Welcome

Thank you for buying InstantWrite. InstantWrite is a powerful file system which makes it possible to access your CD-Recorder and DVD-RAM drive with Windows 95 and Windows 98 just like a disk drive.

Because of new features like "auto format" and Audio CD support, InstantWrite is the most powerful filesystem available on the market today. A new sophisticated write method guarantees the writing without "Buffer underruns".


Introduction

With InstantWrite you can access your CD-Recorder and DVD-RAM just like a hard disk drive. When working with your drive, just imagine that it is the same as your disk drive. You can handle it almost exactly the same.

Before you can write to your media you have to format it. This works exactly like formatting a disk. Select the CD-Recorder with your right mouse button and choose "Format" from the menu. The normal format dialog will appear.

While you can buy preformatted disks but no preformatted CD-R(W)s, InstantWrite offers an autoformat option to the customer. If this option is selected, the CD is formatted automatically before the first write attempt.

If the media is formatted, it can be used like a normal disk. The customer can write files to the CD from Windows, a DOS window and from almost every application. The drive is accessed easyly by it's drive letter.

The media can be accessed on every UDF / InstantWrite compatible system with a compatible drive. If there is no InstantWrite installed the customer has to install InstantRead or a driver from a third party. Some operating system like Windows 98 have direct read support for UDF DVD-RAM media.

Of course you can read InstantWrite media also on almost every compatible drive without UDF support. To do this you have to "finish" the media at first. This is a limitation of the CD-ROM drives or the operating system and not from InstantWrite. To "finsh" a media, select the drive with your right mouse button and choose "Finish" from the menu. Of course you can continue to write on such a "finished" CD-R(W) and DVD-RAM. You only have to format a CD before you write to it. The existing files stay accessible.

You can configure InstantWrite with the normal properties dialog. To get to the properties select the drive with your right mouse button and select "Properties" from the menu.


Auto Format

If "auto format" is selected, the CD will be formatted before the first attempt to write automatically. If the CD will be an Audio or an Data CD depends on the first file to be written.

Is the first file a WAV audio file with CD quality (44.1 kHz, 16Bit, Stereo) the CD will be formatted as an Audio CD and can only be used as an Audio CD until the next finishing of the CD. If the first written file is a normal data or program file the CD will be formatted as a data CD.

If you want to write WAV files to a new inserted unformatted CD with activated "auto format" into a data track you first have to write a small data file. After this, the CD is formatted like a Data CD and you can drop the WAV files as data files on it. After the formatting process, you can delete the small data file. Alternative you can also format the CD with the conventional method. To do this, select the CD-Recorder with your right mouse button and choose "Format" from the menu.

You can switch "auto format" on and off in the CD-Recorder properties. To do this, select the CD-Recorder with your right mouse button and choose "Properties" from the menu.


Format

Before you can write to a media, the media has to be formatted. If "auto format" is deactivated you have to format the CD manually. For DVD-RAMs no "autoformat" is possible. To format a media, select the CD-Recorder with your right mouse button and choose "Format" from the menu.

In the format dialog you have the following selection possibilities if you try to format a CD-R(W):

1. QuickFormat (append)

2. Erase and Format (quick)

3. Erase and Format (complete)

4. Label

5. No Label

3. Show Summary

In the format dialog you have the following selection possibilities if you try to format a DVD-RAM:

1. QuickFormat

3. Complete Format

4. Label

5. No Label

3. Show Summary

After making all selections, click on "Start" to start the formatting. The formatting cannot be chancelled.

Depending on your computers configuration and the selected options the time needed for formatting can vary. In every case you have to wait until the formatting is finished before going on.


Writing to the media

If the DVD-RAMs and CD-R(W)s are formatted or "auto format" is switched on, you can write to your media. You can write to your optical storage drive as simple as you can write to your disk drive.

When creating a data media you can write, copy, rename, delete, execute, etc. all data files. Since CD-Rs are read only the deleting of files is only virtual. This means that the file is not longer available in the directory structure but the allocated space for the file on the CD is lost.

The media can be accessed on every UDF / InstantWrite compatible system with a compatible drive. If there is no InstantWrite installed the customer has to install InstantRead or a driver from a third party. Some operating systems like Windows 98 have direct read support for UDF DVD-RAM media.

