Quicken Backup (WINXP Pro)

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Hey guys I can’t back up Quicken to my CD Writer. I get a message “Unable to access the disk in drive F: Please make sure the drive is ready and the disk is not write-protected” I can back up to a new folder on my harddisk and then send the files to the CD Writer. Or I can back Quicken up to a Floppy. But not directly to my CD-Writer. What gives? Help section in Quickens says to backup to a CD( you configure your CD-Writer to work like an alternate hard drive)And then chose back up to X being your Writers drive letter. So do i have to format the Disk or what?

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If it is not already formatted, I would say yes – the backup program will not recognize it as valid media otherwise.
When ypou insert the (blank) CD, are you asked what you want to do with it? There is an option to “Open writable CD folder” which might do the trick.

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No that only opens files you already have burned to that disk. I think it has something to do with what Quickens is saying about ” configuring it to work like a hard drive. I just don’t have a clue how to do that. It does not see the CD-RW or disk as something you can format like a hard drive , not even in Partition Magic. Hard drives show up as something you can partition & format. The CD-RW does not give you that option. I can’t even find how you could format a CD like you can a floppy. I mean I can back up Quickens to a file on my hard drive and then press send to F: (my cd-rw) and it will write to the disk. I just don’t understand why I can back up other files directly to F: , but not Quicken (back up files)

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I don’t know what this has to do with duck butter, Cowboy, but if I remember right, you’re using the WinXP CD-writing capability aren’t you? I think I remember reading here in the Lounge that it has some serious shortcomings, especially in what’s known as DirectCD-like characteristics. That’s probably why Quicken doesn’t see it as a “writable” drive. You may have to enhance your system with Nero (most people seem to prefer), or Roxio (most have problems with it). Me, myself and I, we ain’t got a burner so haven’t had to cross that bridge yet. Seems like if you’re already burning CDs OK with XP, maybe your cheapest alternative would be what you said – backup Quicken to the hard drive someplace and then burn those files to a CD.

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Yea your probably right. Crap like that just bugs me though. Don’t make any sense. But that’s computers for ya. Besides if it all made sense we wouldn’t need Woody’s Lounge , and that would sad.

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OK Doc Here’s what Microsoft had to say about my problem.
SYMPTOMS
After you upgrade your operating system to Microsoft Windows XP, you cannot back up your Intuit Quicken files directly to a compact disc recordable (CD-R) or compact disc rewritable (CD-RW) medium.

When you attempt to back up your Quicken data directly to the CD-R or CD-RW drive, you may receive an error message similar to the following:

Unable to access the disk in drive D:
Please make sure the drive is ready
and the disk is not write-protected.

Do you want to try Again?
CAUSE
This behavior occurs because of a limitation in the CD recording program that is included with Windows XP. In order for Quicken to write a back up file directly to the CD-R or CD-RW, the compact disc must first be formatted and support packet writing. The Windows XP CD recording program does not support packet writing and does not contain a feature to format a recordable CD.

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Yeah, Cowboy, that sounds like what I’ve read here. You were lucky (good) to find a MS explanation of the problem. I don’t know if Viking’s comment will help you any, but from all the POSITIVE comments I’ve seen about Nero, it may be worth your while to take a look. As I said, I don’t yet have a burner so I haven’t checked how much $$$ it costs.

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Ya know Iv’e decided it’s not worth it. I loaded the cd-writing software that came with my Sony ( B’s Gold) and every time I reboot I loose my Printer driver.I tried Nero and the same thing happened. XP don’t llike the software. So I guess I will stick to XP’s writing software , besides it does everything I need except format cd’s directly. What a bunch of crapola.

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Cowboy, sounds like you got some sand in the tank. I think it would be good to find and run a good program to check links and shortcuts. I use Norton System Works to make sure things don’t get crossed up. If you lose printer drivers then you are on a slick road because you don’t know what is happening behind the scenes. I got Roxio with my CD burner and have had some problems when I converted to Windows XP, but now things are stable. I recommend chasing the snakes away or else one day that ol dog don’t hunt no more.

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Cowboy,
What brand of CDRW do you have? I have a Sony and it includes a program called CD Extreme, which allows you to format a CD direct and allow packet writing. I don’t know if it will work for anything but Sony drives, but there may be something similar around if you check with your particular drive manufacturer.

Bob

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Yep the sand in my tank ,was a setting in BIOS. Fixed and ready to go now. I forgot the code of a computer repair man ” always remember the last change you made before the problem started” ! Yes I made a bone headed mistake , but don’t tell anybody. Don’t want to ruin my Biker Trash reputation.

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Well I downloaded Nero and InCd , man what a great piece of software. InCd took about 10min , formatted the disk to work like a large floppy and it was very simple to use. You have to use CDRW disk but it worked great. I put it in backed Quicken Files up just like I was using a floppy. And no problems or conflicts with WinXP Pro. YeHaaaaaaaaa

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I don’t know if someone explained this to you or not. If yes, then I apologize for the duplication. If you are using XP’s Cd writing, which I think you are, you need to first write the files to be backed up to the CD Burning folder. You need to browse to that folder on your hard drive when Quicken asks where to back up. That folder is found at c:Documents and Settingsuser nameLocal SettingsApplication DataMicrosoftCD Burning. After you back up to that directory, open up your CD and click copy files to CD. Hope this helps.

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Yea I use XP’s burning software all the time , but XP’s burning program will not format a disk to except packet writing. Quickens uses packet writing to backup . I can backup Quickens to the hard drive and then use XP to burn to disk , but if I do that then in order to restore backup files back to Quickens I have to load files off CD to hard drive and then restore to Quickens . Quickens does not recognize an unformatted disk . XP will burn the Quicken date to the disk but not in a way the Quickens can read it from the disk .

From Microsoft
This behavior occurs because of a limitation in the CD recording program that is included with Windows XP. In order for Quicken to write a back up file directly to the CD-R or CD-RW, the compact disc must first be formatted and support packet writing. The Windows XP CD recording program does not support packet writing and does not contain a feature to format a recordable CD.

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If you know all that, then you’ve answered your own question.

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I do now. Must be a bad sign, I’m asking myself questions and then answering it to.

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