Talk:Drive Letter Access

= article quality = This page reads suspiciously like a marketing document for DLA. Pronouns are overly friendly and encouraging ("DLA gives us the ability", "Using Windows Explorer you can drag & drop"), and the style in general seems designed to get people excited about DLA.

More seriously, the article has nothing bad to say about the product. I don't know much about this product, but given the compatibility problems that something like this could create, it seems unlikely that there are *no* disadvantages, limitations, or competitors to this apparently controversy-free product.

I may be wrong, but I think somebody who knows more about this than me should have a look at the article to make sure it's not pure shill.

Fang2415 23:19, 10 June 2006 (UTC)fang2415

= Negative Statements =

Negative Statements 1
Hi!

Yes, the article is very simple and doesn't contain any negative statements about DLA. I own an IBM Thinkpad with pre-installed DLA (an OEM version for IBM) which does pretty much that what is stated in the article right now. Negative: yes, there are some things that are not so good: Such a statement would have to be verified before it would go into an article! I personally once had the problem that I couldn't read an UDF formated media that was filled with Windows .exe files (Service Packs, Freeware and such things) with Linux (Kernel 2.6.10+, Gentoo 2006.0) in my Windows XP SP2 + DLA 5.2 system. I rarely have to do such things because I normally use Linux. Windows is just there because it was pre-installed.
 * On the Sonic Solutions webpage there is no information about which version is the latest release.
 * It is only available in english language (as far as I could find out - please correct me if I'm wrong).
 * I think that most users use it only because they got it with their hardware (either it was pre-installed or it came with the optical recording device). If they had to buy it, users would probably buy something else (like Nero InCD) - but all that is only my personal opinion, I wouldn't write something like that in an article of wikipedia.
 * I occasionally read something about incompatibility with other Packet Writing software. So it is possible that DLA-recorded disks that use UDF (like DVD-RAM media) cannot be read/changed/written to on other operating systems or with other Packet Writing software.

So there ARE some negative things about DLA, but none of them are acknoledged and therefore ready to go into this article. I think, for the mean time, this article should stay like it is.

Greetings, Andreas Y2kbugDE 10:50, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

Negative Statements 2
I have a brand new HP/Compaq nw8440 notebook with a TSSTcorp TS-L632D DVD-RW unit and DLA preinstalled.


 * sometimes when a CD-ROM medium is inserted, DLA prevents its ejection with a dialog saying something like "DLA detected that files are in use, save work first..."
 * hangs with certain RW media. The explorer locks up when trying to access the CD (or DVD). CPU is burned at 100%. Reboot takes ages, complains that explorer.exe and DLACTRLW.exe are not responding. (same media can be read under linux without problems).

xerces8, 195.3.81.25 08:39, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Negative Statements 3

 * DLA is reported to cause system lockups with software for mounting CD/DVD images on a virtual drive (e.g. Daemon Tools, MagicISO). --Funnels 10:37, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

= complete rewrite = Hi!

I have rewritten nearly the whole article now, but as you may have found out already, I am NOT a native speaker. Thus my level of english is quite limited. That's why I fear that most of my (in my optionion "well constructed") sentences are gramatically nothing else but nonsense.

IMPORTAINT: Please review my article and make it sound english in a convenient way. Thank you.

Most parts of the old article were – in my humble option – stolen from the Argentum article. I think that is the wrong apporach. Wikipedia should not copy text from internet pages, it should have its own – unique – pages. In addition to this it could be a license problem...

I also wrote the "references" as a new entry in the discussion page, which should state, where each bit of information comes from. It should only list the sources of information, wheater they be a site on the internet or a printed book. Format: Please expand this list as you add information. This way the reader can be sure that we don't write just anything, but that we put some effort in finding relevant information.
 * Topic (what are we talking about)
 * Statement, that has to be confirmed by the now following sources of information (references)
 * Source, where you can confirm this bit of information (where you have got if from)
 * Possibly more links or other references, where this statement can also be found

You might wonder where I come from. I am the author of the german article "Drive Letter Access" and the new english article is more or less a translation of my work on the german article. I beleave it is not that bad, and it is my own work and I hereby release it under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, like all Wikipedia articles are. Again: if you are a native speaker or if your level of english is very high, feel free to correct, rewrite or distruct my article, as you see fit.

