Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Other subjects
Original poster

calling all techno heads

23 replies

Kibby · 31/01/2005 15:22

Okay, posted earlier about this and I'm about to lose tthe plot with frustration. I need to work between laptop and desktop, just boguht a new laptop for this purpose. Posted this morning to say I can copy files from desktop onto CD but when I put it inot the CD-RW drive of my laptop it cab only read it not rewrite. I was told very kindly that my CDs must be readbale only, so I went to PC World and bought a new box of CD RW Cds, which I've formatted on my desktop and can rewrite on my desktop but when I put the CD into my laptop it's readable only, what am I doing wrong. I'm about to lose the will to live as I'm sure you are reading this, all help gratefully appreciated

OP posts:
NotQuiteCockney · 31/01/2005 15:46

I'm not sure you can write the same file to a CD again - what happens if you try saving it under a new name? I can ask DH tonight.

To work between a laptop and desktop, it's easier to use a memory stick, I would say. Much tidier, no need to change file names, and you can read and write and read and write the same file as many times as you like.

Original poster
Kibby · 31/01/2005 15:50

oh God, I don't even know what a memory stick is!

OP posts:
starlover · 31/01/2005 15:55

try something like this perhaps?

disgo memory stick

starlover · 31/01/2005 15:56

DP has one... and uses it tons. As far as I know you just plug it into the USB port on your pc... save the stuff onto it, and then you can plug it into the USB on your laptop and get it all off again!

Kelly1978 · 31/01/2005 16:05

Has your laptop def got a RW drive? Many don't have, it might be a read only drive. Also, have you checked compatibility - are the discs + or -R?
I agree with the other posts, memory sticks are a lot better for transfering files between a PC and laptop, far easier and quicker.

NotQuiteCockney · 31/01/2005 16:10

You just need both computers to have a USB port free. Memory sticks are very easy to use, they give you another drive that's portable.

And as with the example that starlover's posted, they're not very expensive.

phatcat · 31/01/2005 16:12

kibby - i'm pretty sure that files written to cd under Windows are read-only by default but that you can switch off this property by going to Windows Explorer, highlighting the file in question on the CD drive, right clicking on properties and unchecking the read-only check box - hth

Original poster
Kibby · 31/01/2005 16:15

thanks a lot everyone, i'll look into the memory stick option and do what you suggested phatcat thanks again

OP posts:
Blackduck · 31/01/2005 16:37

Memory sticks (usb sticks...) think of them as the next generation floppies.....fit into a usb port and show up in your system as a removable hard drive...easy to transfer docs...wonderful things...

Original poster
Kibby · 02/02/2005 11:40

I know I sound very stupid here, but can anyone tell me a USB stick , memory stick, do you have to buy a particular one for a particular computer or are they just standard things like floppy disks

OP posts:
NotQuiteCockney · 02/02/2005 11:41

They're standard. You just have to be sure that both computers have USB ports. Beyond that, choose one that's a) got enough memory b) is sturdy-looking.

NotQuiteCockney · 02/02/2005 11:41

And it's not a stupid question - memory sticks are pretty new things. You want to get this sort of thing right!

Original poster
Kibby · 02/02/2005 11:42

you're so nice, okay, where abouts is a USB port?

OP posts:
Blackduck · 02/02/2005 11:43

Only other issue is that some older operating systems don't support them (thinking 95 here...) If you have XP its fine, the machine will discover the stick when you put it into the USB port and voila, another hard drive......

Blackduck · 02/02/2005 11:44

USB ports could be at the back or the front of a desktop PC (or both!)

NotQuiteCockney · 02/02/2005 11:45

On a laptop, they can be on the side or the back. On a desktop, they're mostly at the back (although we have them on the top, and two on the side of the monitor!).

If you've just bought the laptop new, then it almost certainly has at least one usb port. I don't know when they started putting them in PCs, but I can show you a picture of one. Well, there are two circled there, really.

Blackduck · 02/02/2005 11:46

NQC I'm impressed! They do usually come in pairs too.....

Original poster
Kibby · 02/02/2005 11:48

thanks a million - are they expensive

OP posts:
NotQuiteCockney · 02/02/2005 11:48

We have too many USB things. We have a fan. We have a massager. We have wireless networky things. We have a small mouse for DS1. DH's blackberry (or one of them, at one point) took USB for power.

NotQuiteCockney · 02/02/2005 11:49

You can get a memory stick for £25 no problem. So, no.

Blackduck · 02/02/2005 11:50

try ebuyer.co.uk - look for flash memory - they do their own (and its perfectly good)128MB for less than a tenner...

galaxy · 02/02/2005 11:52

YOu can also get a USB expansion thingy to go into your PC so you can connect more than one thing. This is what we have on ds's PC.

On our laptop, the port is in the front.

Original poster
Kibby · 02/02/2005 11:56

thanks a lot every one

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page