dbminter

I've never disassembled an optical drive, so I've never seen inside one. I've handled many internal half height drives, just never seen their innards.

No. Depending on where you get it or how old the version is, it can be flagged as a virus or a potentially unwanted application. Unless you get the download from the ImgBurn repository itself, those other places offering it often put it in a wrapper with other software. That software can be benign, just installing other applications you don't want or can be potentially harmful. Most of that latter is unintentionally put there but can be present. Get the download from the official ImgBurn.com link for the "best" results: https://download.imgburn.com/SetupImgBurn_2.5.8.0.exe

I was not aware of this screw hack.

It's always possible.

Well, you said one side was a CD according to ImgBurn and that the other side was 33.3 GB in size as returned by ImgBurn. Only BD-R 33.3 GB layers or BD-R DL/TL/XL could return a size of 33.3 GB IF ImgBurn is returning correct values. Since you're able to get some kind of format data from both sides, it's a flipper.

I can't attest to their CD-R quality as I've never used it to my memory, but I have personal experience with their DVD-R, which is junk. Unreadable after less than a year.

Yes, but my point was you don't have a label side. So, I'm wondering if it's not a PRR-C74 because that supposedly has only 1 data side and a branded label on the other side. Plus, I find it difficult to fathom anyone, especially Princo, a bottom of the barrel manufacturer, would make a CD flipper with a CD-R layer on one side and a 33.3 GB BD-R layer on the other. I've never heard of anyone, let alone Princo, making a CD-R with a BD-R layer on the other side.

Nothing I could find, which was very little, indicates the PRR-C74 is a flipper. The PRR-C74 has this label surface on it: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~conflict/imagecdrn/princo_l.jpg But, you say you have two data "readable" layers? That indicates it's a flipper.

Rewritable media have a different reflectivity on the data surface than WORM media. So, it's not unheard of for a CD-R to be readable but not a CD-RW. For instance, my 1997 Playstation would play Audio CD's burned to CD-R's from TDK and Verbatim, but would not read any CD-RW's I threw at it around 2005.

Well, I hate to come across as pedantic but it's not a data track the CD player looks for. Data tracks only apply to CD's on PC's. Audio CD is its very own unique beast that a standalone CD player reads. Now, that does actually beg a question. Is this CD-RW you're attempting to play on the standalone CD player an Audio CD disc or a Mixed Mode disc with audio tracks and a data track or tracks on it? If it's Mixed Mode, the CD player may not read it because it can't differentiate between the tracks. If it is Mixed Mode, try writing an Audio CD to the CD-RW and see if your standalone CD player will play the CD-RW as an Audio CD. Also, do you happen to know how old your standalone CD player is?

Could be a few things. Though I generally don't trust anything AI says or does, ChatGPT's initial overview could be correct. The CD-RW may be newer enough over your older CD player that the player's laser can't read through the reflective laser. It's also possible the CD player doesn't support playback of CD-RW at all. CD-RW is not something generally universally supported even on modern players. It's also possible that CD player may support CD-RW but just doesn't like that particular brand/manufacturer of CD-RW.

I had wondered why BD-R SL's didn't migrate to using 33.3 GB layers, since they did exist in BD-R TL discs.

The good news that's not "sparking" but I figured you probably were aware of that. That sounds more like the laser having difficulty switching between the layers. Actually, another possibility is it's not a BD-R/RE DL layer on the other side. It could be one of those single layer 33.3 GB BD layers. Triple layer BD's use layers that are 33.3 GB each. (So, yes, technically 100 GB TL discs are not 100 GB but 99.9 GB.)

34 GB is a double layer Blu-Ray or HD DVD. The fact that Windows asks if you want to format it as a giant floppy (Packet writing.) indicates it's a BD-R DL or BD-RE DL layer. A BD drive wouldn't be able to read anything from an HD DVD layer. However, it is practically unheard of to create CD-R flippers with a CD-R on one side and a BD-R/RE DL on the other.

If you've got a CD with a branded surface, like those CD-RW's in your other post, you could try putting one of those in your drive with the label side down and see how ImgBurn behaves. See what it returns. See if it returns a Logical Unit Not Ready - Cause Not Reportable error. (I've never seen that 2nd part before.)