Is Media Software Required to Read Mini-CDs?

[remm]

Hey folks,

So many devices these days come with a driver on a mini-CD. My laptops (Acer and Toshiba) take forever to access them, then think they're blank and ask to format them.

In Googling this I found a guy who said he fixed this problem by reinstalling Roxio. Said his computer came with it but he'd uninstalled it cause he never used it. That it must "turn on" a feature in W7 or something, cause after he reinstalled it, his computer could read mini's.

When I got both my laptops I wiped all partitions (including the hidden "recovery" one), re-partitioned the way I wanted, and reloaded all drivers and W7 (64 Ultimate). The DVD players in both laptops have a central spindle, so they are designed to read mini-CDs. They DO detect them, but again, think they are blank.

Anyone heard of Roxio or other software being required to read mini's? Thanks much.

PS I have a lot of media software installed but not Roxio. (Nero, ImageBurn, Handbrake, Ashampoo, etc.)

 

[VistaKing]

Windows should be able to read your mini-CDs . You might want to eject the CD and place it in the middle . It will take a few seconds to read the disc due to it size. I never had an issue with mini-CDs being read.

 

[FuturDreamz]

Are you sure you can't download the drivers? I avoid installing drivers by CD because they are almost always out of date.

 

[remm]

Windows should be able to read your mini-CDs . You might want to eject the CD and place it in the middle . It will take a few seconds to read the disc due to it size. I never had an issue with mini-CDs being read.

The drive has a central spindle the CD snaps on to, so it is inserted correctly. And again, happens with both my laptops, which are both about 2 yrs old.

I'm wondering if when I installed W7 I skipped some program needed to read these... I don't remember what I chose to install and chose to skip, but I didn't install stuff I wasn't going to use, though I did install Media Center (which I never use, turns out), so... you'd think if the driver was anywhere, it'd be there!

 

[remm]

Are you sure you can't download the drivers? I avoid installing drivers by CD because they are almost always out of date.

It took all night but I eventually found the drivers on a Czech site. But this happens over and over, of ordering some little device, and getting a mini-CD, and I'd like to be able to read them on principle alone and because it's faster to install from the provided CD then update the driver later when/if I want to.

But the most important reason is there is no reason the drive shouldn't be reading these... IOW, I'd like to fix it so it's working properly.

 

[VistaKing]

Windows 7 only comes with Windows Media Player. Mini-CDs are just the size of the disc not the type . It doesn't matter if they're CD-Rs or CD-RWs .

 

[alphanumeric]

I'll chime in with the others and say I have never had any problems reading mini CD's. The ones I've encountered used the same format as the normal sized CD and can be accessed without having to install any third party program or utility. They just hold less data and are easier to package.

 

[remm]

::whimper:: Oddly, there are many results in Google with this problem, but no answers. I just took this mini-CD to my third laptop, which is a replica of the Toshiba but has Ubuntu on it instead of W7, and it read in the Ubuntu machine fine. So it ain't the CD. But W7 is missing something and I'd like both my machines fixed so I don't have to go boot a third machine to read a mini-CD that should work fine on my main machines. I will hopefully find the problem and post back with the answer for others who might benefit.

Thanks for trying to help.

 

[remm]

When I found this I thought I had something. I'll post it in case it helps others. It's a registry fix that involves deleting the Upper and LowerFilters in a reg key, but I did not have any U/L filters in that key. my computer thinks a data cd is blank, sort of - Microsoft Community

The key in question is: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

Just curious if my reg key here looks different that someone's who is able to read miniCDs:

 

[remm]

... could it be the formatting of miniCDs?

 

[remm]

From MS regarding reading a CD as blank:

This problem may occur for one of the following reasons:

• The filter drivers in the CD and the DVD storage stack are not migrated successfully to Windows
• You uninstalled CD software that does not correctly remove itself in the registry.
• You installed software that adds filter drivers in the CD and the DVD storage stack that interfere with existing filters.

