Freecom Classic CD-ROM/CD-RW User Manual

www.freecom.com

ClassicClassic

Classic

ClassicClassic

CD-ROM/CD-RW

Rev. 250

GB

FREECOM CLASSIC CD-ROM / CD-RW

Dear user!

welcome to the installation of your
Before installing the drive, please read through the following points regarding
its compatibility with your system.

Freecom CLASSIC CD-ROM / CD-RW

Freecom Technologies•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.

2

Table of Contents

USER’S MANUAL

General information ........................................................................... Page 4

CHAPTER 1:

Start Up - Hardware installation ........................................................ Page 7

CHAPTER 2:

Driver Installation ............................................................................... Page 8

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CHAPTER 3:

Installing the Writing Software (only CD-RW) .................................. Page 12

Freecom Internet-Service & Support-Hotline .................................... Page 15

© 2002 Freecom Technologies

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GB

FREECOM CLASSIC CD-ROM / CD-RW

General information

Reliable performance of the
guaranteed for configurations that do not meet the following requirements:

Hardware Requirements

To use the Freecom CLASSIC CD-ROM / CD-RW, you must have a computer with
the following minimum requirements:

• Pentium 166 or greater

• at least 32 MB RAM

• USB interface (version 1.1 or 2.0)

• a disk drive and a hard drive

• at least 40 MB of free hard disk space (750 MB recommended)

• CD-ROM drive for software installation

Software Requirements

The Freecom CLASSIC CD-ROM / CD-RW is setup for use with the following
operating systems:

Freecom CLASSIC CD-ROM / CD-RW

cannot be

• Windows 98SE

• Windows ME

• Windows 2000

• Windows XP

4

General information

Shipping list

Every Freecom CLASSIC CD-ROM / CD-RW is shipped complete and ready to
install. The shipping list of the PC includes:

• an external CD-ROM / CD-RW drive

• a USB port connecting cable

• a power adapter

• driver disk

• a manual CD in six languages

In addition, for CD-RW Recorder:

• writing software for CD-R and CD-RW blanks

• 1 CD-R medium

For "DRIVE IN":

• a drive is

not included in the shipment

Media Formats

The CLASSIC CD-ROM / CD-RW reads CDs in the following formats:

• MS-DOS data CDs (High Sierra, Mode 1 and Mode 2 according to ISO9660)

• CD-ROM XA

• Kodak Photo CDs (single and multi-session)

• Audio CDs

• Data CDs (ISO 9660 and Joliet)

• Audio CDs

• Mixed mode CDs, photo CDs

• CD-ROM XA

• UDF (Universal Disc Format)

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Special features of the Freecom CD-RW Recorder:

In addition to saving information on CD-R media, the drive can also write and
rewrite on CD-RW disks. CD-RW media have a capacity of 650 or 700 MB.

CD-RW disks are only read-compatible with multiread-capable CD-ROMs and
DVD-ROM drives.

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FREECOM CLASSIC CD-ROM / CD-RW

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.

••

• Operate the Freecom drive only in a

••
to the media or the mechanical parts.

• Operate the device only at temperatures ranging from 10 - 45 °C.

• Do not use the device in a dusty and humid environment.

• Protect the drive from shocks and other mechanical effects!

••

• The device should

••
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.

• The Classic CD-RW is USB-2 compliant. While USB-2 supports recording
speeds higher than 4x, if this drive is connected to a USB 1.1 port the
maximum recording speed is 4x. Your recording software may allow you to
select a higher recording speed but doing so may result in buffer-underrun
errors. To avoid this, we recommend that the recording speed is set to 4x
when the drive is connected to a USB 1.1 interface.

not be operated in the vicinity of strong electromagnetic

horizontal position, to prevent damage

6

Start Up - Hardware installation

CHAPTER 1: Start Up - Hardware installation

PC

Freecom CLASSIC
CD-ROM / CD-RW

USB Cable

1. Connect the USB cable to the Freecom device.

2. Connect the power connection to the Freecom drive.

3. Then insert the power adapter of the Freecom device into a power socket.

4. Connect the USB connection to your computer.

5. You can now begin software installation.

Power
adapter

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1

Note: You can plug the USB Cable into your computer and unplug it
while the computer is running ("hot plug & play"). Remove the cable
from the computer when doing so, never remove the cable from the
drive when the computer is on.

Note: In the event of no sound when an audio CD is placed into the
Freecom Classic CD-ROM / CD-RW, „Enable Digital CD audio for this CD­ROM device“ from within Device Manager, or connect an audio cable
between the Classic CD-ROM / CD-RW and your „Audio In“ socket on your
sound card.

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2

FREECOM CLASSIC CD-ROM / CD-RW

CHAPTER 2: Driver Installation

Your Freecom CLASSIC CD-ROM / CD-RW is fully backwards compatible with USB

1.1. The installation for USB 1.1 is the same as described below for USB-2.

2.1 Driver Installation under Windows ME, 2000 and XP

Under Windows ME/2000/XP a separate driver is not required. The drivers for
Windows ME, Windows 2000 and Windows XP will be installed automatically by
the operating system after plugging in the Freecom CLASSIC CD-ROM / CD-RW
into your USB port of the computer.

