I've been trying to find a possible fault on my CD writer [Freecom
portable caddy] - i can listen to audio CD but it won't copy an iso i've
downloaded. I wanted to check the writer on windows but the driver i
downloaded from their site doesn't seem to work.

Any ideas. I'm wondering if there is a setting somewhere that isn't
right in ubuntu as i don't seem to be able to copy to a portable 3.5"
[however this unit is definitely ok when tested on win2k]. After using
windoze for so long i find it hard to believe that ubuntu can get all
possible drivers for every bit of hardware on a CD - is there a
repository i should have looked in?