User manual FREECOM PORTABLE II SERIES

www.freecom.com CD / DVD / CD-RW COMBO CD-RW / DVD PORTABLE II Rev. 112 FREECOM Portable II Series GB FREECOM Portable II Cable II Change Adapter (only Cable II IEEE 1394 and Cable II Parallel) PARALLEL PORT Cable II IEEE 1394 (FireWire/i.LINK) Cable II USB (USB port) Cable II PCMCIA Cable II CardBus Cable II Parallel (printer port) Port options for the FREECOM drive Cable II Parallel (printer port) Cable II USB or Cable II IEEE 1394 Cable II PCMCIA (type II) Cable II CardBus (type II) 2 Table of Contents USERS MANUAL GB System Requirements ......................................................................... Page Precautionary Measures and General Notes ..................................... Page 5 9 CHAPTER 1: Initial operation .................................................................................. Page 10 CHAPTER 2: Installing the Writing Software ......................................................... Page 12 CHAPTER 3: Special instructions before writing a CD ........................................... Page - Preparing to write a CD ............................................................ Page - Procedure for writing CDs ......................................................... Page - Peculiarities when writing audio CDs ....................................... Page - Making Data or Audio CDs ....................................................... Page 12 13 13 14 15 CHAPTER 4: Troubleshooting ................................................................................. Page 16 FREECOM Internet Service & Support Hotline .................................. Page 18 CHAPTER 5: Glossary ............................................................................................... Page 19 © FREECOM Technologies Berlin 3 FREECOM Portable II Series Dear user! GB Welcome to the FREECOM Portable II installation. Before you install the device, we would like to ask you to carefully read the following items and take them into consideration, if applicable, when making changes to your system. With the purchase of this device you have aquired a drive that can be connected to any PC or Mac with the appropriate interface. FREECOM Technologies Berlin, Germany www.freecom.com Warning ! All rights reserved. The products named in this manual are only used for identification purposes and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective companies. This device was designed for home or office use. Warning! This device is equipment complying with EN55022 class A. This equipment can cause radio disturbances in a residential area. If this is the case, the user has to take appropriate measures and assume all responsibility and costs for. It may not be used near or with any life-sustaing systems. FREECOM Technologies is not liable for any damages that may occur from the use of a FREECOM system. All rights reserved. We reserve the right to upgrade our products in keeping with technological advances. 4 System Requirements System Requirements The following hard- and software requirements must be fulfilled to ensure trouble-free operation. Hardware Requirements To use the FREECOM drive, you will need: FREECOM Cable II Parallel, PCMCIA, CardBus, USB or IEEE 1394 (FireWire) depending on the port (Cables not included unless otherwise indicated on the packaging) GB Depending on the connection type, a parallel printer port (standard, bidirectional, EPP) PCMCIA port (type II) CardBus (type II) USB port IEEE 1394 port (FireWire/i.LINK) A computer system with the following equipments - for the Portale II CD: PC from 486DX and higher at least 8 MB RAM at least one disk drive and a hard disk - for the Portale II DVD: PC from Pentium II and higher at least 32 MB RAM at least one disk drive and a hard disk alternatevily FREECOM Cabel II PCMCIA / or FREECOM Cable II IEEE 1394 (FREECOM Cable II USB and Parallel do not support movie playback) To play back DVD Moviess, a DVD-Movie decoder is needed. This can be a hardware decoder or a software decoder. Hardware decoders are available as PCI or PCMCIA card and are available in the computer shop. A Software DVD-Movie playback application is included with the Traveller II DVD drives. We recommend to use this software only on a Pentium II 400 Mhz with 64 MB RAM or higher. This drive is RPC-2 (Regional Protection Coding II) enabled. Your Region will need to be set before DVD Movies can be played. Note: Please note that the regional code may not be changed more than five times. 