dbminter

Is there any way you can and you're willing to recreate this issue and capture a screen shot of the error message window, if there is one?

I believe the Playstation 1 also couldn't read CD-RW and it was relatively at the same time as the Dreamcast.

That's something I didn't think of. On drives that don't auto cycle, ImgBurn will pop up a window saying to manually insert the tray. This window pops up relatively instantly after the tray is ejected. So, there shouldn't be any time for the user to reinsert the tray before the Verify starts.

Discs are finalized before Verifies. Otherwise, there is no data. But, if you're getting Verifies that won't start on this laptop but you take those discs to another computer and Verify starts, then the discs are finalized. As to the root issue posted about, I can't see what might cause that. Particularly why the disc won't be recognized even after restarting the laptop. I doubt it would help, but you could try changing the I/O Interface in the Settings and see if you get better results.

The only problematic thing I can see right off the bat may be this line: I 07:03:06 Destination Media Type: BD-R (Disc ID: OTCBDR-002-000) I've never heard of that Disc ID before, so it may be from a no name, cheap manufacturer. Depending on where you are in the world, try the VERBAT-IM discs made by Verbatim. I'd try that first and see if that helps.

I once did the empirical research. I kept track of how many rewrites I got out of a Ritek 8x DVD+RW disc. I got 20 to 30, actually, Even less than the optimistic 100, and I was being generous. Plus, a PC burner may continue writing to a disc even though it can't be properly read on a DVD player. The PC drive may still read and write to it, but, in terms of practical use on a DVD player, it may have reached the end of its life even though it may still be viable on a PC drive.

Well, about the DVD+RW DL thing, I was giving the benefit of the doubt to the OP. I just inferred it was a typo. However, I was unaware the user could select/override the media type option if the program could not determine if a rewritable disc had been inserted. However, it is a question worth asking. Were you trying to erase a DVD+R DL?

Are you sure? This log line: I 21:36:29 Media Type: DVD+RW (Disc ID: CMC MAG-D03-64) indicated the disc was a DVD+RW. The most likely culprit is it's a CMC disc, which are trash.

One thing that might help, but most likely won't work. There may be a firmware update for your drive, but most likely there isn't. And, if there is, it probably won't help here, but could. In Write mode, right click on the writer drive and choose the item near the bottom of the context menu to check for a firmware update.

This is the one thing that stands out to me: I 13:24:01 Destination Media Type: DVD-R (Disc ID: RITEKF1) Ritek media is 2nd tier at best, depending on what part of the world you live in. For instance, it seems in Europe, Ritek can be as bad as CMC Magnetics, which makes the worst discs out there. I'm in North America, where Ritek is decent media, it seems, but even then I don't use it except for 8x DVD+RW since they are the only manufacturers of it. I would first try some Verbatim DataLife Plus/AZO DVD-R and see if that helps. NOT the Life Series you find in brick and mortar stores; those will be CMC. You can only find, generally, the DataLife Plus/AZO discs in online stores. I get mine from Amazon.com.

The manufacturers claim 1000 rewrites, but you won't even get to 100. It will just fail at some point IF you're lucky. What generally tends to happen is the write and Verify completes, but a DVD player won't be able to read part of it, but it's always at a different part. The PC drive will still read it, but standalone DVD players are more picky.

Oh, I meant to ask if the OP had used ImgBurn to create the BIN file because it should have created a CUE file itself, but I forgot to. If not, I was going to suggest where to check for in the settings: Tools --> Settings --> Read --> Create Image Layout File --> Either set to Auto or Yes. The reason ImgBurn opened when you double clicked on the CUE file is the Associations for CUE were set to open ImgBurn and load the CUE file for burning the associated BIN/CUE file set to a disc. When you install ImgBurn, one of the Associations it sets is CUE files to itself. You can assign a virtual drive program (I use Virtual CloneDrive.) to CUE files so it will automatically mount the BIN/CUE set as a virtual drive.

You don't convert a .BIN file into a .CUE file. .CUE files are used in association with .BIN files. Now, as to how to create a .CUE file for an existing .BIN file like you have in your situation, under Tools in Imgburn, there's a Create .CUE function. Just point it to the .BIN file you have now and the .CUE file will be created for it.

Reducing burn speed by 0.4x probably wouldn't have made that much of a difference. You'd be surprised at how many issues on computers can be fixed by simply trying to restart the PC first. However, in this case, I would doubt it's either of those 2 things that made a difference, but, then again, I can't say anything else that would have. As for the Memorex DVD+R DL, avoid those like the plague. They will be CMC Magentics media, which makes the worst optical discs out there. The only reliable DVD+R DL are the Verbatim DataLife Plus AZO MKM media made by Mitsubishi.

