMP *then* InCD 4.

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- Q -

In the drive properties pages, in the Nero multimounter tab ('Volumes'), the disc creation date is wrong.

- A -

Wouldn't it be the 29th or the 10th of January 2003 ('29/01/03' or '10/01/03') by mere chance?
Any way, as you can see just before the creation date, the type indicated is 'ISO / Joliet', however the media type is UDF (as shown in the 'InCD' tab). This means that the Nero Multimounter does only see the ISO part of your InCD formatted disc and thus the date displayed is not wrong because it is not the disc creation date as is but the ISO image (what you see if InCD is not installed) creation date.

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- Q -

On Win2k/XP/NT4 there is an error logging file called 'srverror.log' stored in the InCD installation path. Where is this file on 9x systems ?

- A -

On 9x systems this file does not exist, it is linked to incdsrv.exe -the 'InCD File System Service'- that exists only on NT systems.
But there is a logfile \windows\incd\incderr.log that contains messages logged by the filesystem.

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- Q -

Is it safe to install several packet writing softwares on the same system ?

- A -

No.
Having several packet writing softwares installed on the same PC is not recommended: there would be different programs trying to acess the same hardware ressources at the same time. It works Ok for hard-drives, but the matter is a much more difficult one as far as CD/DVD burners are concerned. If the sotwares have flaws ( read 'bugs that are well hidden and difficult to detect') in their capacities to run in such conditions then, at best, one of these sotwares will not function properly, at worse, the whole system might become unstable and none of the installed packet writing softwares work.

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- Q -

How does InCD handle UDF and UDF/ISO multisession medias burned with a premastering software (such as Nero 5.5 for instance) ?

- A -

DVD-Video medias are recognized properly, but for other medias, currently, on NTs systems (NT4/2k/XP), only the first session can be seen.
There is no quick solution, but, we have one that'll be ready later on. We think we can change the way we work with Windows native udf reader to no more disable it in at boot time, but still ensure that when the media can be written by InCD, it is mounted by InCD. This is not easy, it concerns the way the InCD's kernel drivers are implemented so it'll take some time until we get satisfying results.

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- Q -

My formatted disc contains a hidden file called 'Non-Allocatable Space'. What's this ?

- A -

If you do not see this file, the it's normal: you haven't enabled the display of hidden files, which is surely ok.
If you can see it, no panic, this file must exist. Do not try to delete it, copy it or whatever. This file is used and needed by InCD to work with the files you manipulate (save, copy, delete, rename, move, etc.) on the formatted disc. Actually this file is mentionned in the UDF 1.50 specifications and thus you will find it also on discs formatted by other packet writing software.

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Graphical User Interface

- Q -

The format or erase progress bar does not grow correctly. Either it grows too slowly, too quickly, or freezes longely, or even grows and reduces instead of only growing

- A -

The recorder firmware reports no or wrong progress indication. Solution: Update the recorder firmware to a more recent one.

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- Q -

Why does the systray icon not change accorgingly to the disc state as it is written in the manual ?

- A -

Because we still have to implement this feature.

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- Q -

How is the language of the GUI chosen ?

- A -

Accordingly to your system's settings.
Right now, the choice's list is still displayed, although not enabled. This will be changed.

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- Q -

I was an InCD 3.x user. I installed InCD 4.0. Where are the 'Format' and 'Erase' commands in the system tray icon's menu ?

- A -

They are not here any more. InCD 4.0 is fully integrated in the Explorer: right click on your burner's icon and in the contextual menu that will appear, you will have acess to:

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- Q -

The 'InCD Format' and 'InCD Erase' commands do not appear in the burner's right-click menu and in the drive's properties InCD tab, the 'Format' and 'Erase' buttons are disabled.

- A -

That means that either you do not have a media in the recorder, or that your media is not detected as a rewritable (RW) media.

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- Q -

There is no 'Exit' entry in the systray icon menu, how can I exit the GUI ?

- A -

You can't. InCD 4.0 is desined to blend as much as possible in the Windows Explorer and should be considered as an extention to it, not as an usual application.

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Basic features

- Q -

I tried to write a very big file (more than 2GB) on a rewritable DVD, but I get an error message telling me that an parameter is not correct.

- A -

Win9x does not support writing files of 2GB or larger (because it uses a 32-bit file size). Even on a on FAT32 disk partition.

