Q. I returned with the Marines from Iraq in late March 2005. I had taken over 1,100 pictures, which I saved to my laptop (Windows XP). I was able to burn a few CDs to hold them. These CDs work fine with other PCs/laptops to view the pics and everything, but when I put the CDs in my laptop, the drive just spins. Windows cannot read the CDs. Unfortunately, I deleted all the pictures from my laptop and camera. Now I want them back on my laptop. What's causing this problem?

A. Unfortunately, it's difficult to pinpoint problems with burned CDs. Some disc drives are faulty; others are finicky about the quality of the CD. Since other drives can see your discs, I suspect your drive is faulty.

CD burners typically use separate lasers for reading and burning discs. Your burner's read laser may be damaged or inaccurate. Put other burned discs in the CD drive. If it fails to read them, I would replace the drive.

If your drive can read other burned discs, you could have faulty media. Manufacturers have a few choices for the dyes in their discs. Some materials are better than others. And for manufacturers, some are more expensive than others.

Cheap discs were once easily identified by their blue or green tint. But many discs are now artificially colored to be more attractive or fun. High-quality recordable CDs will generally command higher prices. Consider trying recordable CDs from a name brand manufacturer.