Hep: DVD-R trouble

[revmutt]

First let me apologize if any terms are misused. I am really an audio guy and generally use DVDs as data back up but have burned a few hundred movies and live shows over thwe last couple of years with no problems.

A few months ago I bought one or two spindles of TDK 1-16x 4.7GB disks. The numbers on the disks read: CMDR47G-CTMW01-104 3115

I burned a number of videos, something I have done many times, with Toast 6. The disks all verfide and each one was either watched in full at some point or at the very least tested by scrolling through the chapters on a second computer and a DVD player.

After a number of lazy months where I had left recorded disks on a spindle I went to play one -it didn't work. Infact over 100 don't work. All from the same batch, all recorded in the same manner.

Each disk was re-tested on 3 Mac OS machines (1 running OS 9), one Wintel machine and 3 DVD players. The disks are spit out quickly with no error message given. I am at a loss (to say the least)

I am not sure what additional information might be helpful. The disks were not exposed to extreme tempetures or lights. The drive has been tested with other media with no problem. I have tried to run a number of applications to try and mount the disks but the computers are rejecting them too fast for them to even be seen.

I have never had disks go bad, in fact I have not found any mention of such a large number going bad after being properly tested.

I would appreciate any advice on either trying to save some of the disks or any theories on what could have happened. I do have basic understanding for how this media works, so I am a little lost as to what could have happened.

Thanks for you time on this, I know it's a long note but I wanted to give as much info as I could.

TD

[setarip_old]

Hi!

1) If you've put adhesive labels on them, remove them (carefully)

2) Is there even the vaguest of possibilities that you've somehow now grabbed (for playing) a spindle of BLANK media by mistake?

3) Have you previously stored burned media on a spindle?

[revmutt]

Thanks for commenting.

>1) If you've put adhesive labels on them, remove them (carefully)

No labels.

>2) Is there even the vaguest of possibilities that you've somehow now grabbed (for playing) a spindle of BLANK media by mistake?

Nope. I wish.

>3) Have you previously stored burned media on a spindle?

Nope. I suspect I wont again.

[setarip_old]

You might want to try using the excellent (freeware) DVD recovery tool "ISOPuzzle" and, if that doesn't work, try "ISOBuster"...

[ShaneZ]

I have had similar problems with some Memorex DVDs. I've had spindles of 100 produce nothing more than frisbee's for the most part. I guess it just depends on which media they rebranded. I know it does little to nothing to solve your problem, but atleast you know you are not alone. If that is some small comfort.

I try to stick with Imation DVD's since most of them I have ran across are just rebranded Ritek G09's I believe (my memory is not the best) and I have rarely had any problems with them.

[revmutt]

You might want to try using the excellent (freeware) DVD recovery tool "ISOPuzzle" and, if that doesn't work, try "ISOBuster"...

Thanks.

I will have to see how my wife feels about installing these on her PC.
My side of the house is stricktly Mac.

[revmutt]

I have had similar problems with some Memorex DVDs. I've had spindles of 100 produce nothing more than frisbee's for the most part. I guess it just depends on which media they rebranded. I know it does little to nothing to solve your problem, but atleast you know you are not alone. If that is some small comfort.


In the case(s) where you had the disks go bad, did they test okay and play or were they coasters right off?

What freaks me out is them going bad long after testing fine.

[ShaneZ]

I apologize, I misread your original post. I have had discs go bad over time which is why I now keep an ISO image of all my backups.

I don't know exactly what causes it. I've had them go bad and the only thing they did was sit in a dvd case since it was originally burned and tested. Sorry I wasn't much help.

:(

[mc2man]

The disks are spit out quickly with no error message given
A couple of years ago i did some testing of disks to see to what extent they could be abused/degraded before they were no longer readable or playable and finally not seen by drives. The amount of damage needed followed the above order. Pretty much the only 2 conditions that made disc's not seen or rejected were an outright
crack or damage to the inner unburned section. I would look very closely at the inner ring area for hairline crack(s) or delamination

[revmutt]

A couple of years ago i did some testing of disks to see to what extent they could be abused/degraded before they were no longer readable or playable and finally not seen by drives. The amount of damage needed followed the above order. Pretty much the only 2 conditions that made disc's not seen or rejected were an outright
crack or damage to the inner unburned section. I would look very closely at the inner ring area for hairline crack(s) or delamination

Interesting. I did experiments with CDs & CD-Rs a number of years ago.

I looked at the disks and there was no visable damage or unusual signs. Aside from the disks being stored on a spindle, they were never abused or in any othe way mishandled.

[setarip_old]

Aside from the disks being stored on a spindle, they were never abused or in any othe way mishandled.And yet you now again stored burned media on a spindle?