Of course you can read InstantWrite media on almost every compatible drive without UDF support. To do this you have to "finish" the media first. This is a limitation of the CD-ROM drives or the operating system and not from InstantWrite. To "finsh" a media, select the drive with your right mouse button and choose "Finish" from the menu. Of course you can continue to write on such a "finished" CD-R(W) and DVD-RAM. You only have to format the CD before you write to it. The existing files stay accessible.

If you want to create an Audio CD there are more limitations because Audio CDs have no directory structure. It is only possible to write the tracks to the CD one after another. Track deletion is not possible. The written CD can be read on every UDF InstantWrite compatible system with CD-Recorder. If there is no InstantWrite installed on the system you have to install InstantRead or a driver from a third party.

Of course you can play InstantWrite Audio CDs on nearly every normal CD-ROM and CD-Player. First you have to "finish" the CD. This is a limitation of the CD-ROM drives / CD-Players and not of InstantWrite. To finish the CD, select the CD-Recorder with your right mouse button and choose "Finish" from the menu. Of course you can write to the CD after this, too. Be sure to format the CD before you write to the CD again. The existing data on the CD stays available. Because normal CD-Players can only access one session, there is only one audio session possible. After formatting once again you can only create data tracks.


Properties

To get to the properties menu you have to select the drive with your right mouse button and choose "Format" from the menu.

In the following window you see the usual properties and an additional entry called "Settings". Clicking on this field leads you to the InstantWrite properties. You can set all settings, switch InstantWrite on and off, get information about your drive and InstantWrite and you can change the driver assignments.


Finishing Media

Of course you can read InstantWrite media on almost every compatible drive without UDF support. To do this you have to "finish" the media at first. This is a limitation of the CD-ROM drives or the operating system and not from InstantWrite. To "finsh" a media, select the drive with your right mouse button and select "Finish" from the menu. Of course you can continue to write on such a "finished" CD-R(W) and DVD-RAM. You only have to format the CD before you write to it. The existing files stay accessible.


Change driver assignment

Most of all drives use a proprietary command set and use therefore different driver models. InstantWrite selects the drivers for known drives automatically. If you have a drive which isn't recognized automatically you can assign the drivers yourself. To do so you have to click the button "driver assignment" in the properties page.

After thais you have to select the drive which is compatible to your drive. In the left part of the window you see the manufacturers and in the right part of the window you see the drive models. After selecting your model, click on the OK button.


Troubleshooting

1. My drive isn't recognized as a write device.

If your drive isn't recognized as a write device you have to assign the driver manually. Please read the chapter "Driver Assignment" to see how this works.

2. I cannot read my InstantWrite CDs in my CD-ROM drive.

You can only read "finished" CDs in your CD-ROM drive. If you use CD-RWs you also must have a "Multi-Read" CD-ROM drive because only these drives are capable of reading CD-RWs.


InstantRead

InstantRead is a freeware "Read-Only" version of the InstantWrite system. With  InstantRead you can read unfinished CD-R(W)s and DVD-RAMs on compatible drives.

Additionally InstantRead handles Audio CDs like InstantWrite. This means that each track of the CD is represented as a WAV file in the normal windows explorer. You can drag-and-drop these files directly from the CD to your storage media (e.g. harddisk). This feature works with DVD-RAMs, CD-Recorders and CD-ROMs.


Show Summary
Displays information about the disk after formatting is finished. The report shows how much space is available on the disk and how much is taken up by the system.


QuickFormat (append)

Prepares the media with the selected Format.


Erase and Format (quick)
Deletes all files from the media but does not check the CD for defect sectors. To use this option makes only sense if your CD-Recorder is able to "quick erase" CDs correctly. If you have problems with this option you have to use "Erase and Format (complete)".


QuickFormat
Deletes all files from the media and checks the media for defect sectors.


Erase and Format (complete)
Deletes all files from the media and checks the media for defect sectors.


Label
The formatted media will get this name.


No Label
Specifies that you do not want to name the formatted disk.


Complete Format
Deletes all files from the media and checks the media for defect sectors.