5 FREECOM Portable II Series - for the Portable II CD-RW: GB a computer system with the following equipment PC: Pentium Processor I or higher at least 16 MB RAM at least 40 MB of free hard disk space at least one disk drive and a hard disk (Recommended: Pentium Processor II, 32 MB RAM, 800 MB free hard disk space) Mac: iMac, iBook, Mac G3/G4 or Power Book G3 (only with FREECOM Cable II USB or Cable II IEEE 1394) - for the Portable II Combo CD-RW / DVD: see FREECOM Portable II CD-RW and Portable II DVD 6 Software Requirements Software Requirements The FREECOM Portable II / Portable II Premium has is to be used with the following operating systems: - for the Portable II CD: DOS, Windows 3.x Windows 95/98/ME Windows NT 4.0 Windows 2000 GB - for the Portable II DVD: Windows 95/98/ME Windows NT 4.0 (DVD version: data mode only, no DVD Video playback capability) Windows 2000 - for the Portable II CD-RW: PC: Windows 95/98/ME Windows NT 4.0 Windows 2000 MacOS 8.6.x or higher (depending on the writing software included. See compatibility table on the packing) Mac: - for the Portable II Combo CD-RW / DVD: see FREECOM Portable II CD-RW and Portable II DVD 7 FREECOM Portable II Series Media Formats GB - for the FREECOM Portable II CD / Portable II DVD: The FREECOM Portable II reads formats according to the model CDs and/or DVDs, which were written with the following standards: MS-DOS data CDs (High Sierra, Mode 1 & Mode 2 complying with ISO 9660) Data CDs (Joliet) CD ROM XA Mixed Mode CDs Kodak Photo CDs (single and multisession) UDF (Universal Disc Format) Audio CDs - additionaly only for the Portable II DVD: DVD ROM DVD Video (see hardware requirements) DVD-R, CDI, CD-Midi, CD-R, CD-RW DVD Media - for the Portable II CD-RW: The FREECOM Portable II reads and writes according to the following standards: MS-DOS data CDs (High Sierra, Mode 1 & Mode 2 complying with ISO 9660) Data CDs (Joliet) CD ROM XA Mixed Mode CDs Kodak Photo CDs (single and multisession) UDF (Universal Disc Format) Audio CDs Mac: Volume, Files & Folders, Mac/ISO Hybrid The drive can read CD-RW disks, write and rewrite them, additionaly to saving of data to CD-R media. The capacity of the CD-RW is 650/700 MB. CD-RW disks are only read-compatible with multiread-capable CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs as well as CD-RW drives. - for the Portable II Combo CD-RW / DVD: See FREECOM Portable II DVD and Portable II CD-RW 8 Precautionary Measures and General Notes Precautionary Measures and General Notes After transport, particularly at low outside temperatures, condensation can form which can lead to malfunctioning. For that reason, you should not begin operation until the drive and CDs have reached room temperature. FREECOM systems must be connected to or disconnected from a computer only when power has been switched off. Operate the FREECOM drive only in a horizontal position, to prevent damage to the media or the mechanical parts. Operate the device only at temperatures ranging from 5 - 50 °C. Do not use the device in a dusty and humid environment. Protect the drive from shocks and other mechanical effects! The device should not be operated in the vicinity of strong electromagnetic radiation sources (loudspeakers, mobile telephones etc.). Due to the high data transfer rates, the cable length should not exceed 1 m. Error-free transmission cannot be guaranteed for longer cables. GB Cable II Parallel: Trouble-free operation cannot be ensured with dongles because the printer port signals often interfere with the dongle or the drive. Please do not use FREECOM systems in conjunction with manual switch boxes for the printer port. Many of these devices cause voltage spikes during switching which may damage the electronic components in the FREECOM system. 9 FREECOM Portable II Series GB 1 CHAPTER 1: Initial Operation - Brief Description 1. Turn off your computer and all equipment attached to it. 2. Connect the power cable supplied to the designated power connector on the FREECOM drive. Do not yet plug the power supply into the power outlet. 3. Connect the drive plug of the FREECOM Cable II to the FREECOM device and connect the other end to your computer. 4. Plug the power supply of the FREECOM drive into the power outlet. 5. To complete the rest of the installation procedure, refer to the manual for the relevant Cable. Drive plug Cable II Parallel (printer port) Cable II IEEE 1394 (FireWire/i.LINK) Cable II USB (USB port) B Cable II PCMCIA (type II) Cable II CardBus (type II) 10 Initial Operation - Brief Description 1.1 Assigning the Drive Letter under Windows 95/98 After successfully installing the FREECOM drive, a new drive letter is automatically assigned (the first available letter after the internal hard drives). This can shift the drive letter of an internal CD-ROM drive (for example, 'D' to 'E'). If this leads to problems, it is possible to change the drive letter assignment as follows. 1. Click "Start" - "Settings" - "Control Panel". 2. Click "System". 3. Click "Device Manager" and then click "CD-ROM". 4. Click the FREECOM drive, and then "Properties" - "Settings". (The currently assigned drive letter as well as the reserved drive letters will then be displayed). 