CDR will read, but not write

I

idyllhands

New Member
My DVD R drive will read a CDs on boot, but will not write CDs. I was able to boot off of a Linux Live CD, but when I boot windows, it will not write. I am trying to write a cd with windows built in writing features, but it keeps saying there is no blank disk in the drive, but I have tried 5 different blanks. It seems to play audio cds fine..is this a problem with windows writer, or with my drive?
Any advice on this issue?
 
Last edited:
Some drives are fussy! On a brand new as well as seen with a dvd burner in an older build none of the 50 blank dvd-rs would be recognised. Yet that burns dvds or cd-rs without a hitch. I never use any Windows writers however. What type of disks are you trying to burn? data or vcd?
 
PC eye said:
Some drives are fussy! On a brand new as well as seen with a dvd burner in an older build none of the 50 blank dvd-rs would be recognised. Yet that burns dvds or cd-rs without a hitch. I never use any Windows writers however. What type of disks are you trying to burn? data or vcd?
Click to expand...

I'm trying to write data
I tried using windows, and I tried using StarBurn, neither of which worked. I tried writing to a cd and to a dvd.
 
One free version of a retail burning program used here for data disks(dvds, cd-rs) as well as burning Linux iso images for live distros and the GParted live drive partitioning tool is called BurnOn found at http://www.burnworld.com/burnoncddvd/

Another popular program besides going retail for something like Nero or Roxio's Easy Media Creator is Deep Burner at http://www.deepburner.com/

The problem being seen there may be a lack of recognition for some things with that particular make and model optical drive. Some of the freewares only seem to work the best with particular brands of drives. The Windows tools are a bit limited as well.
 
sorry for the cross post here, but I was just wondering and got no response at my other post...if i extract the ubuntu ISO file, can I just copy it to a USB drive and boot off that?
my bios allows for several USB booting options: ZIP, HDD, and one other one. Would the HDD be the pen drive?

Thanks for the advice again PC Eye
 
When an iso image is burned to a disk all of the files are then unpacked and available for ready access when browsing the disk. That would be an idea there to see if you can see a bootable drive made if you don't end needing to copy the iso itself onto it. How large is the flash drive being used?
 
Advice... get a new DVD Drive. It maybe the fact that yours is a defect or its just simply too old. Mine did that once, had to throw it away since it didnt really read any DVD's at all except the real ones you buy off the store, anything burned it cannot be read. So that maybe the problem.
 
On the current build seeing a sata dvd burner and the last with an ide model none of the 50 dvd-rws can be used while I can throw in any brand dvd-rs. I'm ready to simply toss the blanks and try another brand there. Same could apply with the drive there.
 
First, if your using windows XP make sure you are trying to write to a cd and not a dvd with the default writer. XP knows how to write to cd's natively but not Dvd's, hence the need for another program for dvd's.

If it is a cd.

1) Open up My Computer
2) Right click the drive you are trying to use
3) Click on properties
4) Click on the Recording tab
5) Make sure "Enable CD recording on this drive" is clicked.


If its not clicked it won't let you write to the disk. Click it and it should let you write.

This may not be your issue, but I've seen drives get disabled for no apparent reason. Usually this tends to be the issue.
 
In both XP and Vista alike the dvd burner is set as the default recording drive but still won't recognise dvd-rws for some reason. But since the same was seen on the last build I suspect a bad lot of blanks.

There you can check the settings like Nightrain mentioned and try using a different program for burning to see that's where the problem is. On the other question of seeing ubuntu go onto a flash drive I have some good news for you there. http://lifehacker.com/software/ubuntu/how-to-install-ubuntu-linux-on-a-flash-drive-245087.php
 
PC eye said:
In both XP and Vista alike the dvd burner is set as the default recording drive but still won't recognise dvd-rws for some reason. But since the same was seen on the last build I suspect a bad lot of blanks.

There you can check the settings like Nightrain mentioned and try using a different program for burning to see that's where the problem is. On the other question of seeing ubuntu go onto a flash drive I have some good news for you there. http://lifehacker.com/software/ubuntu/how-to-install-ubuntu-linux-on-a-flash-drive-245087.php
Click to expand...

Nice! thanks for the links PCEye. I will check the CDR settings when I get home too, the drive is a few years old, but hardly used at all..
 
I have one old cd writer that would work like a champ just lying around. The problem the drive casing is a bit longer on that then commonly seen on all newer models since. The case I used it in saw it installed in the top bay to avoid touching the board! But the drive after all this time is still working when tested.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top