CD-R 4.7 disk not recognized

It's forever confusing with DVD disks but my Dell Windows XP always says "insert recordable media in the drive" whenever I try to copy data or photo files to a CD-R disk. It's in the burn drive E & not the DVD drive. Don't ever have any problem with DVD+RW 4.7 gig disks or CD-R 700 mg disks. Can't even seem to format the DVD-R disks. So, I assume they don't have to be formatted? Any answers would surely be appreciated.

 

Your burner will recognise dvd-r, if it is multyformat + - it would help to know what formats it supports.
If it is multyformat drive, then some disks may not be recognised, depending on the manufacturer. Dell should have a list of compatable media for the drive, if the burner is Dell original - ifit is not, you might need a firmware update to recognise different media.
If its not multiformat, then it will only recognise (+)plus media, or, (-)minus media, not both.