My problem is that I can write to DVD+RW's fine, but then I cannot erase or rewrite them. I've used Alcohol, Nero, and DVDInfoPro to both initially record to disk and/or erase or format or overwrite (rewrite). What happens is it burns fine and plays fine on the initial burn, but then whenever I try to erase or rewrite the disks become unreadable. My PC will hang if they are inserted into either of my DVD drives, and my stand-alone players will not recognize the disks. I have a NEC 3520A and a Ricoh MP5240A. I have tried various brands of media, all with the same result. What bugs me is I know a year or so ago I was able to rewrite my DVD RW's, but now I can't. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
I should mention that I've used the search function, but could not find an answer that worked. I've also read thru and understand numerous guides, so I'm not a total noob. So if anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it.
Are you possitve that these are DVD+RW media? and not DVD+R media with the RW logo on them? (DVD+R media seem to be stamped with the RW logo on them) This is a commen mistake with members. Which I had made that mistake before as well.
If you have erased or formatted these discs before, then they are DVD+RW discs. (The "DVD+RW" logo stands for the Plus Alliance. They had hoped to offer just a rewritable disc that could do both data and video to compete against the DVD Forum's video DVD-R/-RW and data DVD-RAM. They soon learned they had to offer a cheaper write-once, dye-based medium also.) There are several causes to the problem you have: 1) Incompatible formats. If you have formatted a disc with one type of packet-writing software such as InCD or DirectCD or DLA, that format can be corrupted when the disc is placed into a drive in a computer with a different incompatible format. 2) Multiple erasures/formats in different drives. Different drives have different writing laser diodes, and the diodes may have different focal patterns on the discs. Multiple recordings with different patterns can make the contrasts between marks illegible. The only way to salvage the disc is to put it into an initializer to bring it back to a completely crystalline state. This is impractical because only factories have initializers. It is usually best to keep rewritable discs written/erased/formatted in a single drive. 3) Incompatible firmware--if one of the writing drives is incompatible with the disc, it will write illegible data in the lead-in section that will prevent many compatible drives from recovering the disc, even with full erasure. 4) Filling the disc to full capacity--all rewritable media that are formatted also include some form of defect management that reserves sections for suspect sectors. If these media are filled to capacity, the defect management is unable to recover; and the media are unable to deliver files. If you cannot do a full erasure on either drive you have, the discs may be able to be fully erased by another drive that can read the lead-in well enough to follow the tracks. If not, there is not much you can do with them.
Thanks for the replys. Larrylje: I am sure the disks I am using are +RW and not simply +R. JoeRyan: 1. I have not used InCD or DirectCD. I'm not sure what DLA is or what software might use it. I have only used Nero or Alcohol to burn the DVD's. 2. I haven't been able to do multiple erasures or writes. I can only write once to the DVD's and if I try to erase or rewrite those DVD's they become unreadable. 3. This sounds promising. Perhaps I have a Firmware problem. I will follow up on this idea. 4. I have not filled up the DVD's. Usually I only fill half to 3/4 of the disks. Thanks again for the advice. I will try and borrow an external USB DVD Burner from my neighbor (it's a Sony) and see what happens there. I will also look into making sure my Firmware is up to date. Will report back. Thanks.
Don't spend anymore money on dvdrw's they just die on you at any time, most of the time when you really have something you want to save. I got burned a few times and learned my lesson. They are junk don't waste your time or money !
Well, I tried a million different settings and disks and variations and nothing seems to help. However, my neighbor's DVD burner works flawlessly. Apparently I somehow fried both my DVD drives at once. My question now is: Is there any way to tell definitively whether my DVD drives are toast before I go out and buy a new one (next year probably ?
Just burn a normal cd-rom if it can burn that it will burn a dvd ,i have a similar issue when i format and write to +RW disks,i have 2 lite-on dvd dl burners installed and a HP 300e external,once i burn with the HP drive that disk can only be re-written by that drive,tho i have'nt tried -RW type disks but with +RW it's no go,so don't dump those drives untill you know for sure DLA is Drive Letter Access and is used by RecordNow (bundled with hp drives) as far as i know it is not part of Sonic RecorNow even tho sonic made the RecordNow for HP comps, DLA is NOT capatable with nero InCd @rbrock tha's because you use cheap disks but even if you did'nt honestly even normal roms can fail at anytime even brand new write once nough said
OK go waste your money on DVDRW's and when you lose a bunch of files you'll learn I did not use cheap DVDRW's I just used then re-used then as they say you can do and bam! It craps out. Just because you can burn cd's dose not mean you can burn dvd's ( good luck )I hate to be I told you so. (well maybe not)