Thanks for you attention, Andreas 17:30, 8 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Hi!
 * It's me again. And I've changed the tag to (copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling).
 * I do hope that the quality of the article is otherwise okay now and that it meets Wikipedia quality standards. If you think different though, feel free to reset to ...
 * Greetings, Andreas 17:24, 13 April 2007 (UTC)
 * No problem. I'm currently working on copy-editing it.  Regards, Geekosaurus 19:07, 22 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Geekosaurus, thank you for your work! Reads much better now. --Andreas 08:20, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

= Known problems with DLA = Finell wrote: QUESTION: What about poking a paper clip, etc., in the eject whole?
 * DLA may prevent ejecttion of media from an optical drive. When this occurs, a solution is to restart the operating system.

Well, I personally never had that problem. This is because I don't write to optical media when I run Windows due to my first operating system being Linux.

I'd say, that one could eject the media using this "emergency eject the very importaint CD/DVD NOW" hole using a paper clip, but this would still leave open file handlers on the software side and do more harm than good.

‣Andreas• ⚖ 13:01, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

= references =

The titel says: "IBM DLA and Veritas DLA software - IBM IntelliStation E Pro" The titel says: "Veritas DLA UDF reader" Under "Datei Info: Der Drive Letter Access Component oder Direct Access Component Prozess gehört zu..." (german, sloppy translation: "File Info: The Drive Letter Access Component or Direct Access Component Process belongs to...") Uncertainty: Both DLA and DirectCD are mentioned in that article. On this page Argentum actually wants to tell us about "Argentum Backup" (scroll down a bit), but the top part describes very carefully how to get and install DLA. Veritas and Sonic Solutions are mentioned in the article, DLA is said to have been sold to Sonic Solutions in 2002. This is yet unconfirmed, but I decided to leave it in. Feel free to correct it.
 * DLA versions
 * DLA was originally developed by Veritas.
 * Circumstantial: IBM MIGR-41602
 * Circumstantial: IBM MIGR-42199
 * Circumstantial: file.net - tfswctrl.exe Error (german)
 * The formaly well quoted Argentum DLA page
 * Clearly: www.answers.com writes that DLA originally was from Veritas. But: the article is very similar to the one from Argentum... (cut & paste? maybe...)
 * The DLA version I used to get information for this article is the OEM version from IBM, which can be found at:
 * IBM MIGR-40970
 * Dell also provides its OEM versions of DLA:
 * Dell's DLA version 4.95 (update)
 * Dell's DLA version 5.2 (update)
 * On the mentioned sites (IBM, Dell) you can find the supported Windows version for each version of DLA.
 * That there are also OEM version from HP and Sony is stated in the Argentum DLA article.
 * A user added Toshiba to the german DLA artilce.


 * Technologies used in DLA
 * packet writing ≠ UDF
 * There should be plenty information on packet writing and UDF in the corresponding Wikipedia articles.
 * DLA uses UDF as the file format
 * Well, that just is so, I presume that there is no discussion about that.
 * Argentum DLA article: "UDF packet writing driver for your CD/DVD drive"
 * Circumstantial: IBM MIGR-42199, the titel says: "Veritas DLA UDF reader"
 * For DVD-RAM DLA only provides Windows (the user of Windows) with the UDF file format (– so it is not packet writing that is being used here!)
 * (references wanted)
 * DLA does support Mount Rainier aka EasyWrite
 * Argentum DLA article: "DLA and EasyWrite drives"

Note: This list is not complete.

If you add information to the article, please be so kind to add you source of information (reference) here! Thank you. --Andreas

DLA is not compatible with Internet Explorer 8.
More information needed. AFAIK, only the "browser helper object" is incompatible with IE8, and it can be disabled without affecting DLA. And, AFAIK, the IE add-in for IE-7 is not compatible with IE 8 only because it is not certified, and it can be enabled without affecting IE8.

I do not know what the browser add-in is supposed to do. More information is needed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 218.214.18.240 (talk) 09:40, 5 February 2010 (UTC)

This article has multiple issues. (Tagged since April 2012.)
True, I've never seen an article about this software other than in general How-To Guides about CD/DVD recording. Most references are from software vendors about DLA version updates, fixes and workarounds. I hope it will not be removed. It was very well known for a decade as a packet writing software for Windows 98SE to XP. Since the support for XP ends on April 8, 2014, Windows XP users may still be using it for writing to CD-RW/DVD±RW/DVD-RAM. DLA is no longer required under Windows Vista and newer.
 * It relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications.
 * The notability of this article's subject is in question. If notability cannot be established, it may be listed for deletion or removed.

About the distribution of DLA, I could not find any references from independent authors and third-party publications other than statements that imply that it was mainly distributed by computer (desktop, laptop) manufactorers as OEM software. A great variety of OEM versions of DLA are also a hint.

I'm sorry if this should not be enough for a Wikipedia article.

‣Andreas• ⚖ 06:38, 29 April 2012 (UTC)