Posted by Terry Pinnell on 12/24/35 11:28

Frank <frank@nojunkmail.humanvalues.net> wrote:

>On Wed, 05 Oct 2005 09:59:25 +1300, in 'rec.video.desktop',
>in article <Re: Cannot erase DVD-RW>,
>Bruce Tyler <top@bottom.au> wrote:
>
>>On Sun, 02 Oct 2005 19:06:44 +0100, Terry Pinnell
>><terrypin@dial.pipex.com> wrote:
>>
>>>I have a DVD-RW on which there was a playable DVD I'd recorded. Today
>>>I tried to re-use it but cannot erase the existing contents. Using
>>>Nero Express I get just the unhelpful message 'Write Error'.
>>>
>>>How can I proceed please?
>>>
>>>Happy to provide any other details that might help isolate the
>>>problem.
>>
>>Had similar problem with DvD+RW...
>>
>>I was writing to a +RW disc in this very laptop when I got a write
>>error. The DvD simply did not finsh writing and I ejected it. I put
>>the disc back in and it gave an error upon loading so I put it aside
>>and tried another. The same thing happened. At first I thought it was
>>Nero 6613 (I was using at the time - and still do) which was at
>>fault. I quit the program and left it until I got home and tried the
>>same thing on my desktop PC, using the same version of Nero. This time
>>it worked, BUT , I had used another, previously unused +RW and all
>>worked perfectly. I then put in one of the failed write discs and it
>>failed to write again. Now this had me scratching my head. Both of the
>>failed write discs, failed to load. They also failed to format in
>>Nero. I tried a handful of other programs to format but all failed,
>>giving write error and a host of other "failure" messages. I put these
>>+RW's aside and tried another on the laptop. Now I had three stuffed
>>+RW's...
>>
>>Hmmmmm...!!!
>>
>>About 3 weeks later ( a month ago) I bought a Sony RDR-HX910 DvD
>>recorder and I decided to try one of these +RW's. If that failed I was
>>going to throw them out. I inserted and up came the message "Unkown
>>Disc" so I formatted it manually. It appeared to work. Ahah... I then
>>recorded a movie to one of them and yes, it copied. I then took it out
>>and put in into my PC DvD drive and tried to play the movie. It failed
>>to see any movie. I then put it into my Panasonic DvD player and it
>>gave disc load failure. I then put it back into the Sony HX910 and
>>tried to play it and it too gave a failure...
>>
>>Those 3 +RW's are now in the rubbish bin....
>>
>>BUT... What caused the original failure... It was on" this" laptop.
>>The DvD burner burner has failed. It does not work any more. The
>>yellow burn LED is always on and it wont read or write any DvD or CD,
>>so it is knackered....
>>
>>I have bought hundreds of RW's, both +RW and -RW and many +/-R's too
>>and one or two which fall by the wayside are not going to bother me,
>>so any failures will get tossed out straight away...
>
>
>I hope that Terry reads this, because it may just be what's happening
>to him, although I'd still like to see the results of an IsoBuster
>Surface Scan.

Yes, still reading every reply I get studiously thanks Frank!

I only got around to doing the first surface scan this morning (it's
lunchtime here now) as I was unsure which of my 10 DVD-RW discs would
be the best initial candidate. I chose #9, which was unplayable on
both lounge DVD player and PC with PowerDVD. Nero Info says "Open. Not
finalized." At the end of the (long) scan I got this:
---------
[DVD-RW:RITEK000V11A]

Number of errors encountered on the disc : 2297888

This is a packet written disc. Errors are not abnormal on this disc.
To see if files are affected, look for the 'error' icon next to files
or :
Select a File System of your choice and select :

List files with read errors (in Edit Window)
---------

I don't see how to do implement that last instruction? Can't see an
'Edit' window anywhere... (Mind you, not sure 2.3M errors would make
pleasant reading!) The IsoBuster Help says
"The list with erroneous files can always be recreated without the
necessity to redo the scan. Just select the File System icon and
create the list via 'Directory tree and file information' "
But how do I reach that? All I see in the left pane (when expanded)
is:
DVD-RW
Open Session 1
Track 01
So where is 'Directory tree and file information' please?
Anyway, is that huge number of errors the likely cause of my problems
with that *particular* disc? Does this tell me anything about *how*
these errors got onto the disc? Of course, I wasn't being as
methodical 2 days ago as I'm trying to be now, but I *think* all I did
on it was use Nero Express to 'Erase disc'.

Although it ties up the drive for so long, maybe I should now do
another surface scan with a 'good' identical disc?

>I would also suggest to Terry that he disable any active anti-virus
>software that may be running in the background on his system, at least
>when he's burning DVDs. He can always re-enable it when he's done
>burning. This is in addition to the recommendation that I made
>previously with regard to disabling of InCD at system startup,
>assuming that he's not doing any packet writing.

Thanks, have now done both those before further tests.

>I'm also, based upon his latest posts, wondering whether he's burning
>his DVD-RW discs in DVD-ROM (data) format or DVD-Video format.

This is a murky area for me, so please bear with me! I've been doing
*both*, and perhaps that's causing or at least contributing to my
problems? Basically, I've been repeating operations from a very
limited repertoire:

1. In Nero Express: Erase disc.
That doesn't ask me what is on the disc, what I want to do with it, or
anything else. I'm assuming it should simply do what it says on the
can: ERASE everything, so that I have an empty, spanking new DVD-RW to
work on?

2. In Nero Express: Burn a single data file.
This was chosen for maximum speed and simplicity

3. In my DVD 'authoring' program, MemoriesOnTV: Either create a video
and store it on HD (VOB etc), or do that and also burn it to DVD.
That was the source of the content on most of the DVD-RWs I tried to
Erase. In fact, on first trying to burn from MoT onto an existing
video, there is always a message asking if I want to erase the disc
first. Every time I did so on those I tried, it failed and aborted.
That's why I turned to Nero Express to erase - and that failed too.
One other complication I'll mention in case it's relevant is that Mot
offers an option on burning to 'Use Nero Drivers'. I'm unable to be
sure for all discs which did use that. I can say that the last couple
I did for tests (just making a 'movie' from a single JPG) were with
the proprietary MoT drivers.

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

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