LIGHTNING UK!

That isn't 'burning' and isn't something ImgBurn can do.

CD-TEXT isn't readable/writable in the same way that typical data ('user data') on the disc is read/written, maybe that's why the duplicated discs don't contain it? As you say, all you can do is burn a disc containing CD-TEXT info and give it to them. Either the duplicate copies have it or they don't. You can't do anything about the process they use for making the duplicates.

Correct

Why are you on this forum if you aren't even using ImgBurn?

I'm afraid you still have the wrong discs. You need the decent verbatim ones that use the MKM-003-00 dye, not the CMC one you've got there.

If you're getting a virus warning about ImgBurn.exe, you need to add it as an exception to your av program. It's been out long enough now that av definitions shouldn't be giving a false positive on it.

The layout mismatch will be due to your drive being unable to produce a decent burn on them.

There's no 'express' install for ImgBurn. The installer page you were looking at when you saw that was an opencandy one offering you a 3rd party piece of software.

The modified start screen will just be that someone modified the content of the disc to show that... nothing to worry about. Monochrome... that sounds like a PAL/NTSC type issue. Trying to think back many years, I recall my NTSC discs doing that (on a PAL machine and old CRT TV) until I got a different cable (probably a SCART one). The Miscompares may or may not be a problem. If the game checks for the 'wrong' L-EC data (as found in the file) and your drive has corrected it (now burnt to disc), the game may know it's not on an original disc. This may be some form of copy protection.

Try and find a firmware update for your drive?

I'm not sure I like the idea of using a disc that the burner itself cannot read, but maybe that's something they'll fix in the next firmware release - if one ever comes out. You should really avoid using LTH discs if possible. They aren't as good / reliable as the HTL ones.

Before panicking, you should probably go and read the OpenCandy website. http://www.opencandy.com/ Yes, the ImgBurn installer uses the OpenCandy plug-in to display 3rd party product offerings as part of the installation process. There are loads of bits of software in the OpenCandy database so you could be offered different things each time you run the installer. If you don't want what it's offering, just opt-out of (or don't opt-in to, as the case may be) installing them.

Buy some decent discs - verbatim / Taiyo Yuden.

Try the other supported write speeds and try some decent discs - verbatim / Taiyo Yuden.

No, that's just how the drive is designed to work I guess. A future firmware update may change that.

You wouldn't use it for that. Just copy your ISO files to the portable hdd using drag and drop in Explorer.

Which part is confusing you? How many choices do you have in the lLB selection window? Post a screenshot of it if possible please.

If you aren't going the 'slim' route, get an enclosure and put your own choice of BD drive in it. I'd go for a Pioneer.

I have no experience of those, just the two I mentioned in my post.

No idea, sorry.

Post the family tree info for that drive please. Right click the drive selection box when you're in Read mode and pick 'family tree'. Close the box that comes up and then copy + paste everything from the log box.

That's good. Now you're running it in the correct/current user context, drag and drop will work properly between Explorer and the app too (Windows would have been blocking it)

Going back to your initial question, I don't see why that would be the case. I know double discs are meant to be more 'readable' when both layers contain the same amount of data, but obviously that doesn't apply to single layer media. I'm no expert on the technical / scientific properties of media though, so if someone who has that level of knowledge tells you otherwise, take their word for it!

If you have the performance issue when SPTD is installed and running, yes, you need to disable/uninstall it to fix that problem. 'Elaborate Bytes / Slysoft Virtual CloneDrive' and 'DVDFab Virtual Drive' virtual drives both show us as 'SCSI' devices on my machine so perhaps they'd work if the DAEMON Tools non-SPTD one doesn't (that shows up as 'Virtual' on my machine).

A reinstall of ImgBurn or of your entire OS? Are they mapped to another PC or is it a NAS drive etc? If a PC, which OS is it running? You aren't forcing it to run as admin (elevated) or anything are you?