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- Q -

I erased my files on a media using the 'InCD erase' feature. Now I cannot write anymore on the disc.

- A -

The 'erase' operation re-blanks your disc. It is NOT an operation to only erase your file and leave am empty formatted disc, it is the exact same operation that you would do with Nero - Burning Rom with the 'Recorder -> Erase rewritable' menu choice.

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- Q -

I can't write/copy/save files on my disc

- A -

  1. check that the disc is formatted [right-click in Explorer -> properties...]

  2. check that the disc has not been put in read-only state (because of a media defect for instance) [check the icon in the tray bar: green is OK, red indicates error. In the properties page it is also visible: icon with a white question mark in a red disc => read only if the disc is formatted]

  3. Disc formatted on Sony CRX100E cant be written on Yamcrw2216 (see the "Hardware" section)

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- Q -

The unix program ln.exe allows creating a symbolic link: an additional directory entry for an existing file. I have used it but when written using InCD, it does not work anymore

- A -

InCd does not support symbolic links (UDF supports this, and NT supports it at a low level. But as Win32 does not, InCd does neither).

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- Q -

I cannot mount an 80-minutes disc

- A -

Some old recorder drives cannot mount 80 (or more) minutes discs. Updating the firmware might not help solve the problem as it most probably is a hardware limitation. Use 74 minutes discs or get a newer recorder.

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- Q -

I have a slimdrive (usually found on laptops), will the 'Load' feature work ?
I wanted to load a media that I put in my burner's tray by using the 'Load' feature (right-click menu or button in the InCD dialog windows) but I got an error message

- A -

No. This feature only works for drives that have a motorized tray.
Depending on the drive, either this option will no even appear, or it will have no result, or you will get this message "Unable to load the disc".

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- Q -

Windows XP - I've drag'n'dropped some files on my RW burner drive using the right mouse button and the contextual menu choices 'Copy here' and 'Move here' do not work correctly.

- A -

This problem occurs only when the Shell Integration of IMAPI (the burning engine of Windows XP) is enabled (proof: open a dos windows and make a dir command on the incd media, the correct available size will be displayed).
If you uncheck "Enable CD recording on this drive" on the Recording tab of the drive properties (right-click on the drive icon > properties), then the disc available size will refresh normally.

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- Q -

I inserted a blank disc in my recorder and it is seen as Audio disc. The CD Player appeared.
The medium is seen as AudioCD after Erase or Quick erase.

- A -

Just format it.

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- Q -

Is it possible to read the CDs written with InCD under DOS (when I boot my computer to DOS) ?

- A -

Nor InCD, neither any UDF writing software will allow to read a CD under pure DOS because there is no UDF driver for DOS (as far as I know at least, maybe some company does this)
. Even if you close as ISO 9660 format the UDF disc (which InCD 4 is not capable of), DOS can still not read your CD.
Either you have to create a standard ISO cd (with Nero by example), or you have to write a UDF driver for DOS.

For more infos click here

"[...] In order to support UDF, the TOC - first information on the disc - had to change. As a result, MSCDEX and other extensions cannot read packet-written discs even after they are closed to ISO 9660 format - the information that the extension expects to see is simply not visible. The solution was to invent Level 3. Functionally, it looks the same as Level 1 to the user, but it requires a different extension. That extension is available in Windows 95, Windows NT, and Apple System 8, so that they can read Level 3 discs. It is not in DOS, Windows 3.x or other systems. This has nothing to do with your hardware or application software. Someone may write a new extension, but Microsoft may not be interested and there's not much money to be made from the effort to inspire a company to do the job. If you write one, you will be much loved by many users, but probably not well paid for it."

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- Q -

Windows XP - The AutoPlay feature has popped-up when I inserted a blank media. What should I choose ?

- A -

If Nero Smart Start did not pop up, Select Autorun Blank disc (with InCD) and click on OK. You can now format the media.

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- Q -

Can I shutdown/restart my PC safely while InCD formats, deletes, copies, ereases, background formats, etc. ?

- A -

InCD 4.0 includes a safety mechanism so that the task is properly closed if you do a shutdown/restart of you PC via the start menu 'shutdown' command. If you do this using the reboot button or by shutting down the power, you will loose your data or will make your media unusable.

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- Q -

On XP, the size of the disc is not updated: weather you delete or add some files, the windows explorer never shows the real capacity. What happens ?

