[Ham-Computers] DON'T trust those CD roms for important storage!

[Philip, KO6BB]

Jay,

Yes, going into my computer and clicking on the CD drive with the disks 
brings up the "Please Insert CD" message, same as if I put a blank CD in the 
drive.  This occurs with any of the three drives on the machine (Internal 
Sony R/W drive, Internal Sony CD Rom or the external CD/DVD burner).  I also 
tried my wife's older machine, with no joy.

I had intended to copy the log data file to my computer prior to opening it 
with Access anyway.

Ah well, all I REALLY wanted out of the logs were specific frequencies for 
some logged Utility stations anyway.  Guess I'll do a Web search. . .

Phil, KO6BB

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "AD5PE" <ad5pe at sbcglobal.net>


> Access requires to be able to write a "lock" file to the directory with 
> the
> mdb file.  This can't be done directly from the CD in most cases.
>
> Have you confirmed the disks are "blank" in something other than Access
> (explorer, etc).
>
> Jay
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ham-computers-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:ham-computers-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of
> johngadd at comcast.net
> Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2008 21:44
> To: Computers (or other) used for amateur radio, communications, or
> experimenting
> Subject: Re: [Ham-Computers] DON'T trust those CD roms for important
> storage!
>
> I have had that issue with several CD using Nero 7. The software comfirms
> the burn. It sends the instructions to the burner but it dosent burn . 
> Where
> the CD formatted before the burn? Can you read any disk on the burner? 
> More
> info please.
>
> -------------- Original message --------------
> From: "Philip, KO6BB" <ndb_fch-344 at sbcglobal.net>
>
>> Hi,
>> Somewhat over a year ago the creator of the very good Shortwave
>> logging program called SWLog program got PO'd at the complaints he was
>> receiving and dropped support. About the same time that the German
>> company providing an excellent SWL database readable by SWLog quit
> providing it free to amateurs.
>> Then the SWLog program was reintroduced, but with a totally different
>> makeup, requiring the download and configuration of a LOT of new files
>> from Microsoft etc.
>>
>> Since I was revamping a lot my computer stuff here, I first backed up
>> all the SWLog files and it's logbook containing many years of SWL logs
>> to two CD ROMs, then removed the program and files from my computer as
>> I wasn't doing a lot of SWLing.
>>
>> Today I decided to open up the log files with Microsoft Office Access
>> (it was supposed to be editable with Access) and see if I could export
>> them to a format that I could read in Excel.
>>
>> Imagine my chagrin when NEITHER CD rom was readable on my computer
>> (they were "burnt" on this machine and the same drive). To the
>> computer both disks appeared to be blank, they were supposedly quality
> products from TDK.
>> And yes, in case anyone is wondering, I'm CERTAIN they checked out
>> fine right after burning. I always burn with the little block checked
>> that compares the written disk against the original files.
>>
>> Interestingly enough, the disks containing the scans of all my SWL QSL
>> cards are the same brand and are still readable, though all those card
>> scans are also on my Internet "Photobucket" site and could have been
>> retrieved if need be.
>>
>> The disks weren't stored in any temperature stress areas as the radio
>> room is air conditioned in the summer and heated in the winter, I keep
>> it around
>> 68-75 degrees when possible.
>>
>> So, now I'm "logless" as far as SWLing goes, all my beacon and ham
>> logs are intact as they always reside on the computer hard drives as
>> well as FLOPPY disks. . .
>>
>> So, the upshot is, don't trust those CD ROMs for important stuff, and
>> if you do, check them frequently. I'm sure that in this instance, I
>> just got a bad batch. But that's small consolation.
>>
>> 73 de Phil, KO6BB
>> http://www.geocities.com/ko6bb/index.html
>> http://ko6bb.multiply.com/
>>
>> DX begins at the noise floor!
>> RADIOS: Yaesu FT-2000, FT-8800, FT-1802, FT-60.
>> Merced, Central California, 37.3N 120.48W CM97sh