Recordable DVD standards

[Charlotte]

OK, I admit it - I'm foxed.

I have a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo M7400 laptop which has a DVD +RW drive in it and I'm trying to burn an .IMG file of software onto a DVD.  I've tried Nero and ImgBurn and neither will work.

Problem is, it will look like it's burning onto a DVD +RW, but when I load the newly "burned" disc back in, it comes up blank.

It flatly refuses to burn a DVD +R from a fresh pack that I've just bought.  Incompatible media or somesuch.

Am I using the wrong kind of DVDs?  I've burned DVD +RWs in the past okay, but now I can't seem to do it.  Fair enough - since I last burned any DVDs, I've reformatted the hard drive and re-installed Windows, but everything appears to be working fine.

Which DVDs should I be buying?  What's the difference between a DVD -R and a DVD +R?  I've searched for articles online and it's too bloody complicated!

[Really Ancien]

You could try cleaning the lens, it is an optical system after all. Other than that these things like what they like. Whether it will play on another machine once it's burned is another question. Maxell DVD-R have given fairly consistent results.

Damon.

[tiermat]

According to the spec I can find for that machine, the standard drive is a CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive, so it will write CDs but only read DVDs.

Has the drive been upgraded at some point?

TBH the difference between DVD +/- r/rw is irrelevent (it's all down to the spec of the laser and the substrate of the media) but basically if you habve a drive that only writes to + media, only use + media in it and vice versa.  If you try using - media in a + drive (writer or reader) it will say that no media is present.

HTH

[Charlotte]

Hmmm - that's odd; I've burned DVDs in the past on it.  Never upgraded.  Where did you find the specs, tiermat?

[tiermat]

Fujitsu Siemens AMILO M-7400 - Pentium M 1.6 GHz - 15" TFT : Read reviews and compare prices at Ciao.co.uk

Although it appears there may be a couple of versions of the M7400, one with cd+rw/DVD-rom and Pentium M 1.8G/Centrino and one with Pentium M 1.4G/Centrino that has a DVD+RW.

If you have managed it before (as mentioned) then it could be the blue laser failing (it takes more power to write than read, and more power to write DVDs than CDs so DVD writing is the first thing to fail).  Or as RA mentions it could be sh1te on the lens, laptop drives are very prone to this as the laser lens faces upwards.

[TimO]

I've had DVD writers just randomly start failing.  On my big expensive laptop (aka the HP mobile workstation) the drive initially started to have difficulties with reading some discs and then started to refuse to write discs.  To start with I suspected that the DVD discs had some new anti-copy protection scheme, but no other players or drives had any problems, and replacing the drive cured all issues.

In most laptops it's not too difficult or expensive to replace the drive, it's just a bit irritating.

[Charlotte]

On boot-up, mine says it's a 1.6G Centrino.  Weird.

Hmmm.  New laptop/thread needed, I think.

[Valiant]

Which brand discs are you using? I only use TDK ones now as they have had the least ammounts of errors. We use 10,000s of the buggers a week.

The differences between the formats is negligible but it seems it does make a difference. I stick to DVD-R as it was the first properly support dvd r format, and as such almost everything can read the discs. Whereas I always seem to have trouble with +R for some reason. That's on different drives/os/players etc.

Try reinstalling your DVD software and or related drivers and see if that sorts it.

[Charlotte]

They're Maxell 16x DVD +R disks.  Maybe I should clean the lens on the DVD drive, too.  How on earth do I do this?

[tiermat]

sandblaster?

Seriously the easiest way to clean a laptop cd drive lens is to:
1) open the drive (D'uh!)
2) find the lens (easy to do as it will be along a straight track cut out of the rest of the plastic, and looks like a tiny fish eye lens)
3) grab a cotton bud (preferably not one you have just used to clean your ears with)
4) rub lens with end of cotton bud.
5) if you think it needs a bit more, then lightly dmap the cotton bud with water and repeat, but you will need to leave the drive open for 15-20 minutes to dry after this before you try again.

HTH