[actionsnapshots]

Hi, I am having problem burning DVD with Toast Titanium 5.2.1 on my PowerBook 1.5 GHz running OS 10.4.3. I get the following error messages. I don't even know what the message is saying, can anyone help?

[Chuckit]

It says the drive can't write on the disc. So it sounds like there's either a problem with your drive or a problem with your disc.

[actionsnapshots]

Hi, Chuck, I was able to burn a couple of CDs right after this error. I have encountered this problem before, usually after 2-3 tries (waste of 2-3 DVDs), it will work. This time, I tried 4 DVDs already and still without any luck. Ben

[osxrules]

The error actually just means the buffer is empty so the burn failed - it doesn't have to mean either a media or burner fault. When you burn a disc, it writes it in a constant stream which you shouldn't interrupt. However because of the inherent latency in computer hardware, there has to be a buffer. So instead of sending one bit, then another, then another hoping that there isn't any delay, the buffer is filled first (you can see toast doing this at the start of the burn) so any such delay can happen and they can take data from the buffer until the delay is over. The condition is that there are not long enough delays to empty the buffer. When this happens, you get a buffer underrun error.

It can be caused by a few things but three frequent causes are trying to transfer lots of small files to a disc, tranferring from slow media (e.g. burning a CD at 48x when copying from a CD in a 24x reader) and burning the disc at a speed too fast for the data transfer to keep up. It can also happen if you are writing to the place you are reading from - say OS X decides to free up or allocate some virtual memory, then it can bottleneck the disc activity.

The best way I've found to avoid the error is to have buffer underrun prevention turned on in toast. The drive has to support it though. This isn't fool-proof though because all it does is pause the burn or slow the burn in order to fill the buffer back up. But this process often leaves small gaps in the disc. By that I don't mean data is missed out but the data on the cd is not as consistent as it should be and is more likely to have read errors in future.

A general rule of thumb is to burn your media at half the speed of your drive. I have an 8x burner but I always burn at 4x and I have never had a single coaster out of 100+ DVDs and probably as many cds, which I burn at 24x despite being able to burn at 48x.

So solutions are to lower your burn speed, enable your buffer underrun prevention if you haven't and try to archive files onto dmg images if you have a lot of them. Burning lots of files to disc sometimes works fine but the software has to make a bigger index on the disc so it's not a good idea. Also, less files makes your discs mount quicker.

If none of those are your problems then look at possible failures in your drive and cables. Since you tried 4 discs, it's unlikely they will be the issue, especially with a buffer underrun error.

[NeilCharter]

Buffer underun protection will certainly hepl with this problem as OSX pointed out.

Also consider that you are using version 5 of Toast. You might consider upgrading to version 7 since the software is a lot more robust now than it was then. IIt may also help with the issue you have will multiple files in the second image.

Final issue could be the discs you are using. Often it is better to use discs that are rated for use at 2x the speed that you are going to be burning at. Also lowering the burn rate could also help.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by osxrules

The error actually just means the buffer is empty so the burn failed - it doesn't have to mean either a media or burner fault.

Really? Buffer underruns give an "incompatible format" error? I never knew that.

[jmiddel]

Are you using decent media? Can you burn Cds all the time or just intermitently? If the latter, do they burn OK in iTunes?

[Targon]

1. el cheepo media-try Taiyo Yuden TYG01 or TYG02 or Verbatim Data Life PLUS
2. burning speed to fast for media (media may say its good for 8x but may realistically burn reliably at 4 times with some burners,particularly pioneers)
3.bumping your machine while writing can also do this ( do a bit on the powerbook, bumping my knee on the desk)

[actionsnapshots]

Hi, I am using Samsung DVD-R. The burning speed is only 1X and the buffer was turned on. Ben

[Groovy]

Originally Posted by actionsnapshots

Hi, I am using Samsung DVD-R. The burning speed is only 1X and the buffer was turned on. Ben

ok then do what others have said above and make an image and burn that.
Please Lets us know how it went

[Targon]

Have you tried another brand of -R media?

[osxrules]

Originally Posted by Chuckit

Really? Buffer underruns give an "incompatible format" error? I never knew that.

Hmmm, possibly not, though I was talking about the buffer underrun message on its own. The second image hadn't loaded when I posted.

It's odd that the two errors appear. I don't think the media is unsupported, otherwise why would it burn about 1/4 of the disc?

@actionsnapshots: have you tried going through the burn in simulation mode?

Don't keep burning at 1x if possible because I don't think it's necessary and you could be there for hours. I'd also suggest buying a couple of DVD +/- RW discs for testing.

Someone else had the same issue using Toast 6:

http://www.macosx.com/content/faq.ph...isk-Error.html

Try burning in disk utility to see if that works and also as a disk image lke groovy said.