Nero is the way to go
CDRW (I picked this problem as you mentioned it in pet hates
)formating is a thing of the past pretty much.I remember the day when you had to let roxio format a CDRW and it take 20 minutes before you could use it (HP external 2x 2x 4x usb1)
Nero does it all on the fly now,select files to write and it just writes
What drivers did you need for the HP ?? asapi? or maybe just updating the firmware would sort it?
Ive never had a problem running any optical drive on xp and ive reclaimed some old bobbins for my refurbs