2.2 Driver installation under Windows 98 SE

1. Insert the Freecom Driver Disk for Windows 98SE into the Floppy Disk Drive.

2. Connect your Freecom CLASSIC CD-ROM / CD-RW to the USB-2 Host Control­ler or USB 1.1 connector.

3. The “Add New Hardware Wizard” opens and a “USB 2.0 Device” (USB-2 Host
Controller) or a “USB2-IDE Controller” (USB 1.1 connector) is found.

Click on “Next”.

8

Driver installation

4. In the next window select “Search for the best driver for your device.
(Recommended)”.

Click on “Next”.

5. Make sure that the checkbox “Floppy disk drives” is activated in the next
window.

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2

Continue by clicking on “Next”.

6. The Hardware Wizard finds a “Freecom USB 2.0 Drive”.

By clicking on “Next” the necessary files will be installed. Afterwards click on
“Finish” to complete the installation.

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2

FREECOM CLASSIC CD-ROM / CD-RW

2.3 Allocation of the drive letter to the Freecom drive under

Windows 98 and Windows ME

After successful installation, Windows assigns the Freecom drive a new drive
letter automatically in most cases. This can shift the drive letter of an already
present drive (for example, from '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. Select "Device Manager" and click on "Drives" or "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

6. Confirm your entry with "OK". When you restart your computer, the

Reserved Drive Letter, enter a drive letter, for example, 'F' for the
Freecom device as the "Start drive letter" and "F" again as the "Last drive
letter".

Freecom drive will be assigned the letter "F" in "My Computer".

10

Trouble shooting - General problems

2.4 Trouble shooting - General problems

If you still have problems getting your Freecom drive to function properly
despite having installed it correctly, then please check the following items:

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Hardware requirements:

• Does your system meets the hardware requirements (see page 4)?

Connecting the Freecom device:

• Is the cable connected correctly to your computer and the Freecom device?
Check whether cable is plugged in correctly. The cable must firmly in place!

• Does the device have a power supply? Determine if the medium can be
ejected and if the device is getting power when the system boots.

System settings:

• Disable the system´s power management if present. The manual of your
operating system will guide you.

Recording speed / buffer underrun:

• The Classic CD-RW is USB-2 compliant. While USB-2 supports recording
speeds higher than 4x, if this drive is connected to a USB 1.1 port the
maximum recording speed is 4x. Your recording software may allow you to
select a higher recording speed but doing so may result in buffer-underrun
errors. To avoid this, we recommend that the recording speed is set to 4x
when the drive is connected to a USB 1.1 interface.

2

IMPORTANT NOTICE: SOFTWARE / HARDWARE DRIVER UPDATES

Should you encounter problems with the installation of the Soft­ware/Hardware in this Packaging, please check if there are any
Driver Updates included on Disk, or on the CDs and install these
before contacting our Support Service.

11

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3

FREECOM CLASSIC CD-ROM / CD-RW

CHAPTER 3: Installing the Writing Software

After installing the USB drivers, your Freecom CLASSIC CD-RW is now able to read
CD-ROMs.

To record a blank CD, you must first install the writing software.
using the software which has been provided with your drive.

Note: If you wish to use other software, please find out from the
supplier whether his products support the Freecom CD-RW Recorder.

3.1 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.

We recommend

Recommendation: For optimal results, use Freecom blank CD’s, avail­able via your local reseller or at www.freecom.com.

12

Installing the Writing Software

3.2 Preparing to write a CD

Before creating a CD:

1. By clicking
check your hard disk with the ScanDisk program

2. By clicking

Defragmenter"

other preparations:

• Deactivating automatic recognition of CDs (in the Device Manager under
Windows 98)

• Deactivating the screen saver

• Log out of the network before starting the writing procedure (if applicable)

• Deactivate your modem

• No sleep mode setting / no multitasking

• Closing all open windows and other running programs

• Close any virus and disc management software

"Start"

-

"Programs" - "Accessories"

"Start"

-

"Programs" - "Accessories"

defragment your hard disk

-

"System Tools" -"ScanDisk"

.

-

"System Tools" - "Disk

.

3.3 Procedure for writing CDs

There are two procedures for creating and writing your CDs.

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3

Mastering Packet Writing

3.3.1 The Mastering procedure

is a process for creating data CDs and Audio CDs. Data is compiled onto a "Master
CD" in one (single 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", "WinOnCD",
"CEQuadrat ToGo!", "Nero Burning ROM" are necessary to convert data into
these specified formats. These types of programs are 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, NT 4.0, 2000 and Windows XP.

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3

FREECOM CLASSIC CD-ROM / CD-RW

3.3.2 The Packet Writing procedure

can be used to create CDs without starting a special mastering program. The
Packet Writing procedure allows to use blank CDs 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), "InCD" (Nero Burning
ROM). Afterwards the writing procedure can be started.

