Using Standard 74mb disc with Vista

[davetenorman]

I have recently bought a Vista PC. I did not load the MD software from disc but I downloaded Sonic Stage v 4.3. from the Sony site. I can use this ok when using the IGB Hi MD disc but when I try to use a standard 74mb disc my MD player ( RH1 or RH10) is not recognise by SS. This always worked Ok on my XP machine.

Can anyone help as I've got quite a few old discs that I don't want to throw away. Also is it possible to see time remaining on a disc now that Simple burner can't be used.

Thanks Dave

[KJ_Palmer]

Hi. It might be that your old discs are pre-formated in 'Net-MD' (or MD) mode which would certainly be the case if they've been recorded on before. The SS4.3 instalation doesn't contain the required NetMD drivers for Vista but you can get them from the Downloads section at the top of this page. Look for 'Windows Vista Compatible Driver for NetMD and Hi-MD', then download and install.

You should be able to use 74 and 80 min discs in Hi-MD mode without the NetMD drivers, so you could try formatting one in Hi-MD mode (on your RH1/RH10) if you didn't mind losing the contents. But of course you'd be better off with the NetMD drivers anyway.

In Sonictstage you will then be able to access NetMD mode in the transfer section. NetMD mode will tell you the time left on a NetMD disc, somewhat ironically in SP mode (so you need to double or quadraruple the time for LP2 or LP4). In Hi-MD mode you only get the no. of MB remaining

[davetenorman]

  Barock said:

Hi. It might be that your old discs are pre-formated in 'Net-MD' (or MD) mode which would certainly be the case if they've been recorded on before. The SS4.3 instalation doesn't contain the required NetMD drivers for Vista but you can get them from the Downloads section at the top of this page. Look for 'Windows Vista Compatible Driver for NetMD and Hi-MD', then download and install.

You should be able to use 74 and 80 min discs in Hi-MD mode without the NetMD drivers, so you could try formatting one in Hi-MD mode (on your RH1/RH10) if you didn't mind losing the contents. But of course you'd be better off with the NetMD drivers anyway.

In Sonictstage you will then be able to access NetMD mode in the transfer section. NetMD mode will tell you the time left on a NetMD disc, somewhat ironically in SP mode (so you need to double or quadraruple the time for LP2 or LP4). In Hi-MD mode you only get the no. of MB remaining

Thanks for your reply. I have downloaded the driver but the file is a RAR file and not a .exe file as shown in the instructions. The RAR file will not run and I am not sure what to do next. Can you help?

Thanks Dave

[Avrin]

Either download WinRar and unpack the file you already have, or try this ZIP file: http://sonicstage.update.sony.net/v4400/JP...r/pa_driver.zip - it contains the latest available drivers.

[davetenorman]

  Avrin said:

Either download WinRar and unpack the file you already have, or try this ZIP file: http://sonicstage.update.sony.net/v4400/JP...r/pa_driver.zip - it contains the latest available drivers.

WinRar has done the job. Thanks very much. Dave