[revmutt]

And yet you now again stored burned media on a spindle?

I had never stored disks on the spindle and got lazy because I was in the middle of a move. It was something I shouldn't have done but not a lesson I need to learn again.

The disks from this batch which still work are clearly dying. They take a long time to be read. These were stored normally in cases.

Obviously the batch is bad.

[setarip_old]

After a number of lazy months where I had left recorded disks on a spindle I went to play one -it didn't work. Infact over 100 don't work. All from the same batch, all recorded in the same manner.Interesting. I did experiments with CDs & CD-Rs a number of years ago. I looked at the disks and there was no visable damage or unusual signs. Aside from the disks being stored on a spindle, they were never abused or in any othe way mishandled.The disks from this batch which still work are clearly dying. They take a long time to be read. These were stored normally in cases.Since it's apparent that I'm not following what you're saying you did or didn't do, I'll drop out of this thread - and just ask that you post back here with the results of your efforts with ISOPuzzle and/or ISO Buster ;>}

[Doobie]

I store disks on the spindle with no problem.

If all those disks were verified as good and now they won't even start, either they were defective or they have been damaged. Something weird could have damaged them, like the last DVD drive they were tested on, when they still worked. Maybe a drop of soda rolled down the spindle, messing up each of the disks. Try cleaning the disks.

If the clear protective layer is defective, which would affect the whole batch, oxidation would have quickly damaged the disks. A low-quality DVD-R could fail soon, even if not defective. DVD is such a fragile media, and that goes double for home-burned disks.

There ought to be some program which can attempt to read the DVD, in spite of whatever error condition.

[FishTank]

i dont trust dvds, period.
i still use cd's wherever i can!

burnt a dvd, watched it 3 times. one year later, the dvd was dead.
stored in a case, in a closet and its just dead. out of 2000 cd's i
had 5 go bad the same way. out of 30 dvds, 2 are bad. you do the math :/

[Doobie]

i dont trust dvds, period.

Millions of people are taking home movies and pictures and putting them on DVDs. When the children grow up and want to look at the pictures mom took, there won't be anything on the disks, no matter how carefully the disks were stored.

The industry needs to work on some serious long-term storage solutions. I don't need bigger capacity disks. I want more reliable storage.

[CWR03]

Millions of people are taking home movies and pictures and putting them on DVDs. When the children grow up and want to look at the pictures mom took, there won't be anything on the disks, no matter how carefully the disks were stored.
The sad thing is, people are doing this with old home movies on film, and they throw away the film thinking the DVD is permanent. No one that doesn't read forums like this one knows they're unstable.

[setarip_old]

I've thusfar seen no deterioration on any of my burned DVDs, going back to those burned in 2002 on a SONY 500A...

[foxyshadis]

I wonder if any of this has to do with laser alignment issues. A burn with a badly aligned laser (or other mechanism) can be perfectly readable on the original and not readable at all on any other drive.

[setarip_old]

As far as I know, such misalignments result in unsuccessful burns - that won't playback on any player/burner, including the burner that was used to create them. (Typically, it never gets to the leadout during the burn and is, therefore, never finalized)...

[MetalheadGautham]

I have noticed that some players cause the DVDs to get damaged quickly. Some have overspeeding, which some discs don't support.

a dusty DVD player(weather its your comp or your standalone) also causes scratches.

in some dvd players, when you don't place your DVDs properly, they are automatically dragged to the right position. this is also a propable cause.

anyway, as you are a collector of such discs, I recommend you use a new portable hard disk for storing these, and keep it in a safe place. Use the discs as you like, but iso coppy files from the P-HDD to the comp and burn them again if your discs get lost or corrupted.

With HDD costs falling, you should have no problems with them.

:search: and try to get over it if there is no way you can use those discs again.

[revmutt]

Since it's apparent that I'm not following what you're saying you did or didn't do, I'll drop out of this thread - and just ask that you post back here with the results of your efforts with ISOPuzzle and/or ISO Buster ;>}

I'm sorry if I was not clear.
It's pretty straight forward.

1. Over a period of time I burned a lot of disks from a batch that is now seemly faulty.

2. All disks were burned with Toast 6 on a Macintosh and tested at the time of burning.

3. In returning to some disks that had been stored on a spindle (with a cover) I discovered that most would not longer read.

4. All disks were tested on 3 Macs, my wife's PC and 3 DVD players. Nothing was able to be played. All disks rejected.

5. After posting here I tested some of the disks that still worked using DVD Media Inspector. They came back as "4th class media" according to this site: http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm

6. At present I have a handful of disks from this batch that read, some very slowly. I will copy those that I can. I have inspected the disks for any clear signs of damage or decay, there is none.