Files can be written directly from any Windows application (e.g. Microsoft Word)
to the CD using the same procedure as writing to the hard disk. Files can also be
copied to CD using the 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 CD-RW Recorder.

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.

3.4 Peculiarities when writing audio CDs

Please note that some older CD player models principally cannot read self­written CDs.

The drive must be set to

‘Single Session’

and

‘Fixing’

, if possible, also

Once’.

If you do not have enough hard disk space, you can try to write single tracks one
at a time.

Note: Audio files must have the proper format (stereo, 16 bit and

44.1 Hz 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

‘Track-at-

Freecom Internet-Service & Support-Hotline

Freecom Internet Service

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

• Forum

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 Email
België (NL)* 0 78 25 00 00 [e-mail]
Belgique (F)* 0 78 25 00 01 [e-mail]
Belgien (D)* 0 78 25 00 02 [e-mail]
Danmark 33 11 42 00 [e-mail]
Deutschland 020 37 68 09 50 [e-mail]
Österreich [phone] [e-mail]
France 01340 472 05 [e-mail]
Nederland 015 888 0110 [e-mail]
Norge 62 82 13 67 [e-mail]
Schweiz (D) 0848 88 99 10 [e-mail]
Suisse (F) 0848 88 77 10 [e-mail]
Suomessa 03 - 6 10 13 82 [e-mail]
Sverige 08 - 29 66 00 [e-mail]
United Kingdom 01423 704 715 [e-mail]
Ireland [phone] [e-mail]
USA 510 548 48 49 [e-mail]
other countries [phone] [e-mail]
* (alléén in België/seulement pour la Belgique/nur in Belgien)

GB

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

• the revision No. of the driver disk

• 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?

15

WARRANTY (Valid in Europe/Turkey only):

We thank you for purchasing this FREECOM product and hope you will enjoy using it.

In order to avoid unnecessary inconvenience on your part, we suggest reading the quick install guide,

instruction manual and any additional electronic and or printed manuals. When problems occur we

have a database with Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on our FREECOM website (www.freecom.com),

please check this site before you contact the helpdesk.

Your Guarantee

All FREECOM products come with unlimited technical phone and web support. By this Guarantee,

FREECOM warrants their products to be free from defects in material and workmanship for a period

listed below from the date of its original purchase. If during this period of guarantee the product

proves defective due to improper materials or workmanship, FREECOM will, without charge for labour

or parts, at its sole discretion, repair or replace the product or its defective parts upon the terms and

conditions set out below.

Conditions

This guarantee will be granted only when the original invoice or sales receipt (indicating the date of

purchase, product and serial number) is presented together with the defective product and a FREECOM

RMA number received from the FREECOM Website or given by a FREECOM Service Center. FREECOM

reserves the right to refuse the free-of-charge guarantee services when the date of purchase of the

product cannot be proven. This guarantee will not apply if the RMA number is missing, the serial

number on the product has been altered, removed or made illegible.

This guarantee covers only the hardware components packaged with the product. This guarantee

covers none of the following: (a) any consumable supplied with the product, such as media or batter-

ies; (b) damage to or loss of any software programs, data or removable storage media; (c) any damage

resulting from adaptations, changes or adjustments, which may have been made to the product,

without the prior written consent of FREECOM; (d) attempted repair by any party other than autho-

rized by FREECOM and (e) accidents, lightning, water, fire or any other such cause beyond the reason-

able control of FREECOM.

With respect to all services provided, FREECOM is not responsible for any damage to or loss of any

programs, data or other information stored on any media or any part of any product serviced. FREECOM

is not liable for the consequence of business loss in case of system failure. Be sure to exclude all parts

not covered by this guarantee prior to returning the product to FREECOM. FREECOM is not liable for

any loss or damage to these items. If during the repair of the product the contents of the hard drive

are altered, deleted or in any way modified, FREECOM is not liable whatsoever.

Repair parts and replacement products will be provided on an exchange basis and will be either new,

equivalent to new or reconditioned. All replaced parts and products become the property of FREECOM

The period of guarantee for any product or part repaired or replaced in warranty shall be the balance

of the original guarantee. Repairs or replacements on product or parts out of warranty carry 6 (six)

months guarantee.

All FREECOM products come with unlimited free technical phone and web support.

FREECOM Product Warranty period

Traveller & Portable 1 year (Two years in Europe)

Classic & Internal CD-RW 1 year (Two years in Europe)

FX-1 & FS-1 1 year (Two years in Europe)

FHD-1 & FireWire Harddrive 1 year (Two years in Europe)

DAT & LTO Drives (retail) 3 years

DAT-S Kits 2 years

ThinServer* 1 year (Two years in Europe)

Beatman 1 year (Two years in Europe)

Cables 1 year (Two years in Europe)

* Controller inside 3 years after online registration only. (GB)