- A -

This is a problem from IMAPI, the internal XP burn engine
If you disable it on this device (by going to drive properties, recording, and unchecking "Enable CD recording on this drive") now the capacity update will work.

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- Q -

Windows XP - the wrong drive is proposed in the Formatting dialog window when I insert a blank media and use the AutoPlay feature of XP

- A -

Windows XP AutoPlay feature does not provide InCD any information on the drive that contains the newly inserted blank media. In other words we cannot know directly from XP which drive has been loaded. So, by default, the drive chosen by InCD is the first available drive. That choice might not suit your wishes, but then you can select an another drive.

Also make sure that you haven't an InCD "Format" dialog window already opened for the drive you wish to use.

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- Q -

The system tray icon does not change when I insert a blank disc.

- A -

This happens for drives that do not correctly report their tray status. Mostly slim drives (drives for laptop computers) have this problem.

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MRW

- Q -

I have two MRW capable drives and in the option. that allows to use MRW formatting is greyed. I cannot modify it

- A -

This happens when this option has been checked for one of the recorder and not for the other. This options is supposed to control all the MRW recorders on a system. You can still change this in the properties page (right-click in Explorer -> properties...)

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- Q -

I cannot format my disc as MRW (Mt Rainier).

- A -

1. Verify that you have an MRW capable burner. If you do, then please check on its manufacturer's web page that your firmware is up-to-date.
2. MRW does only work for CD-RW and DVD+RW. Not for any other kind of media.

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- Q -

I wanted to erase a rewritable media but before actually erasing it, InCD displayed a message box saying "Writing data to disc. This should take less than 60 seconds.". What happens ?

- A -

If you asked for an erase while the MRW background format was still running (~10-30 minutes after the end of the initial MRW format) then, before being able to do any new operation on the media (except writing and deleting files) InCD has to properly stop the background format first. This is what happens.

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- Q -

How can I know when the background format is done ?

- A -

InCD gives no information about this as it is the drive itself that manages the MRW background format. But you can first check if the recorder is still active by looking at its LED (i.e. "is it still writing ?"). You can also estimate the time needed once the "Format complete" message has been displayed, depending on your drive and media :
- 10-15 minutes for Ultra Speed CD-RW
- 15-20 minutes for High Speed CD-RW
- 30-45 minutes for MultiSpeed CD-RW and DVD+RW
(the 'verify' option being inactive in all these three cases)

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DVD

- Q -

I was using InCD 3.5x with DVD-RW but now I cannot use my discs with InCD 4

- A -

InCD 4 does now fully support DVD-RW. Save the data you wrote on your discs, reformat these latter with InCD 4 and copy the data back on it.

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- Q -

How long will it take to format a DVD+RW with the verify option activated ?

- A -

It depends on your DVD burner, but it'll take approximately 1 hour.

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EasyWrite Reader

- Q -

What's the EasyWrite Reader ?

- A -

You will need Ahead's EasyWrite Reader in several cases:

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- Q -

I have installed InCD 4, do I have to install the Easy write reader ?

- A -

If you need to read MRW formatted discs on non MRW drives, then yes.

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- Q -

Why do I need to install InCD 4 to have the EasyWrite Reader installed on NT4 ?

- A -

On NT systems (NT4 / 2000 / XP), the EasyWrite Reader relies on the system's native UDF reader. XP and 2k have one, NT4 has none. So the easiest way to provide it one, is to install InCD 4.

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- Q -

On an NT4 system I installed InCD 4 then EWR as advised. It worked. Now, what will happen if I uninstall InCD 4 ?

- A -

You will not be able to read InCD (or other packet formatting softwares) formatted discs. If you try to, you'll get an html page advising you to install EWR.
"But it's already installed as I only uninstalled InCD 4" you'll say.
That's right, but if you try to install it then, it'll remind you that on NT4 systems you need InCD 4 for the EWR to work. That's why we still display this html page.

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Other / Known bugs

- Q -

In Win9x and XP, sometimes pressing the eject button once will not work

- A -

Workaround: Press the eject button two or three times.

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- Q -

In NT family, if the user uses Disk Management to remove the driveletter for InCD drive and then restores it, the drive is not visible after reboot.

- A -

Workaround: Don't remove the driveletter. Or, eject and reinsert after reboot.

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