Now that I think about it, I do believe you had said you'd only found those as suggestions and hadn't tried them yourself. The best way to tell if a drive is a slim or not is to use the Eject and Load buttons in ImgBurn. Eject will work on slim drives, but Load won't. Actually, the easiest way to tell was by my simply doing a search for GH24NSC0. It's not a slim model. It's a half height bay. Those large size, full model are known as half heights. 5.25" drives are half height. I also notice it's an LG. LG can be pretty particular. For instance, the WH16NS40 BD drive won't properly write to BD DL media but the NS60 does. That's why I use the NS60. I don't use DVD drives alone anymore. And I put the NS60's in VanTech USB 3 enclosures since my PC's no longer have half height bays. Dell no longer uses them in the XPS line of Desktop PC's.

When you said you replaced the drive, did you replace it with the SAME drive? The GH24NSC0? IF you tried that, try replacing it with another make and model. If it's a slim drive, that could be the case. They're generally unreliable. MKM media is the only reliable DVD+R DL out there, so it would seem your drive just doesn't like them. You could try checking for a firmware update and see if that helps. In Write mode, right click on the GH24NSC0 drive and choose the check for firmware update option at the bottom of the context menu. Updated firmware might have a more up to date write strategy that may address the issue. You're probably right on track with the problem being unique to DL media. When you exceed more than 1 layer, for each layer you add (Up to 4 on BD.) you effectively double the chances of issues.

As for the Logs, those messages that appear at the bottom of the program generally don't get logged. They're I guess you would call them initialization messages. If you want to isolate if your PS2 games the problem because they're dirty or your drive doesn't like them, insert a non PS2 DVD into the drive and see if it still takes 5 minutes to get past Initializing disc. If it does, then it's your drive that's the problem. If it doesn't, then it could be the dirty PS2 discs. It definitely shouldn't take more than a minute to Initialize a disc.

Well, THAT was certainly unexpected. As equally unexpected as 8x DVD+RW apparently finally working, the 213 does NOT properly write to Verbatim BD-R! They either fail to read on Verify or fail to finalize due to a "Positioning Error Detected by Read of Medium." NEVER saw that before with any drive. Once again, Pioneer proves it has NO idea what it's doing!

Well, wonder of wonders! Could it be that Pioneer FINALLY address this near 10 year old issue? I got a BDR-X13 USB drive to try out. It passed its first test: a full 8x DVD+RW! However, it will take a series of successes with 8x DVD+RW before I'm satisfied. I tried a newer Pioneer recently and it looked like the issue had been addressed, but apparently hadn't. I also need more wider ranges of tests with other media, too.

Help us help you. Post a log of a successful burn but failed Verify of these discs that won't play properly in your player. In ImgBurn, under Help, choose ImgBurn Logs. Then, open the .LOG file in a text editor, find the part where the burn succeeds and verify fails, and copy and paste that part. Post both the burn portion that succeeds and the Verify portion that fails. Or, just attach the entire file to a post and I'll sift through it looking for what I think is the right part.

The 213 is available from Pioneer's site for order. And, gee, I wonder if Pioneer has ever addressed the 8x DVD+RW borked firmware across a dozen different devices? They've only had nearly a decade to work on it...

I can't answer the first part, but an ISO file will always be larger than the contents you put into it. The ISO file has overhead and various data in it that comprise the structure of the file itself.

Verbatim can be a bunch of hypocrites. They constantly comment on my Office Depot reviews of their CMC junk that I don't know what I'm talking about. I've got over 20 years experience burning optical discs. I've seen the results of CMC bad media first hand. Over half the problems on this board are caused by CMC media and they generally go away when people switch from them. If anyone is blowing smoke, I'd say it's Verbatim as Amazon.com basically copies and pastes whatever they are given in an item description.

Pioneer drives are fine for everything except 8x DVD+RW. Didn't test 4x DVD+RW, so I don't know if it's just the 8x variety, of which there is only one kind out there manufactured now, or if it affects all DVD+RW discs. Verifies will almost always fail, even on brand new, just formatted discs. Has been that way for nearly 10 years now. Otherwise, I like Pioneer drives. Pioneer used to be my go to DVD burners. I had one last me over 2 years! The best drive I ever had. Their BD were also my go to BD burners for a few years. Then, they changed the firmware and borked 8x DVD+RW and they've yet to fix it. The WH16NS40 has a fatal flaw. 9 times out of 10, it will fail to write properly to BD-R/RE DL. Will almost always fail Verify. That's why I've stuck with the NS60, even though I don't need its advanced UDH BD features. At least it properly wrote to BD-RE DL that I needed.

Yes, a few years ago, the prices of the DataLife Plus DVD+R DL unreasonably jumped to about $75 and then dropped back down to around $55 now. I use an internal half height LG WH16NS60 in a USB 3.0 enclosure on my desktop. Most slim models are junk. Even my Verbatim one has its issues because it's a Pioneer and they won't properly write to 8x DVD+RW. They haven't for almost 10 years now and Pioneer REFUSES to do anything about it, despite my constant stream of tech support e-mails telling them the firmware needs to be updated. The NS60 is the best of the worst. The NS60's problems are it only writes to 12x on 16x BD-R and they tend to die after 7 months. However, LG has a very liberal replacement policy. I am in the processing of getting like my 20th refurbished drive and they've yet to charge the $50 out of warranty replacement fee they say they will charge me.