5. Under "Reserved drive letter" enter a drive letter, for example, 'F' for the FREECOM device as the "Start drive letter" and 'F' again as the "End drive letter". 6. Confirm your selection with"OK. When you restart your computer, the FREECOM drive will be assigned the letter F in "My Computer". 1.2 Operating the FREECOM drives The FREECOM drives are just as easy to use as an internal device. One big advantage of FREECOM devices is their portability. By connecting to the cable interface, it is very easy to use the drive with various computer systems. All you have to do is install the driver on each system as described in the users manual for the FREECOM Cable II. In order for the FREECOM drive to be correctly recognized, you must reboot the system. To insert and remove media (CDs, DVDs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs), press the eject button. It is only active when the drive is ready for operation. When inserting the medium, please make sure that the printed side is facing up. Do not touch the bottom side of the medium. Fingerprints can lead to read errors or even make your medium unusable. GB 1 11 FREECOM Portable II Series GB 2 ONLY PORTABLE II CD-RW / COMBO CD-RW / DVD CHAPTER 2: Installing the Writing Software After installing the Cable software, your FREECOM Portable CD-RW / Combo CDRW / DVD is now able to read CD-ROMs. To record a blank CD, you must first install the writing software (for the mastering or the packet writing procedure). We recommend using the software which has been provided with your drive. The installation guide for the software is supplied on the same CD as the software. After installing the recording software, the drive is fully operational. Note: If you wish to use other software, please find out from the supplier whether his products support the FREECOM Portable CD-RW / Combo CD-RW / DVD. CHAPTER 3: Special Instructions before Writing a CD You should realize that writing CDs is principally a compact data transmission procedure which can be disrupted by even the smallest mechanical disturbance. Never clean the CD-R/CD-RW drive with a commercially available CD or a CDROM cleaning set. This can damage the drive. Recordable CDs (blanks) are more sensitive than commercially available CDs. Use only a solvent-free, non-abrasive marker when writing on a CD. Do not stick any conventional labels on the CD-Rs, since the adhesive can attack the medium. Special labels for CD-R media are available in retail computer stores. Never remove a label from a CD-R media otherwise you will damage the protective layer and make the CD-R unusable. The drive recognizes the medium as soon as it is placed into the drive. CD-R media are compatible with the vast majority of CD-ROM drives and CD audio players and work in most DVD-ROM drives. Note: For optimal results, use high quality CD-Rs, like FREECOM CD-R 80 min / 700 MB only. 12 Special Instructions before Writing a CD 3.1 Preparing to write a CD Before creating a CD: 1. By clicking "Start" - "Programs" - "Accessories" - "System Tools" -"Scandisk" check your hard disk with the Scandisk program. 2. By clicking "Start" - "Programs" - "Accessories" - "System Tools" - "Disk Defragmenter" defragment your hard disk. Note: Under Windows NT 4.0 you will need an additional software tool for Defragmentation. other preparations: No sleep mode setting / no multitasking Closing all open windows and other running programs (Anti Virus) Deactivating automatic recognition of CDs (in the Device Manager under Windows 95/98/ME/2000) Deactivating the screen saver Log out of the network before starting the writing procedure (if applicable) Deactivate your modem GB 3 Note (FREECOM Cable II Parallel): For 4x writing speeds a fast EPP mode is required. 3.2 Procedure for writing CDs There are two procedures for creating and writing your CDs. Mastering 3.2.1 The Mastering procedure Packet Writing is a procedure for creating data CDs according to industry standards. Data is compiled onto a "Master CD" in one (session) or several (multisession) writing procedures. During these procedures, the data is made compatible according to various industry norms, allowing, for example, audio CDs to be read by any CD player. The standards for new technology (for CD, video etc.) are prepared for data storage in special readable formats. Special programs such as "Easy Creator" are necessary to convert data into these specified formats. This type of program is necessary for writing data CDs in ISO 9660 and Joliet formats as well as for writing audio CDs, Mixed Mode CDs and Photo CDs. Note: Data CDs in Joliet format are only readable under Windows 95/98/ ME, Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000. 