Sony dw-u14a

Hi All,
Just joined. If I had noticed the ammount of problems this drive had posted here, I wouldn't have bought it. I have a shuttle system - top spec and running XP. The drive is seen as a DVD-R drive, when nothing is in it, when I put in a CD, I can burn ok. When I put in a DVD to do a back-up, the drive reads as a CD Drive, but shows DVD-R disc, I get hardware failures when trying to backup, files or movies. I have tried using Easy CD creator, then I bought Inter Video win rip - this only wants to copy to CD's no option for DVD copy. I then downloaded a trial program of DVDFAB, which looks quite good. Again everything goes fine until it tries to burn the dvd, then I get a hardware error. I have tried to find drivers for the drive in case this is the problem, but to no avail, not even from Sony. I am at my wits end....please help someone.

Thanks, Tojo

 

Hi tojo,

Here you can get the newest firmware for your drive

http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?download_id=1618

You could try to use DVD Shrink and DVD Decrypter for making your backups, here's a guide how to use DVD Shrink

http://dvdshrink.info/fulldisk_basic.php

and here's an explanation how to use the ImgTool Classic & DVD Decrypter combination to burn the files to your DVDR.
http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/67666

I've found this method to be a very reliable way of making backups in my Sony dw-u10a drive.

Well I hope this works out for you!

 

Thanks Ketale,
I will try out everything you have said and let you know how I get on. I hope it works.

Much appreciated

Tojo

 

Ketale,
I downloaded the firmware and the same software programs I was originally trying to use don't recognise the DVD writer when I put a blank DVD in still??.
I downloaded Decrypter and managed to copy a DVD and burn onto 2 seperate DVD's. Success. I have now downloaded shrink and img, and will try and burn a DVD onto one DVD-R.

Thanks again

Tojo

PS I am getting there.....

 

I downloaded shrink and Img, they required NERO to work with them, so downloaded a copy from the links provided, and when installing, the installation failed - missing files.

My Hard drive is a Maxtor Serial ATA, and I don't know wether I am getting a lot of problems with this, as my USB ports are hanging up also.

Once I get NERO I will try and burn again

Tojo

 

tojo,

The DVD Shrink, ImgTool Classic and DVD Decrypter combination does not require Nero to work. Actually, download the newest version of DVD Shrink, which is able to write the output files directly into an ISO image, which again can be burnt directly to the DVD with DVD Decrypter in ISO -> write mode.

But even with the older versions of DVD Shrink you do not need to have Nero, just select the "write to Harddisc folder" option in Shrink and then use ImgTool Classic to create and ISO image of that folder, after which the program automatically opens DVD Decrypter and burns your disc!

Well I hope you get it working!

 

Ketale,
Thanks for that, here is an update. I can copy and write DVD's using DVD Decrypter in ISO mode, this puts the movie onto 2 DVD discs, I can also now copy the DVD direct using DVD shrink?? Although I have had hours of messing about doing this, and pulling my hair out.
I think I will try your combination you suggested, using the shrink, then see if Decrypter opens automatically.
Thanks again.
Tojo
PS The problems with my USB - BIOS update was required...thats another story!!

 

hi tojo,

the ISO-mode in DVD Decrypter is to be used if the DVD is DVD-5, that means if it will fit onto a DVDR without compressing. Also if you have an image of dvd-files that will fit a DVDR, the ISO-mode can be used to burn the image to the disc.

If you want to split the movie onto two discs, the ISO-mode is not appropriate as such, you need tools like IfoEdit or DVDFab or something the like to do the splitting with.

So just to clear things up, here's what you can do.

1) open DVD Shrink, put in the DVD you want to copy and create a compressed version of the DVD files onto your harddisc. Here's a guide

http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/dvd9_to_dvdr_with_dvd_shrink.cfm

Now you have the VIDEO_TS folder containing all the compressed files on your harddisc

2) Open ImgTool Classic nad select the VIDEO_TS folder, type in the name of your DVD (Volume ID) and a name for the image file it will create (you can delete this image after the disc is burned) and press the "image" button.

Once ImgTool has made the image it will automatically open DVD Decrypter and burn the image to the disc. Thus make sure you have the empty disc in the burner before the image is ready.

OR...

You can download the newest version of DVD Shrink, which gives you the possibility of directly making an image of the compressed files. Thus in this case you don't need ImgTool, but you have to open up DVD Decrypter, select ISO-write mode and select the image created by DVD Shrink to burn it to the disc.

I surely do hope this made any sense, it's getting late and I'm in a hurry to get to bed, so please ask if I missed something... Have fun!

 

Ketale,
Superb, thanks for that, I am up and running. Thanks for all your help.

I burned another DVD last night and I can't believe the quality is still so good and has all the features, but fits on a standard DVD-R. Excellent.

Thanks again
Tojo

 

Great, I'm glad you got it figured out! Happy burning, mate!