Paolo wrote: Sat Mar 14, 2009 5:36 pm
If you burn a disc, either type, and it confirms, says it succeeded, then the disc won't open again, you probably have a dying/dead drive. Don't bother to flash the firmware, reinstall your burning-ware; it won't help.
Mine was reading fine, said it burned fine, verified, then the discs were very hit/and/miss in reading in the PC or the standalone DVD player.
I then switched to a CD-R, in audio burn mode, and got a Nero error code 99 - power calibration failure.
Sure sign that the laser had died.
The catch is, that it will more than likely read fine on previously burnt media.
The sad part is, I'd burnt about 15 data discs that said they succeeded, opened fine, then the files therein were all hit/and/miss...
The descrition I would use is "twitchy." I have the "luxury" (read: investment) of 2 NEC/Sony/Optiarc DVD DL writers, one can also wite BD-RE's. I have one in my Dell Inspiron 1520, the other in a Dell Optiplex GX 280. (I wanted to have the ability to move data in large chunks from the Optiplex to the Inspiron,as I plan to retire the Optoplex.) Both drives are the model used by Dell (as specified from their Website).
I do not run into an issue with writing, then reading on the same drive, BUT I have had some read errors from disks created on the Optiplex (non-BD drive) writing DL DVD's, but not the other way. The drives were purchased a year apart. The Inpiron is 9 months old and the BD writer in it us under a month old at this point. (And of all places, I bought it on eBay, but the vendor was validated by e-Bay.)
i came across a website that made reference to the firmware update dated after my first drive was released, and before I purchased the second one. That may be related to either bug fixes in the earlier firmware or the new BD function in the drive. Unfortunately, I can find no reference online that provides the firmware or notes that the firmware be flashed into the drive.
The weirdest incident was in backing up my iTunes collection on the non-BD drive (DVD DL mode). The newer drive could read the disk, but the writer that created it couldn't. Keep in mind that iTunes does not verify a backup disk.
My best recommendations are (at least one the following):
1) verify the disk on another reader;
2) see if you have latest firmware;
3) if the writer fails to read a disk even once, dupe it with CloneCD, with bit verify on and error correction off.(CloneCD does dupe DVD's, the name is a holdover from the earlier releases.)
4) don't assume that any single is good, i've gotten into the habit of burning 2 copies of each disk being created, then verified both. Yes, Ive had one good and one bad, so then go and make a 3rd, etc... until i I nave two validated copies. (I have not run into this that much on the older, and not at all on the newer, but always keep Murphy in mind).
5) avoid DL's whenever you can, they give me the most grief.
6) be willing to accepts the drive is failing if the error rate goes up at a rapid rate, Replace it immediately (Once the the laser fails, thr disks are garbage).
7) use CD-R's, DVD +/-R, the price difference might appear to make the RW's are worth it. The grief makes it otherwise.
I don't really have any alternate drives to recommend, since my experience is limited to the Optiarcs (though the expense may be worth moving to a BD burner, which will have the newer firmware. Paolo is correct; don't bother even looking for a flash update).
YC...
