[kevs]

My set up for burning cdr has been at max speed, with Codex software, and my Lacie 52 burner -- about 1yr 1/2 old.

Then recently get lot of verifications failed.

Codex said could be media or burner is old or speed. So I reduced to 40x and that helped.

then few weeks go by and get same problem.

So try in Toast at 40x and get same failure at verification stage: bad sector this, bad sector that.

So I'm now at 20x speed.

So question, what is the usual culprit here?

Don't think media, top of line Taiyo Yuden. What are others experiences? thanks

[tooki]

Well, despite what you've said, I'd still try a different type of media. Chances are it'll make no difference, but it is possible (if unlikely) that you have a bad batch of media on your hands. (It's even possible that a spindle is partly from one batch and partly from another.)

But if it fails with different media, then you can be pretty sure it's the drive. It's possible that the lens is dirty, but probably it's just failing.

Do you have another drive you can swap out, to isolate the drive from the equation?

tooki

[kevs]

Well, the drive is not working at 20x speed. But I bought a 52x drive.

And can only test it against the two drive here that are 8x which defeats purpose.

[tooki]

Try some different media just to be sure. Discs are cheap (heck, bum a different-brand blank from a friend), and this test might be helpful. Worst-case, you're no better off than before, best-case, you discover it's just a problem with the media.

tooki

[andretan]

I have the same problem with my LG external DVD burner when verification.

For example when I got my drive the other day, the first burn was ok, then the next burn suddenly slowed to a crawl, and stuck there for a few hours.

Using Toast gave me the same problem... so I'm guessing that we shouldn't "verify" the burn?

Any thoughts on this?

[kevs]

Actually you need to verify.
I actually pulled a few cdrs that did not verify, and opened them and it seemed the files were all there and opened up.

But recently, I tested that, and in fact if verification fails, some of the files failed to burn. It's definite, unfortunately.

Today, I bought a different brand cdr, so I will now test media. I have software out of the way, since burns failed with two different softwares so will allow me to move to the next variable to test: media.

Unfortunately, I don't have another 52x burner. But that might be the last variable anyway:
software, media, then burner.

[kevs]

Ok, just tested some new media, let me recap here:

As I said, I bought a bunch of Taiyo Yuden cdr's.

Then recently, started noticing failures upon verification. so I lowered speed to 40, then 32 etc, but kept getting failures.

I tried two different softwares, and fails with both, so I was thinking it was the burner, getting old. I assumed my grade A rated media was not at fault. But to be sure, I picked up a pack of cheap Memorex. Anyway, to make long story short, I burned 5-6 cd's of the Taiyos from different spindles, and 6 of the Memorex, and a few of the Taiyos of each spindle failed burn as max speed, and the cheap Memorex's all six succeeded max speed. So I'm about to go buy the Memorex and return the Taiyos, even though I've read the Memorex are from low quality factory and the Taiyos are the best....

But was just on that website that rates cds (http://www.cdmediaworld.com) , and I got to pause cause they said the low rated cds have problems with aging. Now I've recevide Memorex from people and never noticed any problems. How accurate are these sites that rate cds?

And what's weird is that there are like 6 brands that they give great rating to, but those same 6 are made at another factory that they say stinks, how accurate is that, and how the heck would one know which factory their cds came from? thanks.

[CaptainHaddock]

If it's any consolation, the two DVD-Rs that *came* with my iMac both turned into coasters when I tried burning them. I think they were Fuji. I was understandably worried, but I've had no problem since with other media brands, like Verbatim (which I mostly use).

[andretan]

Originally posted by kevs:
Actually you need to verify.
I actually pulled a few cdrs that did not verify, and opened them and it seemed the files were all there and opened up.

But recently, I tested that, and in fact if verification fails, some of the files failed to burn. It's definite, unfortunately.

Today, I bought a different brand cdr, so I will now test media. I have software out of the way, since burns failed with two different softwares so will allow me to move to the next variable to test: media.

Unfortunately, I don't have another 52x burner. But that might be the last variable anyway:
software, media, then burner.

Hmm. I've always verified my CDs when I burn stuff on my iBook's combo drive, but with the external DVD writer, it seems like the 1st disc will turn out ok, but the 2nd burn (or more) will stall if I try to verify the disc.

Well, I'll see how it goes.

Keep us updated

[I was David B.]

If you read about failure rates for DVD burners you will find out that failures are different for different DVD brands. That means a dvd burner does not burn every dvd brand with the same quality and it is a good idea to find a test with different brands of dvds for your burner that tells you what brand works best with your drive.

With cds it should not be as critical. But at high speed it maybe is. So, before you randomly buy cds I would look for an extended test for your drive and find out if there are differences in burn quality.
Your result with memorex hint exactly in this direction.

If you have a Lacie case you should find out what kind of cd drive is inside and look for a test of this brand (not Lacie of course).


Look here for extended tests:
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Revi...p;CategoryId=1