Last year during a 4th of July sale I bought an IO Magic IDVD16DD 16x Dvd +/- r/w double format/dual layer drive. I began burning using only +/- R discs due to the high prices of dual layer discs. I had no problems using regular + or - R or RW discs. A few months later I found Memorex+R DL discs on sale and bought some. The first time I tried using one, it burned to 50% and then stopped. I tried again with the same result. At that time I began doing some online research and found out about firmware and figured that mine was probably old. So, with some research I found a download for G7M9 firmware, downloaded and flashed the drive. I then rebooted the computer and tried another +R DL disc which went to I think 50% and stopped. I decided to try one more time before doing some more research, and this time it went to around 80% and stopped. Since it actually went further this time I decided to try again hoping the 3rd time would be the charm and it was. I was then able to burn quite a few Memorex +R DL discs with no problem at all. Later, I found Verbatim +R DL discs on sale and remmebering reading that Verbatim was near the top of the line I decided to try these. I had some problems with these so I looked for another firmware update. I found G7Z9 which I downloaded and flashed. I tried another Verbatim disc which burned with no problem. I went through 2 of the 3 packs of Verbatim discs with no problem at all, however when I got to the 3rd pack I bought I began having problems. The discs would only burn to 50% and would then stop. I managed to get maybe 2-3 out of 10 successful burns with the last pack of Verbatim. WEll, when I bought the Verbatim I had 1 pack of Memorex left so since I was now out of Verbatim I opened up the Memorex hoping that pack of verbatim was just bad. I went through about 3-4 of the Memorex discs which only burned to 50%. At that time I remembered when I was using these discs before I was using an older firmware so I thought maybe flashing back to the older firmware (which I had been using successfully before) would help solve the problem with the Memorex media. Well it didn't...I've now gone through about 7 or 8 Memorex +R DL discs without 1 of them going past 50%. I emailed IO Magic and they suggested installing/updating the system ASPI drivers, updating IDE controllers, updating my Nero software, and updating the Nero ASPI. I did all of these things and still I can't get past 50% on a DL disc. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks
I too have had similar problems with the IO Magic drive you have. It worked perfectly for about the first 10 DVD's I burned. I was using Hewlett Packard +R's. I contacted IO Magic's customer support and they had me go thorough the same stuff - update firmware, ASPI drivers, updating IDE controllers, and my Nero software. That didn't work! Luckily, my drive was still under warranty and they gave me a return mercandise number. I sent the drive back to them and a few weeks later I got a new replacement drive. I installed the new drive and it was the same story. Nothing but coasters! It wouldn't burn for nothing! After reading a lot of posts on this board, I finally decided to try a different brand of media. I bought a 50 pack of Fuji +R's and everyone of them burned perfectly. My stepson told me all he uses is Memorex, so I bought some of them. They sucked almost as bad as the HP's I originally had. It wasn't until I started having problems again, did I read the label on the package - made in Taiwan. Always look for DVD's made in Japan. The Taiwan stuff is crap! Now before I decide to backup a DVD, I defrag the HD and try to shutdown as many programs as I can. I will only use Fuji +R's or Verbatim +R's from now on. I hope this helps you somewhat... the media you use can make a BIG difference.