I am sure this is somehow the problem... the upper and lower filters that are missing from my reg key would likely fix the problem (even though the article says to delete them if you are having problem, that seems to be because they can become messed up). I am guessing this is why that person I spoke about in the OP said when he installed Roxio he could read miniCDs again.... it re-installed the filters correctly as they should be, because the MS article above also says:


Note After you remove the UpperFilters registry entry and the LowerFilters registry entry, you may lose functionality in certain programs, such as CD recording programs. In this scenario, you must reinstall any affected programs.



I will try reinstalling one or more of my DVD/CD recording programs and see if U/L filters are added to that key and if it fixes the problem.

 

[Layback Bear]

Your post #1
PS I have a lot of media software installed but not Roxio. (Nero, ImageBurn, Handbrake, Ashampoo, etc.)

***
Could your problem be cause by these programs or a combination of these programs and not Windows 7?
It is the job of the 3rd party program creators to make sure their programs works with Windows 7 without doing registry hacks. I don't recommend hacking on the registry to make a 3rd party program work. I would just remove them.

 

[alphanumeric]

It may be a problem on some Windows 7 installs, but I personally don't think its a problem with Windows 7 itself. I'm with Layback Bear, my guess is one of ,or the combination of, those burning utilities has messed something up. I've used those mini CD's on several different versions of Windows and have never had any trouble reading them, Roxio installed or not. As a matter of fact I got one yesterday with a SATA, IDE 3 in1 to USB 2 Cable Converter adapter. I had no problem reading it with no burner utility installed. I then installed Roxio 2012 and burned a copy for backup. It's still readable as I expected. Unless your mini is some nonstandard unique format, it should be readable in Windows.

 

[remm]

@ Layback Bear & alphanumeric: I am leaning the same way... that one or a combination of two or more of the burning tools might be to blame... but I use them for different things... some programs are better than others for doing a particular thing. IAC I guess I could uninstall ALL of them, then reinstall just one, and see if that fixes it? Then proceed installing them one at a time and checking to see if it still reads the minidisc between? Is that how you'd go about it? I just don't have high hopes that uninstalling all those programs is going to change anything. Will Windows put back its default reg keys the default way, just because I have uninstalled that stuff? Seems like the system will remain the same, only with no burning sftw on it.

 

[indianacarnie]

You could try running an sfc/scannow to check and possibly repair any corrupted files.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

 

[remm]

Thanks, I should have mentioned I tried that before posting.

 

[FuturDreamz]

I'm still confused that it does't work. When you insert a disk, any disk, it should show up in file explorer and be navigatable.

 

[remm]

And the odd thing is, it DOES show up but is read as blank, even though there are files on it. So Explorer takes a second to scan it, then a popup comes up asking if I want to treat it as a CD/DVD or USB (or something of that nature)... forget exactly but no matter which one you choose, it then tries to format it. When I cancel my way through, it shows up in Explorer as a blank CD with 250 or 260MB capacity and the same available. If I click on it, it shows as blank. (If I pop it unto my Ubuntu laptop, it reads fine, all driver folders there and accounted for.)

While backing up C just now in prep for uninstalling the myriad of burning/conversion/whatnot tools I have installed, I decided this is no longer worth the effort... not if it means uninstalling then reinstalling all these programs, especially when I believe it will be for nothing, even though I agree one or more of them caused this. The fact is, I will use the programs more often than I will need access to a minidisc, and all my other disc functions, including burning, work fine.

It still irks, however, and I might update one or two of my most used programs, and see if that fixes it. If not, I might try installing a version of Roxio I have on hand here somewhere... if any of these end up being a remedy I will most certainly report my findings here, and will check back over the next few days in any case on the offchance another suggestion presents itself.

Thanks to all for reading and helping!

 

[FuturDreamz]

If Ubuntu can read it, then try copying the contents to a usb stick formatted so both windows and Ubuntu can read it.

 

[remm]

Thanks, but the problem was never that I had no way to get to the files... I just wanted to fix the W7 machine(s) as they should read miniCDs too, easily and readily.