                             Adaptec DirectCD 2.0
                     (c) Copyright Adaptec, Inc. 1996-1997


                       Welcome to Adaptec DirectCD 2.0

The following information is available in this README file:

  General Information
  Getting Started
  Windows 95 General Troubleshooting


General Information
===================

What is DirectCD?
  
	DirectCD is a software package that allows you to read and write 
	to your CD-Recordable or CD-ReWritable drive in the same way you 
	would a standard floppy or removable hard drive. This is called 
	drive letter access. It also provides the tools necessary to 
	format the media, eject it from your drive, and convert to and 
	from ISO-9660, a format compatible with most standard CD-ROM 
	drives.

What are the software requirements for DirectCD?

	DirectCD requires Windows 95 or Windows NT and the software 
	provided with this installation. We also recommend that you have 
	all the latest miniports and patches relevant for your system.

What are the hardware requirements for DirectCD?

	DirectCD requires a CD-Recordable (CD-R)or CD-ReWritable (CD-RW) 
	device capable of writing incrementally, something also known as 
	packet writing in order to record CD-R discs. DirectCD discs that 
	have been converted to run on a standard CD-ROM should run on most 
	CD-ROM's running Windows 95 although there may also be some 
	limitations on certain devices. This is due to the packet writing 
	technology used by DirectCD. See the troubleshooting section for 
	more information.


Getting Started
===============

Follow these steps to get you up and running as quickly as possible:

1. Insert the "Adaptec DirectCD Setup Disk" into your floppy drive.
2. Open the Windows 95 Control Panel (Start Menu -> Settings -> Control 
   Panel) and select the "Add/Remove Program" icon. Once started, select 
   the "Install" button and follow the instructions.

This will install the following items to your system: The DirectCD 
wizard, a Windows Explorer Shell Extension, and a file system driver to 
control your CD-R/RW drive. 

DirectCD will automatically start each time you run Windows. If you do 
not want DirectCD to run, you must uninstall it from your system. To 
remove DirectCD go to the Windows Control Panel and double click on the 
`Add/Remove Programs' icon. Locate and select the `Adaptec DirectCD' 
entry in the listbox showing all registered programs. Then press the 
`Add/Remove' button.

Windows 95 General Troubleshooting
==================================
Due to the advanced nature of the technology employed by DirectCD, it is 
important that your CD-R/RW drive have the latest firmware available. 
There are early versions of firmware available for many of the supported 
drives that will cause problems. It is also a good idea to have the 
latest patches and drivers for your particular operating environment. 
Specifically for ATAPI devices, we recommend that you use Windows 95 OSR 
2.0 or better (also known as Windows 95, build 950 B) or Windows NT 4.0 
Service Pack 2 or better.


Caching utilities

	We have also found certain CD-ROM and hard disk caching products 
	will cause conflicts with DirectCD. Every effort has been made to 
	coexist peacefully with these products, but since it is impossible 
	to test every combination of packages on every system 
	configuration, conflicts are bound to occur. When this happens, 
	you have the option of removing DirectCD (see above) or the other 
	package. If the conflicts are so severe as to make normal booting 
	impossible, press F5 when your system displays "Starting Windows 
	95" to initiate a safe boot. Once started in safe mode, uninstall 
	DirectCD.

Drive Disconnect, Long Filenames, and Auto Insert Notification

	There are certain device configurations that can cause problems 
	with CD-R/RW technology. Among them are the device settings 
	controlling disconnect and auto insert notification. These 
	settings should be left at their default values. If they are 
	accidentally changed on your system, go to the Device Manager and 
	restore the values to the system defaults. To do this open Control 
	Panel and double click on the `System' icon. Select the `Device 
	Manager' property page and highlight the entry for your drive 
	(listed under CD-ROM's). Select the `Properties' button followed 
	by the `Settings' property page. Please select both disconnect and 
	Auto Insert notification.

	DirectCD fully supports long filenames.  However, to do so, the 
	drive must be refreshed.  If Auto Insert Notification is turned 
	on, this happens automatically.  Another way to refresh is to open 
	and select Windows Explorer or My Computer, and hit the F5 key.  
	If you are unable to record long filenames, enable Auto Insert 
	Notification and reboot. 

Read Compatibility

	When the disc is in the native format used by DirectCD, you will 
	only be able to read the disc on a CD-R device running DirectCD. 
	This is a direct result of the technology used when writing to a 
	CD-R disc. In order to make the disc readable on a standard CD-ROM 
	DirectCD must write certain data to the disc. This provides 
	compatibility with many of the current drives on the market today.  
	Unfortunately, there are still a number of CD-ROM drives that 
	cannot read the packet written media that DirectCD produces. If 
	you experience problems in this area, you should go to System in 
	Control Panel, select Performance, File System, CD-ROM and set the 
	Access Pattern to "No Read-Ahead". If you still experience 
	problems after making this adjustment, it is likely that the CD-
	ROM drive itself is having problems reading packet written media. 

	It should also be noted that there is an industry initiative 
	called MultiRead that addresses these issues and has the support 
	of all the major vendors of CD-ROM and CD-R/RW devices. This 
	initiative will eliminate the above problems and should be 
	available on all new drives.

Ejecting the Media

	Due to the file format used, DirectCD must hold certain data 
	structures in memory and only write them when ready to eject the 
	disc. For this reason, DirectCD will lock the tray of your CD-R/RW 
	device. For some devices this means that you must use DirectCD's 
	wizard to eject the media. Other devices allow you to eject using 
	the eject button on the drive. We are working to standardize this 
	process for all supported drives. For the same reason, it is 
	important that you use the standard Windows 95 shutdown process 
	before turning off the power to your computer. If you power down 
	the computer without either ejecting the disc first, or going 
	through the shutdown process, you will lose data on your disc, or 
	your disc may no longer be usable.

Erasable Media

	If you are using DirectCD with a CD-RW drive, the erase function 
	in DirectCD will erase all the data on your media.  Be sure to 
	save any needed files to another location before erasing.