13 FREECOM Portable II Series 3.2.2 The Packet Writing procedure GB 3 can be used to create CDs without starting a special mastering program beforehand. The Packet Writing procedure allows you to use blanks in combination with the Universal Disc Format (UDF) as an additional hard disk or floppy disk. Standard software for packet writing, e.g. Direct CD (Roxio). You can write files directly from any Windows application (WinWord) to the CD using the same procedure as when writing to the hard disk. You can also copy files to the CD using Windows explorer. Note: We recommend using the software which has been provided with your drive. If you wish to use other software, please find out from the supplier whether his products support the FREECOM Portable CD-RW / Combo CD-RW / DVD. Afterwards, you can start the writing procedure by simply dragging the file to be written in the Explorer/File Manager (Drag&Drop Principle), assuming there is a UDF-formatted blank disk in your CD-RW drive. A medium can only be written once with the CD-R drive and previously written files can be deleted but not overwritten. The great advantage of the CD-RW drive in conjunction with a CD-RW medium is that it allows you to rewrite the medium. Note: Please note that the mastering procedure and the packet writing procedure can only be used seperately, therefore a mixing of these procedures on one CD-RW is not possible. 3.3 Peculiarities when writing audio CDs Please note that some older CD player models principally cannot read selfwritten CDs. Note: Audio files must have the proper format (stereo, 16 bit and 44.1 kHz sampling frequency) and must be supported by the writing software, for example, *.wav. Some programs offer conversion functions. Soundcards and the software that come with them can also be used. Please note that *.wav files cannot or have supported formats such as: mono, 8 bit. 14 Making Data or Audio CDs 3.4 Making Data or Audio CDs The easiest way to make an audio or data CD is using the "CD Guide". The "CD Guide" appears when you first start "Easy CD Creator" and guides you step-bystep to make a simple data or audio CD. GB 3 Note: Detailed information on working with Easy CD Creator is to be found in the enclosed brief descriptions and in the software's Help Topics on the CD-recording software CD. 15 FREECOM Portable II Series GB 4 CHAPTER 4: Troubleshooting General problems (depending on the type of connection) If you still have problems getting your FREECOM drive to function properly despite having installed it correctly, then please check whether the FREECOM Cable II is properly connected to your FREECOM drive the drive is being supplied with power the tray can be opened and closed your system meets the hardware requirements (see pages 5/6) If the computer crashes during the software installation or when trying to run the software from the disk do not use any memory manager such as QEMM disable the system's Power Management. check if all the requirements contained in the instructions on the disk have been fulfilled. check if the FREECOM device is properly connected to the Cable check if the drive is being supplied with power when you boot your system If audio playback does not work, please check if the loudspeaker is properly connected the cables are firmly connected the loudspeaker control on the amplifier or on the active loudspeakers is correctly set the audio software is correctly installed. If your FREECOM drive appears to have problems accessing a CD after a long period of time, please use a lens cleaning set which you can purchase at your local computer retailer. Note: Please note that CD-RW drives (FREECOM Portable CD-RW / Combo CD-RW / DVD) must never be cleaned with a lens cleaning set! 16 Troubleshooting In addition, for the parallel port Use a slower transmission mode (EPP) If possible, switch the parallel port to another mode or to another address. GB 4 If the printer is not working correctly, please check if the printer has been properly connected the FREECOM System was switched on the printer software is set to unidirectional communication Note: When installing a printer for the first time under Windows 95/98 and DOS/Windows 3.x, the printer should be directly connected to the PC. 17 FREECOM Portable II Series FREECOM Internet Service GB 4 FREECOM Technologies makes the following service available in the Internet under www.freecom.com Online information about technical problems current product information Drivers, driver updates and software information Support Hotline The following hotlines are available if you still are unable to get your FREECOM device to work properly after reading the manual and the suggestions for correcting errors: Hotline Deutschland & Österreich France & Belgique (F) Nederland & België (N) Schweiz (D) Suisse (F) +49 (0) 203 768 0950 +33 (0) 1 34 04 72 05 +31 (0) 15 888 0110 +41 (0) 848 88 99 10 +41 (0) 848 88 