Thank you to James, Sven, Larry, and Tracy for the information on CD labeling. In my case, it was a permanent type label and I did have it applied before I burned the CD. Looking back, it may be possible that the label caused the write failure, although I doubt it. The failure had all the signs of a buffer underflow because the source was a USB drive. Although labels look much better, I will probably switch back to using markers, as all of you indicated seems best. Perhaps I should look into getting a CD printer to make pretty CDs, but I have to consider the cost/benefit issue - my wife will ask "why do you need it?" and that may be the end of it! Actually, she is very supportive of my computer hobby. I was just making a joke, but the point still applies. Peter ------------------------- [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- I just discovered how fragile the top surface of a CDR disc is. I put an Avery type address label on one and tried burning some data. The burn failed and 40x, so I lowered the burn speed and tried for a new disc. Instead of printing another label, I tried to pull off the label from the first disk. SURPRISE! The silvered coating came off with the label. Do you want to signoff PCBUILD or just change to Digest mode - visit our web site: http://freepctech.com/pcbuild.shtml