Problem opening Photo CDs...

[red devil]

I have some photo CDs, that when I try to open them on my Sony Vaio laptop, it thinks the CDs are blank.

The CDs were developed by Snappy Snaps about 10 years ago, so I went to their Camberwell branch.

They popped them into one of their instant print machines and the photos appeared, therefore the CDs aren't blank.

I asked them if it was because I was using Windows Vista, and the CDs were produced under a different OS e.g. Windows 98, but they said it shouldn't make a difference.

I've tried reformatting the CDs, but everytime my laptop says it is unable to complete the formatting.

I have no problems when I play an audio CD or DVD, so I'm presuming the driver is ok.

I know if I can successfully open the CDs on another computer, I will be able to transfer the photos onto a USB memory stick, and then download them onto my laptop, but before I go down that route I was wondering if anyone knew what the problem might be...

[El Pibe]

could snappy snaps not transfer them to a memory card/usb stick for you?

[ianr]

Have you actually viewed the contents of the drive in Windows Explorer, and checked its Properties?

If that definitely shows zero content it's possible that, when the CD was burned, it wasn't finalised. You could see whether your system (I assume you have Windows XP or later) will allow you to add any more files to it. If that's the case, and you're not sure how to finalise it, the simplest way might be to try burning one or more files to it, while choosing the option to finalise.

[Loz]

Be glad the formatting attempt failed - that would have wiped all the data off the CDs.

[red devil]

Thanks for the feedback...

Re. El Pipe...yes, but they will charge to do that, they wouldn't say how much as it's not a standard service, so I didn't take it any further...it would probably be a last resort if I couldn't open the CD on friends computers.

Re. Ianr...yes, it shows 100% free space. I've tried burning a file to the CD but nothing happpens, not even an attempt...aren't these type of CDs overwrite protected anyway?

Re. Loz...good point, but it was a sort of calculated risk. The CD I tried to format only had 8 pics on it and I have negs as back up. I thought by trying to format it, it may register a warning first, thereby acknowledging that there were files on the CD before wiping them...I just don't understand why my laptop thinks the CDs are blank.

[El Pibe]

If they were ten years old chances are they were WORM (ie they can only be written to once) type CDs rather than write protected, which has probably saved your proverbial photographic bacon.

It is weird that your system can't see anything though.

I have a portable drive you're more than welcome to borrow in case it's the hardware

[DJKillaQueen]

It could be that your computer is seeing them as hidden. Worth a try to see if that is the case. Go to control panel > folders. There will be a tab called 'view' there and in that list you have the option to tick 'show hidden folders'.

[red devil]

Thanks a lot for the offer EP, I'll be touch if all else fails!

Last night I remembered I've still got my old Dell laptop stashed somewhere in the back of a cupboard.

I know the CDs used to open on that, so I'm going to try that later.

Thanks for the tip DJKQ, unfortunately it didn't do the trick, still thinks it's a blank CD :)