I/O magic outsources their drives to many different manufacturers.Benq 1620/Empa of Middle east Fizo/and BTC are among their 16x writers. My first I/O magic 16x is the benq 1620. The second one I purchased at same store a couple months later turned out as an EMPA drive and was a total pc of crap. Jason_R_S: Yours is a rebadged Benq 1620. I have same drive,except I have the B7W9 firmware instead of the G7-Z9. Errors at 50%: This is the area around the Layer break. Since it sounds like you are burning with nero,I'd suggest another program like dvd decrypter or IMGburn. Nero6 does have trouble with the layer break,so I don't even bother. It's a hell of a single layer burn program. I'd ditch nero for those DL backups. If you are backing up original dvds,try dvd decrypter using Mode ISO read to hard drive-take note of where those files go and Mode ISO write/locate those mds files/open/and burn away. This is a free program and very effective with non compression dvd-5 and dvd-9 backups. Another option is rip with dvd decrypter using Mode ISO read. Open up IMGburn/locate mds files/open/and click burn. IMGburn was created by the same author of dvd decryper,it just doesn't have a ripping feature.It's suppose to be a better burn engine than dvd decrypter. For single layer backups,All 3 of my benqs will burn anything you slap in them. +r/-r/+rw/and +r DL/lightscribe and full hub printables.High quality as well as low quality media. Well over a %99.5% success rate and 100% success rate on dual layer and on the fly copies!!!!! It'll even burn memosux cmags,just some of my stand alone players can pick out those low quality backups.
thanks for the replies so far. that is what I usually do. I have been using DVD Decrypter but was told Imgburn was better for dual layer. either way, both programs stop at 50% now whereas dvd decrypter had made perfect backups for quite some time. I emailed IO tech support and they gave me several suggestions, all of which I followed and none of which worked. after the 3rd email to tech support, they finally sent me back instructions on how to send the drive in for a replacement. a couple questions though, is the b7w9 a better firmware than b7z9 or no? also, is the benq 1640 a significantly better drive because I'd thought about ordering one of those to replace or supplement my current drive. thanks.
There is no B7Z9 fw update yet. Here's the latest B7W9 which was dated last september: Release Reasons: 1. Modified the writing strategy for Ricoh 2.4x DVD+R DL media. 2. Improved the writing quality for MBI 16x DVD-R & Ricoh 8x DVD+R media. 3. Supported FTI 16x DVD+R & DVD-R media. 4. Improved the reading performance for CD-R & CD-ROM discs. 5. Modified the algorithm for 16x writing speed You may have downloaded the wrong firmware update. Go into device manager/click on the + icon for DVD/Cd-rom drives and see what it says your drive is. It should list Benq DVD DD DW1620. Let me know if it does. The Benq 1620 has 2 different drives. They have the Bulk drive which has the B7*9 firmware. These will usually be the oem drives and rebadges for other brand names: B in that fw code is for bulk. They also have the Retail version. This retail version will have the fw of G7T9 or higher.G means retail. I just found my notes about when I was researching for my I/O 16x benq 1620 bulk rebadge's firmware update. Very confusing! You may have flashed the wrong firmware for that I/0 magic 16x writer. Forget about I/O magic's website. Go to Benq themselves: http://support.benq.com/front/BenqMain.asp?MenuHead=128&ShowType=... Click on the driver tab.If the screen shows a guy digging,ignore it and click on downloads.Look for 1620 fw update to the B7W9.They've also got the q-suite utility there.Part of that utility will work with the benq 1620 with the fw version of B7-V9 or higher. Your drive may be wiped out?.If you don't send that drive back for replacement,I'd update that firmware to B7W9 and see how she handles dual layer media. Verbatim 2.4x +r dl work perfect for me. The benq 1640 is a hell of a burner. The only complaints I have is the Benq 1620 will over burn +8x sony and +8x fuji media at 16x! Other than that,these babies are near perfect. If you get the 1640,update that firmware as soon as you hook it up.Also download q-suite 2.0 and you have the option to booktype the plus format to dvd-rom,making them a lot higher compatable for stand alone players. I paid $38 including shipping for my 1640. I'd like to get another one for my single drive pc. When I make a backup on that pc,my burn settings are 1x/2x/2.4x/and max. If left on max,they will burn 16x on those sony and fuji 8x. If I had that overburn protection of q-suite and that 1640 in her,then she'd limit my max burn speed to 8x. Very sweet burner and for a hell of a price. Newegg.com has been out of them for a couple months. The Benq 1650 is out,but haven't heard much about them. The 1640 does perform better at a faster burn speed,when using quality media like those fuji/sony tys and verbatim +16x.