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Old 09-19-2004, 07:41 PM
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Default DVD burner - death knell?

I got a single-layer DVD burner this spring for backups and the like. Lately, it's begun doing things like this:
Code:
# growisofs -M /dev/cdrom mystuff.zip

Executing 'mkisofs -C 958032,1149056 -M /dev/fd/3 mystuff.zip | builtin_dd of=/dev/cdrom obs=32k seek=71816'
NO Rock Ridge present
Disabling Rock Ridge / XA / AA
Warning: Neither Rock Ridge (-R) nor TRANS.TBL (-T)
name translations were found on previous session.
ISO (8.3) file names have been used instead.
/dev/cdrom: "Current Write Speed" is 2.0x1385KBps.
 61.75% done, estimate finish Sun Sep 19 12:17:08 2004
 62.02% done, estimate finish Sun Sep 19 12:17:26 2004
...
...
 99.33% done, estimate finish Sun Sep 19 12:25:58 2004
 99.60% done, estimate finish Sun Sep 19 12:26:00 2004
 99.87% done, estimate finish Sun Sep 19 12:26:02 2004
Total translation table size: 0
Total rockridge attributes bytes: 0
Total directory bytes: 0
Path table size(bytes): 10
Max brk space used 0
1862439 extents written (3637 MB)
builtin_dd: 713392*2KB out @ average 1.9x1385KBps
/dev/cdrom: flushing cache
/dev/cdrom: updating RMA
:-[ CLOSE TRACK failed with SK=3h/ASC=57h/ACQ=00h]: Input/output error
/dev/cdrom: closing session
:-[ CLOSE SESSION failed with SK=3h/ASC=57h/ACQ=00h]: Input/output error
Fortunately, whenever this happens, the DVD-R is not left damaged; I can still read the previous sessions so I copy them back to hard drive alongside the new data then burn the whole mess onto a new DVD-R.

Problem is, it didn't use to pull tricks like this. It always fails at the end, when closing sessions. I once burned a DVD-R with 16 continuous sessions on it until I finally messed up by forgetting to add rock-ridge to a rock-ridge system. Is my burner dying, or is my media starting to fail?
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Old 09-19-2004, 07:53 PM
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Default Re: DVD burner - death knell?

"NO Rock Ridge present"

That's obviously because someone did a 'Number Eight' on it.

:rimshot:
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Old 09-19-2004, 08:38 PM
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Default Re: DVD burner - death knell?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Corona688
Is my burner dying, or is my media starting to fail?
Maybe and perhaps. :D

Have you tried using a CD cleaner in it lately? One of those discs with the ring of tiny brushes attached.
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Old 09-19-2004, 08:42 PM
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Default Re: DVD burner - death knell?

I'm not an expert in DVD burning (yet), but this has the smell of the early days of CD burning all over it. It's a black art, hardware firmware and software all have to be in line and it's dependent on processor, bus, interfaces, yada and yada. I had endless troubles with my first external CDRW writer and none at all with my latest. However, I don't expect you want to wait a year or so until the technology matures some more.

Quote:
Is my burner dying, or is my media starting to fail?
Wait, are you using the same media over and over? You didn't mention RW anywhere. If you are, bin it after a limited number of reuses. If you mean is your manufacturer going bad, you may have something. The only thing you can do is try other brands until you're happy. I stick to Verbatim for CDR/CDRW, but I don't have enough experience of DVD*.

It could be your burner, and that's hard to prove ... 'cept by buying another. First check has anything else changed in your system - extra devices, drivers, stuff like that?
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Old 09-19-2004, 09:45 PM
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Default Re: DVD burner - death knell?

Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeP
I'm not an expert in DVD burning (yet), but this has the smell of the early days of CD burning all over it. It's a black art, hardware firmware and software all have to be in line and it's dependent on processor, bus, interfaces, yada and yada. I had endless troubles with my first external CDRW writer and none at all with my latest. However, I don't expect you want to wait a year or so until the technology matures some more.
That's just it. These kind of problems are recent. Until now I've had no problems that weren't somewhere in the chair-keyboard interface.
Quote:
Wait, are you using the same media over and over?
Yes, in a way. I'm still on my first big spindle of Maxell DVD-R's. In general, what I'm burning onto DVD-R's is far smaller than it's maximum capacity, so I burn multiple sessions onto them, adding new files with each session. I keep the filenames unique. I managed to pile up 16+ sessions onto a DVD-R once, but in general I try to keep it between 1-10 sessions. Not the same thing as rewriting.

Now it seems to have started failing after one or two sessions; never in the middle though, always during finalizing. I wish I knew why.
Quote:
It could be your burner, and that's hard to prove ... 'cept by buying another. First check has anything else changed in your system - extra devices, drivers, stuff like that?
Nope. My system's hardware has been left unaltered since January except for a new videocard, and everything's been so stable I haven't needed to touch most of the base system.
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Old 09-19-2004, 10:03 PM
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Default Re: DVD burner - death knell?