77 10 Email supportde@freecom.com supportfr@freecom.com supportnl@freecom.com supportde@freecom.com supportfr@freecom.com supportuk@freecom.com United Kingdom & Ireland +44 (0) 1423 704 715 All other countries: Please apply to your local FREECOM Reseller or email to: supportint@freecom.com If possible, try to call from a phone near your computer. Please have the following information on hand for your call: the serial number on the rear side of your FREECOM drive and the serial no of the Cable II the revision no. of the Cable driver disk/CD information on the power supply the version number of your operating system and the software you are having problems with the precise error description or error message displayed the name and the model of your computer and, in case it is needed, the installed hardware Is the problem reproduced every time? Has this problem occurred before? If it is a new one, have you recently changed your system configuration? 18 Glossary - List of key words CHAPTER 5: Glossary - List of key words Audio CD See CD-DA Bridge Disk CDs which can be read by CD-ROM/XA drives and CD-I players, for example a Kodak Photo CD. Blue Book Specification for CD-Extra (formerly CD-Plus) Buffer underrun When the write memory of the drive is empty, the writing procedure will be terminated The flow of data from the system to the drive was insufficient. Either the transfer rate is too low for the writing speed or there was an interruption in the data flow. CD-DA CD-DA stands for "CD Digital Audio" and is the known audio CD standard described in the Red Book. It contains audio data that is to say music and can be played back in CD-ROM drives which support audio CDs as well as in normal CD players in stereo systems. The audio data is stored as so-called "frames" with a length of 1/75 of a second. 44,100 audio signal samples are stored per second. Each sample uses two bytes (16 bit), and two channels are stored (left and right). This results in a sector size of 44,1000 x 2x 2 /75 = 2352 bytes per frame which corresponds to the size of a physical block on a CD. CD-I CD-Interactive, special CD format defined in the Green Book The CD-I track is not entered into the TOC (CD directory). Thus, the audio tracks can be listened to on a normal CD player. To access a CD-I track, an appropriate drive is required. Some older CD players incorrectly recognize the CD-I track as an audio track and attempt to play it back accordingly. CD-R CompactDisc-Recordable, designation for recordable CDs CD-ROM (Single and Multisesssion) CD-ROM describes a CD which contains computer data much like a hard disk. CD-XA XA stands for "Extended Architecture" and is a standard for Multimedia CDs containing audio and computer data. GB 5 19 FREECOM Portable II Series Defragmenting A hard disk can be defragmented using the DOS command 'defrag' or a similar tool from other operating systems. Due to the fact that files are constantly deleted and new ones written to the hard disk, files are no longer grouped together in physically contiguous blocks but instead are scattered, i.e. fragmented, over the entire hard disk. Defragmentation rewrites the files so that they are put back together again. This does not affect the directory structure or the data contents. The advantage of defragmentation is that it allows files to be accessed quicker by simplifying the searching process. We strongly recommend defragmenting your hard disk before writing a CD. Disc-at-Once Not all drives support the procedure of writing a CD in a single process. As soon as the disc/CD is complete, it can no longer be written to (single session CD). EPP EPP stands for Enhanced Parallel Port and refers to an extended standard of the parallel interface which allows higher data transfer rates and makes it possible to connect several devices. ECP stands for Extended Capability Port and is a more powerful version of the EPP. Finalizing/ End disc / Close disc Completely finishing a CD. Necessary (according to Red Book regulations) for audio CDs which cannot be read by normal reading devices (CD players) if they have not been finalized. Also, the definitive end of a data CD. It is not possible to write anything else on a finalized CD. Finalization consists of a lead-in and a lead-out (as with fixing) with a final table of contents. Because only one lead-in and one lead-out are permitted on an audio CD, any fixing here will automatically finish the CD. Fixing Writing a lead-in and lead-out area for a session. This concludes the session. All data from the session and from any previous sessions can be read by normal CDROMs. This process requires an enormous amount of space, using up approximately 15 MB. This space is definitively lost for other recordings. This means that less data can be written on multisession CDs than on single session CDs. GB 5 20