Muzman on 9/9/2008 at 17:53
Ever had this happen? I bought 50 blank, single density DVDs. They're Verbatim brand -Rs. I always buy -Rs and I haven't had trouble with Verbatim before, even though they're not top shelf.
This stack, however, takes forever to initialise and then any burning software concludes that the disc is full or the drive is empty. It's not quite sure though and the system usually gets all tied up thinking about it and crawls (even after the drive light stops). Other blank disks work fine, even older verbatims. Every disk in the spindle has failed this way (except one, which burned after some coaxing and waiting and ended up fine)
Have spec tolerances gotten so tight that my drive is out of date already or am I missing something?
bikerdude on 9/9/2008 at 18:15
er no, but your drive is probably faulty...or on its last legs
for £20 just replace it.
biker
37637598 on 9/9/2008 at 21:37
Have you tried burning anything from a different computer to these DVD's? You could try that to eliminate the DVD's as the problem. Or perhaps try using different software, or a slower writing speed, OR make sure your DVD burner drive is plugged in all of the way. Other than that, go with what Biker said.
Shadak on 9/9/2008 at 22:56
It never hurts to look into updating your drives firmware as well, which very well might do the trick
TBE on 10/9/2008 at 03:06
Embarrassingly as this sounds, I had bought an entire pack of the same type, and I was recording on the wrong side, as there wasn't a label side to them. I know you probably checked this option, but you never know if some lager was involved in this process ;)
Yeah, sounds like the drive may be dying and not liking this brand on it's way out. Try the brand on a friend's computer. Almost everyone has DVD burners now. They usually don't know it, but they have them.
Muzman on 10/9/2008 at 15:46
Heh, no, luckily the writable side is quite obvious on these ones. They're printable
I've tried a few burning programs, but I think they just use the same calls as Nero or whatever is supplied. So I get the same response.
It could be the drive I guess, but this bit is perplexing:
Quote Posted by Muzman
Other blank disks work fine, even older verbatims.
Points to the disks I guess. Besides, I can't get a new drive already. I've got to wait until bluray burners come down in price (plus I'm getting cheesed by how disposable we're supposed to treat even good quality computer components)
I'll try them out elsewhere and see what happens. I thought I'd check here if those symptoms were well known enough for a clear diagnosis.
baeuchlein on 11/9/2008 at 00:35
It is also possible that the new disks are indeed different from the older ones, although all of them are labelled "Verbatim".
I use a Linux program to retrieve information from the media, such as the manufacturer and which reading and writing speeds are allowed. As far as I know, there is a program from the Nero suite as well which can display that information. I think it's called "Nero Info", but I'm not sure, as I don't use Nero.
Shadak mentioned that you could try to equip your DVD writer with a new firmware version. This often helps if newer disks are not properly recognized by the writer. To upgrade your writer's firmware, check out the manufacturer's home page. If you decide to flash a new firmware to your writer, read the manufacturer's instructions carefully before you begin. If something goes wrong, your writer could become unusable. If in doubt, ask for help again here.
Muzman on 12/9/2008 at 15:49
Yeah, sorry, I did take note of that firmware advice but forgot to mention it.
Anyhow, I updated the firmware and the problem persists. Doh.
Very odd indeed. I can't seem to check any disk information since the drive can't read them at all, although it tries reeeally damn hard.
Never mind. I shall haul them over someone's house and see what happens then try and convince them to buy them off me if they work.
Turtle on 12/9/2008 at 21:25
Most companies buy their discs from one of a few large scale disc makers and rebrand them.
It's likely that the lot that these discs are from is just a shitty lot.
potterr on 12/9/2008 at 22:25
I recently bought a load of dual layer DVDs for 10 for £3.80 from ebuyer, which I thought was a bargin, they wrote perfectly on my dual layer drive, so I bought 4 more packs. None of the new dvd were recognized in the drive (all 4 packs) I still had a couple from the original pack and they worked fine. So I went off to PC world, say they had a dual layer drive for £20 (twice as fast as mine) put that in in a second bay so I still had the old drive, and hey presto the new dvds burned fine on the new drive but still refused to be read on the old one. Same brand same type and same packaging just different dvds by teh looks of it.
