Dying drive or bad blanks?

The VCR King

The VCR King

Well-Known Member
Something ain't right... I am trying to burn some mix CD's for my CD changer and I burned five coasters before I burned a good disc. Is my drive dying?
 
Have you tried slowing down the burn speed? What brand of disks are you using? How are you burning them?
 
First thing to do is to try a slower burn speed. The slower the burn, the more likely it is to succeed.

Can you try another brand of disks or maybe another burn these disks in another drive? 5 coasters sounds like a lot.
 
spirit said:
First thing to do is to try a slower burn speed. The slower the burn, the more likely it is to succeed.

Can you try another brand of disks or maybe another burn these disks in another drive? 5 coasters sounds like a lot.
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I slowed down the burn speed to 32X and the problem seems to be fixed. I have a Memorex USB CD drive that I have and it'll burn at 52X or even 60X with no problems.

beers said:
How old is the drive?
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I don't know. There isn't a sticker on it but I'm pretty sure it's original to the PC, so assume it's from 2010.

Looks like this:
samsung_sh_b123_2.jpg
 
For the time being just burn at 32x then unless you want to use your Memorex drive. At least you have that option and can still burn, if a little slower than what you've been used to. Drive isn't completely dead or discs aren't bad then.
 
spirit said:
For the time being just burn at 32x then unless you want to use your Memorex drive. At least you have that option and can still burn, if a little slower than what you've been used to. Drive isn't completely dead or discs aren't bad then.
Click to expand...
I might get an IDE to SATA converter and remove the Memorex from it's enclosure I got it in and put it into the rig later.
 
The VCR King said:
I might get an IDE to SATA converter and remove the Memorex from it's enclosure I got it in and put it into the rig later.
Click to expand...
OK sounds like an alright idea. Is it a 5.25" drive?

DVD-RW drives are so cheap these days that if it's a little more expensive to just buy a new SATA drive I'd honestly do that. You could get an OEM one really cheaply, doesn't even need to be branded really.
 
The VCR King said:
I might get an IDE to SATA converter and remove the Memorex from it's enclosure I got it in and put it into the rig later.
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As per spriit, it's probably the same cost to just get an internal SATA drive. Microcenter has a few for like $15.

Then you also get a NEW drive instead of screwing around with old IDE garbage on a drive that has a limited lifespan to it.
 
beers said:
As per spriit, it's probably the same cost to just get an internal SATA drive. Microcenter has a few for like $15.

Then you also get a NEW drive instead of screwing around with old IDE garbage on a drive that has a limited lifespan to it.
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This memorex drive has been working since 1999 and I know It's burned over 2500 discs in its lifetime since i've had it. I might just get a SATA one like you said tho but I use my Memorex just for burning now as it can only read and write CDs
 
Trouble is that sometimes these SATA to IDE data adapters don't work too great. I've not had much luck with them.
 
spirit said:
Trouble is that sometimes these SATA to IDE data adapters don't work too great.
Click to expand...

Yeah you'd probably be better off with a more 'native' IDE PCIE card instead which tend to be slightly better.
The VCR King said:
it can only read and write CDs
Click to expand...

Sounds like a limitation you would no longer be subjected to if you went new.
http://www.microcenter.com/product/444260/SH-224FB-BSBE_24x_SATA_Internal_DVD_Burner_-_OEM

The VCR King said:
Looks like this:
Click to expand...

Lies, yours doesn't have a blu-ray sticker on it. ;) Also, pretty much every internal optical drive looks extremely similar.
 
beers said:
Yeah you'd probably be better off with a more 'native' IDE PCIE card instead which tend to be slightly better.


Sounds like a limitation you would no longer be subjected to if you went new.
http://www.microcenter.com/product/444260/SH-224FB-BSBE_24x_SATA_Internal_DVD_Burner_-_OEM



Lies, yours doesn't have a blu-ray sticker on it. ;) Also, pretty much every internal optical drive looks extremely similar.
Click to expand...
My drive has a Blu-Ray sticker on it and it will read Blu-Ray discs as I finally figured out how to got them to play in VLC. :D
 
Guys I figured it out. Bad blanks. I bought a used TDK CDRW4008B drive at a Goodwill for $5 and put it in my external enclosure. I burned one of my current blank CDs (from the only spindle I have, some verbatim printables) and it failed four times before it burned a good copy on the TDK, and my Samsung took five tries before it burned a good disc. I then bought a brand-new spindle of Memorex CD-Rs and both worked perfectly first try. So this whole time I had crap blanks.
 
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