In that case I have no other ideas. I'll have to tell you an irrelevant story about CD burning.

Take an old CD, preferably a pressed one like Cisco, Microsoft, or one of the ones from magazine covers (I haven't tried this with writeable CDs; they may not be conductive enough).

Place CD in microwave.

Set timer to ONE SECOND. Microwave on full power.

You get (lots of blue sparks and) a pretty crinkled effect in the metal layer. I'm using one as a coaster.

Some people issue dire warnings about the possible health effects of burnt polycarbonate, but I'm fine...
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Old 09-19-2004, 10:50 PM
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Default Re: DVD burner - death knell?

Hehe. Joe you crack me up. Corona I wish I could help but I have nothing to add. Except that I really like the combination of your new avatar with your title. :yup:
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  #8  
Old 09-20-2004, 12:01 AM
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Default Re: DVD burner - death knell?

I have used up a few CD burners, and they start to generate errors over time, then finally just can't burn anymore.

Do you keep your DVD-R's encased (in their original container?) with the plastic dohicky over the top of them?

You might check for dust accumulation on the DVD-R's, and blow out the dust in your drive, just to check for that. You can use one of those simple CD cleaners too, although I have yet to use one in a DVD drive (I have pulled them apart and cleaned the laser manually though, which did bring a CD drive alive once).

Check that your cables haven't come loose on the drive. Even if you haven't moved the machine, I have found that sometimes they can come loose over time just by gravity. Also, it could be a bad cable, I have had a few of those cause problems, you might try replacing it just to be safe.

Also, one last try, get the really expensive DVD-R's and see if the error goes away, just in case part of batch of DVD-R's you have are bad.

Take it back if the drive is bad, that seems a short time to have it fail, you might have a year warranty on it.

-Scott
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Old 09-26-2004, 09:12 PM
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Default Follow-up

Today, I had a disc fail so badly that trying to read it would lock my machine. Since it had about a week's worth of backups on it, I brought it to the windows machine downstairs to run isodoctor on it. (anyone know a linux equivalent?)

The first session it could read OK, but the second and third sessions were shot through with bad sectors. I took out the disc to clean it again, and in the different light downstairs I could see patterns in the burned media - faint holographic lines and whorls corresponding with the black silkscreening on top. That ain't right. It also explains why the discs would die after adding one or two sessions - only once I burned more than 30% of the disc or so would I start getting into the silkscreened areas. It even explains why I've been having more problems recently - I've been backing up more things, hence burning much bigger sessions, hence getting out of the safe 30% faster.

Thinking back, I'd had this problem once before with Maxell audio CD media. They must use some funny different silkscreening process, I've never had it happen with Memorex or what have you. I've gotten rid of my blank Maxells, and am copying all my old Maxell DVD-R's to Fujitsu ones. With luck, problem solved.
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Old 09-26-2004, 10:14 PM
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Default Re: Follow-up

I'm having deja vu with Maxell audio tapes in the '80s. Or an overactive imagination.

Hope the change of brand fixes it.
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  #11  
Old 09-27-2004, 03:17 AM
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Default Re: DVD burner - death knell?

These Sony DVD-R's are just SO much better. Speed jumped from 2x to 4x. I didn't realize I wasn't burning at full speed.
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Old 09-27-2004, 03:40 AM
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Default Re: DVD burner - death knell?

Good you found the problem, I have had to junk CD-R's for the same reason (not the DVD-R's, but I usually got branded disks).

-Scott
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Old 09-27-2004, 02:52 PM
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Default Re: Follow-up

Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeP
... Maxell audio tapes in the '80s.
This may be the first computer thread where something in it was actually understandable to me.
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Old 09-27-2004, 04:06 PM
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Default Re: Follow-up

Quote:
Originally Posted by D. Scarlatti
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeP
... Maxell audio tapes in the '80s.
This may be the first computer thread where something in it was actually understandable to me.
Funnily enough ... In the 80s I saved computer data to tape. I had a Casio programmable calculator (no HP nonsense for me thankyouverymuch) which had a cradle that could save data to audio tapes, and a ... what was it now ... an Acorn Atom PC (6502 microprocessor, BASIC in ROM) that did the same. No disk, hard or floppy. 300 bits per second. (I assume your understanding has now stopped :wink: )
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Old 09-27-2004, 11:36 PM
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Default Re: DVD burner - death knell?

I spoke too soon. The new media works OK for one session and one session only - trying to add another is guaranteed to produce a coaster, taking all the data on the disc with it. It's beginning to flake out on reading CDs, too - discs that read fine yesterday have started to give 'invalid superblock or wrong filesystem type' errors. I'll undertake a last-ditch effort to clean the drive, and if that does not help, I might have to see if it's been to long to exchange the drive for a non-faulty one.

[edit] After a good cleaning, it's working much better. Damn this place is dusty. I still can't burn at 4x, but I can live with that.

Last edited by Corona688; 09-28-2004 at 06:20 AM.
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