Hello all, I've been reading this site for a while and I never fail to learn something new every time I come here. I'm hoping that someone can help me with an issue that I've been having lately. When backing up my DVDs, I've been ending up with a large number of coasters. I've had my burner (Mad Dog MD-16XDVD9) for about a year with relatively few problems, but lately more than half have been coming out unusable. I updated the firmware for the burner, but the most recent version came out in April 2005, I believe (I purchased the drive in December 2004). I'm running DVD Decrypter to rip the files, DVD Shrink to encode them to an ISO file, and IMG Burn (through Nero 6.6.0.18) to burn the ISO file. I'm also using Verbatim DVD+R media and burning on either a 4X or 2.4X speed. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, so here's the latest log file that I have: I 23:00:44 ImgBurn Version 1.1.0.0 started! I 23:00:44 Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600 : Service Pack 2) I 23:00:44 Initialising SPTI... I 23:00:44 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices... I 23:00:55 Found 1 DVD-ROM and 1 DVD±RW! I 23:01:00 Operation Started! I 23:01:00 Source File: C:\DVDVOLUME.ISO I 23:01:00 Source File Sectors: 2,201,888 (MODE1/2048) I 23:01:00 Source File Size: 4,509,466,624 bytes I 23:01:00 Source File Implementation Identifier: DVD Shrink I 23:01:00 Destination Device: [1:1:0] MAD DOG MD-16XDVD9 2.FD (F (ATA) I 23:01:00 Destination Media Type: DVD+R (Disc ID: MCC-002-00) (Speeds: 2.4x, 4x) I 23:01:00 Destination Media Sectors: 2,295,104 I 23:01:00 Write Mode: DVD I 23:01:00 Write Type: DAO I 23:01:00 Write Speed: 2.4x I 23:01:00 Link Size: Auto I 23:01:00 Test Mode: No I 23:01:00 BURN-Proof: Enabled I 23:01:00 Filling Buffer... I 23:01:01 Writing LeadIn... I 23:01:20 Writing Image... I 23:23:24 Synchronising Cache... I 23:23:25 Closing Track... I 23:23:37 Finalising Disc... I 23:24:00 Operation Successfully Completed! - Duration: 00:22:59 I 23:24:00 Average Write Rate: 3,326 KB/s (2.4x) - Maximum Write Rate: 3,632 KB/s (2.6x) I 23:24:00 Cycling Tray before Verify... I 23:24:15 Operation Started! I 23:24:15 Source Device: [1:1:0] MAD DOG MD-16XDVD9 2.FD (F (ATA) I 23:24:15 Source Media Type: DVD+R (Disc ID: MCC-002-00) (Speeds: 2.4x, 4x) I 23:24:15 Image File: C:\DVDVOLUME.ISO I 23:24:15 Image File Sectors: 2,201,888 (MODE1/2048) I 23:24:15 Image File Size: 4,509,466,624 bytes I 23:24:15 Image File Implementation Identifier: DVD Shrink I 23:24:15 Verifying Sectors... E 00:07:19 Failed to read Sector 0 - No Seek Complete E 00:07:19 Failed to Verify Sectors! E 00:07:19 Operation Failed! - Duration: 00:43:03 I 00:07:19 Average Verify Rate: N/A - Maximum Verify Rate: N/A Any help that anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
I will make a guess here and say your burner is dying on you...or it may have some dust or something causing a problem. Have you tried a bit of canned air inside? Verbatim is good media and everything else looks OK. If you have burned a lot then it may be time for a new one. The prices are low enough that it makes sense to have a spare.
Thanks. I'll try using the canned air. The only reason for the problem that I could come up with was I thought that it could have been a compression problem with Shrink because I've been able to burn CDs with relatively few problems (comparitively speaking). But then when I searched the forums to see if anyone was having similar problems, I couldn't find anything. Anyway, thanks again for your help.
With Shrink, if you use too much compression then you will have red showing in the Shrink size bar. If you have less compression than that, but still alot, then you may get playback problems. Nothing that would affect the burn process though.
Yeah, have Shrink set for a 4300 limit because I had read about problems with burning too close to the edge of the disc, but I wondered if there was maybe something in the encoding process that was kinda funky. After checking into it, though, I began to doubt that was the case. Incidentally I did purchase a new burner today. Hopefully that'll do the trick. Thanks for your help.
Setting it to 4300 MB will require even more compression to be added. A typical good DVD will hold about 4480 MB. Shrink's default size is 4464 MB. I use the default size but that's up to you. It is actually not that much of a difference.
brmc I'm betting on the new drive. One of my burners headed south and I could still burn CDs and even DVD RWs, it just wouldn't finalize the R media properly. It was an older 4X burner, so it was due for retirement at the first sign of trouble anyway. I must say it lasted a long time though under heavy use. As for resetting the burn option for content with Shrink, I never needed to change the default value. If the media in use is that bad around the edges, you shouldn't be using it for DVD movies to start with. Normally, Mitsubishi is good media that you needn't worry about.
I always set my programs to burn under 4400kbs just in case, and I always use Taiyo Yuden or Mitsubishi Chemicals disks! This ensures a great burn without worries of the outer edge! Aslo you are not compromising too much quality at all! at 4384 how much quality can be compromised??? not enough to know the difference and still be safly away from the outer edge!
Well, a few hundred burns later and no coasters due to writing too close to the edge. Other than Shrink and RB, I don't know of many apps that even allow for adjustment and I use both at default settings. I do try to use good media though.
I think it comes out to a 2 or 3% difference. Feel free to check my math. At any rate it isn't much of a difference.
Close enough, that's why I don't worry about it. I've never seen it to be a problem for anyone. I guess somebody got some real crap media or back in the stone age when they were first making discs, even with much of the lower end media, writing to the edge isn't a problem. Usually when I say that, someone pops in and says, "well, it helped me". Then I wonder how. As I've said often, if the media is that bad, it shouldn't be in use.