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Jim_DeLaHunt
Contributor
Contributor
‎01-05-2008 09:22 PM

Why does my USB DVD-RAM device show in Windows XP as "disk structure corrupted and unreadable"?

Why does my USB DVD-RAM device show in Windows XP as "disk structure corrupted and unreadable"?

Host: Apple MacBook Pro 15" laptop, Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard", current update.

VMWare Fusion Version 1.1 (62573). VMWare Tools upgrade applied.

Guest: MS Windows XP Professional

USB Device: Samsung external DVD writer model SE-S204N, shows as "TSSTcorp USB Mass Storage Device".

To reproduce:

  • boot up Mac OS X host OS, VMWare Fusion guest OS suspended

  • Plug in USB drive SE-S204N with focus on Mac host OS.

  • Insert Music audio CD in USB drive. (I've had same results with every one of 5-10 CD's I've tried.) Mac OS X mounts CD, iTunes starts to play it. Finder can navigate file system.

  • Eject audio CD. Unplug USB drive.

  • boot up the Windows guest OS.

  • Plug in USB drive SE-S204N with focus on Windows guest OS. USB icon appears at bottom of VMWare Fusion window for guest.

  • VMWare Fusion... Virtual Machine menu... USB... Connect TSSTcorp USB Mass Storage Device. Confirm that Windows XP's "My Computer" shows "DVD-RAM Drive (F:)"

  • Insert Music audio CD in USB drive. (I've had same results with every one of 5-10 CD's I've tried.) Drive spins. Drive's icon in Windows XP's "My Computer" changes to "CD Drive (F:)" and icon shows CD with tag "CD-ROM"

  • Double-click on CD icon in my computer.

Observed behaviour:

  • Error Alert appears: "My Computer. | F:\ is not accessible. | The disk structure is corrupted and unreadable."

Expected behaviour:

  • Windows opens CD Volume, starts Windows Media Player, begins playing audio on the CD

Notes:

System behaves as expected when I insert this same audio CD into internal DVD drive of the host MacBook Pro.

I have a second external USB DVD drive, a SONY DRX-800UL, which behaves as expected when I insert this same audio CD. It mounts on this guest OS as "DVD-RW Drive (E:)".

I have a second guest OS, Ubuntu 7.10 Desktop, under the same host instance of VMWare Fusion 1.1 on the same host hardware. The subject Samsung SE-S204N drive and audio CD behave as expected on this guest OS.

Because the symptoms are the same regardless of test audio CD, I don't think the CD is the culprit.

Because it's inconceivable to me that Samsung would have shipped this product if it failed in this way with a conventional Windows XP installation, I don't think Windows is the culprit.

Because the Samsung SE-S204N drive behaves correctly outside of the subject guest OS, including on a different guest OS, I don't think it is solely the culprit. It might interact with VMWare Fusion, though.

I've looked at the log file inside the guest OS's .vmwarevm bundle directory. I see some lines of the log that mention the USB drive, but nothing obviously informative.

I've searched the knowledgebase, docs, and forums, (both for Fusion and other VMWare products) and I don't find anything relevant to this situation.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance for your help.

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4 Replies
Jim_DeLaHunt
Contributor
Contributor
‎01-05-2008 10:07 PM

Update: I just tried the subject drive and audio CD under a conventional IBM ThinkPad laptop running Windows XP. Behaviour was as expected. Windows could play that audio CD in that USB DVD drive. There was no message about "disk structure corrupted and unreadable".

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admin
Immortal
Immortal
‎01-06-2008 05:22 AM

Can you try the DVD-RAM device on a physical XP computer? It might be faulty in a way that XP doesn't like, or your assumption that it works with XP may be incorrect.

Edit: Nevermind, missed the update.

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Jim_DeLaHunt
Contributor
Contributor
‎01-06-2008 12:55 PM

Telling the forum: question not answered yet.

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WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal
‎01-06-2008 03:17 PM 

Telling the forum: question not answered yet.
 
There is no need to tell as it's obvious it hasn't been answered yet!
The short answer may just well be, not all USB Devices function as expected when compared to a physical machine!  It is not uncommon and it is just one detail of the fact that virtualization is still maturing even after all the decades this technology have been developing and just like in the physical world sometimes there just is not a practical work-a-round for the problem! 
Thats not to say that there is no other answer for your issue however give it some time and maybe someone else will have some suggestions that just might work.

					
				
			
			
				
			
			
			
			
			
			
			
		

		
		
	

	
	


	
				
		
			
		
			
		
			
					
			
		
				
		
			
					
		
	
				
		
			
					
		
	
				
		
			
					
		
	
				
		
			
					
		
	
				
		
			
					
		
	
				
		
	
	


		

	

		

			

	
		
			
					
				
		
			
		
			
					
		
		
	
				
		
			
					
				
		
			
					

	
			

				
		
			
		
			
				

					
						
	
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