Can't Save to DVD (but DVD is USB format)

Factual Questions
1

Can an upgrade in Windows OS prevent files from being saved to a DVD (formatted as a USB)?

Background: I have tried to move some files onto a DVD formatted as a USB. The files act as though they are waiting to be burned* onto DVD when moved to the DVD (when viewed on my PC which recently received this Windows upgrade). Could the new version of Windows be the cause of this? The only thing different is this Windows upgrade.

*When I pop this DVD into a different PC with an older version of Windows, the new files I expect to be there do not appear, acting just like a DVD one forgot to finalize. In other words, the new files act as if they only appear when the DVD is popped into the PC where these files reside (i.e., PC with the OS upgrade that thinks theese files are waiting to be burned to the disk.)

Does the SD have any ideas for me to work around this?
Thanks in advance!

P.S. As a last resort, I could try burning the files to the DVD in question. However, I suspect the PC will think the DVD s already finalized - since I recently noticed something suspicious in the last day or so: it will not let me use “Save As…” to save files to this DVD directly. It acts as if the DVD is locked, or such.

2

The feature you are referring to is officially called “Live File System.” It didn’t change at all in Windows 10, as far as I can tell, and I don’t see any outstanding bugs on that feature, so I doubt that’s the culprit.

First, a sanity check. You are properly ejecting the discs, right? You have to do so to close the session. If you’re pushing the button, that would normally be okay, but also try right clicking on the drive in File Explorer and choosing Eject, to see if that makes a difference.

The first thing that comes to mind is that Windows 10 may no longer see your drive as one that can burn discs, due to some driver issue. There are two ways I know to check this:

  1. Remove any discs from the drive. Then open up File Explorer and click “This PC” on the left. Check if the drive says it is a DVD-R, DVD-RW, or DVD+RW drive.
  2. Right click on the start menu, and then open Device Manager. Click to expand the DVD/CD-ROM Drives section. See if it mentions any of those words above.

If either of those show the right words, then this isn’t your problem. But, if not, you may want to go to the website for your computer’s manufacturer and see if there is a DVD driver to install for your particular model of machine. Heck, it probably wouldn’t hurt to check this anyway.

If that’s not it, then I would next suspect the disc. Perhaps something is off and Windows 10 doesn’t detect it as a Live File System disk. The first thing I’d do is just try to repair the disc. You can open up a command prompt as administrator (right click start menu, choose “PowerShell (as admin)” then type cmd and press enter) then type chkdsk /f d: (where d: is your DVD drive letter) and press enter and see if it detects and fixes any errors.

If not, or what it fixes doesn’t fix the problem, there’s another more involved check you can do. You can copy all the files off the current disc, and then format a new disc and copy the files to that. Then eject the disc to close the session, and check and see if the files copied properly. Then you can put it back in the Win10 PC and see if you can add more files (testing again in the other PC). Then just use the new disc instead of the old one.

If the original disc is a rewriteable disc, then, if the above works, I’d try formatting the original disc, and copy the files to that, ejecting it, testing it, etc. Doing that might fix whatever problem the disc has, and you’d be able to keep using the old disc. But that might not work, which is why I told you to make a new disc first.

If that doesn’t work, the best I could say is to try checking Microsoft’s tech support forums or possibly the SuperUser Stack Exchange. They might be able to help you figure out the problem. I’d specifically use the word “Live File System,” like "I’m trying to add files to a DVD formatted with Live File System, but the files never actually write. This is new since upgrading to Windows 10.)

That’s all I got for you. I have to admit I’ve not used DVD burners in a long time, and, when I did, I never used the “like a USB drive.” I just used USB drives for that, and only burned DVDs to give to others, or to watch movies.

3

I’ve never heard of this before. Can you explain what this means, for my edification? What exactly does it mean for a DVD to be “formatted as a USB” and how does one go about doing this?

4

Meanwhile, I’m wondering what it means to save something to DVD, without burning the disc.

5

Hell, I’d be happy to know what this crazy thing called “DVD” is…

(Joke about obsolescence)

6

Live File System / Packet Writing allows writing files to an optical disc in multiple sessions like a floppy. However, unlike a floppy, the previous sessions aren’t available. Only the last session written is.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packet_writing

Packet writing was always iffy at best and with the advent of flash drives and SD cards, virtually unneeded today.

If you do use it, use Imgburn (free) not Windows or any other program.

7

I’m not writing DVD’s at present. But when this was a new technology, the fact that the old directory needed to be hidden and a new directory written every time you made a change to the disk, didn’t mean that the whole session was hidden. Directory entries for any other files you had previously written to the disk were copied to the directory of the new session, unless you chose to “delete” them.

8

I see! That’s very informative, thanks.

I don’t think I’ll have occasion to use it, but if I do, I don’t think I’ll use Imgburn, which its website describes as proprietary software. The Wikipedia article you linked to says that packet writing is natively supported by Linux, though.

9

Imgburn is the most (only) recommended optical disc burning software. It’s hasn’t been updated since 2013, but neither has burning technology. Download it from here: https://www.videohelp.com/software/ImgBurn which is a clean version without adware.

10

Alas, that version also seems to be proprietary. I think I’ll stick with the free Linux kernel version, whether or not it has the most recommendations.

11

They mean UDF (as opposed to ISO 9660), not USB. (How to do it: just use a DVD authoring/burning program like Brasero.)

12

No, they mean USB. That’s how the Live File System option for formatting optical disks is presented in Windows. The other option says something about burning a disc.

The difference is that, if you choose the “like USB” option, files copied to the driver’s window in File Explorer are burnt to the disc right away, and then the session is closed when you eject the DVD. With the other option, Windows waits and only burns the disk when you explicitly choose to burn the disc.

Live File System does indeed use UDF, but so do normal DVDs, though, for compatibility reasons, they tend to use an earlier version of the format.

Love File System discs can only be opened on newer OSes. Windows XP got an update that could open them, but not create them, but Vista on can write to them. Modern Macs can also read them, but have trouble writing them unless you created them on a Mac, as Windows and macOS use slightly different versions of UDF.

I guess I should have actually linked my research where I figured out what the OP was talking about and whether or not Windows 10 would mess it up. I kinda assumed everyone would just google Live File System once I gave its proper name.