dbminter

I never had a chance to try any Taiyo Yuden Blu-Ray media, so I can't say what their quality is like. And now that Taiyo Yuden no longer makes any optical media, it's somewhat of a moot point. Eventually, stock will run out and it won't be an option anymore.

Wow, funny thing. Less than a month after I posted this, I found a screen shot I took of an Afterdawn.com news item from January 22, 2006. It was an article about Imation buying up Memorex!

According to the reviews and the answered questions for both drives, the two main differences are mine includes a stand so that the drive can be used vertically and the one you linked to doesn't. It can only be used horizontally. The other major difference is the one you linked to apparently doesn't include the software necessary to play back Blu-Ray video discs with. So, it apparently doesn't include any Cyberlink PowerDVD software. That's probably why, most likely, the drive you linked to is significantly cheaper, too. So, if you don't need the drive to stand up vertically or you don't need an installer for the software to play back Blu-Ray video discs, you might as well go for the one you linked to because it is cheaper. As far as I can tell, physically, the drives specs are probably the same.

Yeah, that's a slim. If you want an external Blu-Ray burner, I only have experience with 1. http://www.amazon.com/External-Blu-Ray-BW-12D1S-U-BLK-AS/dp/B0051UY168?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00 That's the one I use. After testing it, I only found 1 thing it wouldn't write to: 6x Ritek DVD-RW. But, ONLY LiteOns and Optiarcs ever wrote to those.

My main experience with semaphore time period expiration errors is I don't get power calibration errors along with them. I've seen that you get them right away, at the start of a burn, before anything is even written to disc. It's caused by the USB bridge in external drives and some kind of conflict with your controller on the motherboard. It generally is only fixed by replacing the external drive. However, to get it with another error is new to me. Is this external drive a slim model? If so, slims are generally junk. Since you've tried both good Verbatim and bad CMC discs, the problem is most likely with your drive. I'd look into replacing it.

I think once you close a session, you cannot add sessions to a DVD. I don't know how you'd add more than more session, though, or if ImgBurn can do that. What it sounds like you more likely want to do is treat a DVD as a giant flash drive or floppy. You can format them in Windows/File Explorer as giant discs that you can dynamically write to until they're full. However, that means you won't be using ImgBurn to do it. In fact, if what you want to do is create many small image files and burn their contents to a DVD as long as there is space for them is not possible, I don't think. How would Windows know which "contents" to display from the disc? The first image you burnt? The last?

Only thing I can think of is your drive doesn't have a proper write strategy for burning those VERBATIM at 6x but does for MEI. MEI is made by Panasonic, even if Verbatim puts their name on the package. VERBATIM BD-R are made by Verbatim. So, your drive may be picky on Verbatim media at that speed. I'd think the only solution would be a firmware update, if one was ever released, that addressed the issue. I had a weird issue with my Pioneer where DVD+R DL from Verbatim used the same DID/MID on branded and inkjet printable 8x media. The branded would burn and verify fine but the inkjets always failed at either burning the layer break or on verify at the layer break change. This was only fixed when Pioneer updated the firmware for the drive about a year later.

Unfortunately, what tends to happen with drives that fail is they'll burn everything else fine EXCEPT for one type of media. Normally, it's DVD DL's because of the layer break. When my drives fail burning DVD+R DL's, they burn everything else fine. That LiteOn Blu-Ray that failed burned everything else but stopped writing BD-RE's after only 3 months. However, it also had a problem of randomly inserting pauses into DVD+R DL DVD Video discs that weren't layer breaks. BUT, LiteOn DVD burners also randomly do that, too. One of the reasons I stopped buying anything from LiteOn.

Branded means, in general, some kind of pre-printed label is on the disc. It usually contains the seller's logo, speed, and size. Those BD-R's you linked from Amazon.com I have used before. In fact, I last ordered them February 1st, 2015. They have the exact same MID/DID as the DataLifePlus inkjet Verbatim BD-R I started using after those. I had only 1 problem with one burn using those discs. I had a Verify fail with a miscompare because it said the file wasn't there. My first miscompare I can ever remember encountering with ImgBurn. So, I'd say give those a shot and see if your problem improves. If it doesn't improve, since those Verbatims if they have VERBATIM in the DID/MID should be known good ones, then I'd say your drive might be the problem and could need replacing. My first Blu-Ray burner was a junk LiteOn and needed replacing after 3 months. LiteOn no longer makes Blu-Ray burners so it goes to show you how crap they were to begin with.

Verbatim makes a good BD-R. At least the ones I've used have been all the same kind made by Verbatim. Unfortunately, you won't know who makes them until you open the package. The seller who puts their label on the package doesn't want you to know this information because if you did, you wouldn't buy the cheaper manufacturers which they make the most profit on. DataLifePlus is usually Verbatim's top of the line brand, but you will only find those online. However, the Verbatim branded BD-R's have the same DID/MID as the DataLifePlus BD-R. Verbatim does use CMC for their single layer BD-RE's. However, the branded BD-R I found at Best Buy and Office Depot brick and mortar stores had the same DID/MID as the DataLifePlus BD-R I got off of Amazon.com.

Yeah, CMC is usually a bad sign. They're the worst optical disc manufacturer out there. If you had used the CMC's fine before, then it could be a variety of things. Or it could be something as simply as the brand name stamped on the box changed manufacturers. Not unheard of. Optodisc went from a quality DVD-R to CMC to going on my never buy from them again list.

In your case, probably the only good test is to get some Verbatim DataLifePlus MKM DVD+R DL's and try those. You can only find them online. The Verbatims you get in brick and mortar stores will usually be CMC or some other bottom of the barrel manufacturer. My experience has been when a drive fails, it generally fails on burning DVD+R DL's first. Sometimes only on those. For whatever reason. Probably the layer break change. I've only ever had 1 drive fail on me that failed for something else. It stopped burning BD-RE.

If it's a DVD Video disc, you could try using DVD Shrink to the contents by a few percentage points and see if that new shrunk VIDEO_TS offers a layer break. You may need to do more than 1 shrink to find the size that is acceptable. Rarely, but a few times, I've had to shrink the VIDEO_TS contents to get a layer break that was accepted.

A problem like this coming up out of the clear blue sounds to me indicative of a failing drive. It works one day and doesn't the next I would generally pin on needing to replace the drive. The other option I'd look into is if the same manufacturer made the discs that worked before and didn't now. You'd need to check to see if the Disc ID listed in the log is still the same. If it is, then there could be a change in the manufacturing process by Ritek. Highly unlikely, but it could be the case.

Found an old graphics image file from like 10 years ago. It was a banner that said "Friends don't let friends burn CMC-Mags!" How true!

Ah, now it makes sense. It seems that Imation is a Memorex company or vice versa. And since both companies produce generally lower quality, cheaper junk media, it all starts to connect. Memorex used to make a quality product back when I used their CD-RW in the early 2000's. And their 24x CD-RW's were farmed out to Mitsubishi, a quality maker. And Memorex now uses Ritek for their BD media. However, that cannot undo years and millions of product of CMC Magnetics trash. And Imation always released junk product. Their floppy disks were unreadable in a year. And they farmed out to CMC for their rewritable DVD discs.

Appears my worries were apparently misguided. It seems that you can still buy them directly from Verbatim's online store. For now, anyway. So, maybe they aren't being phased out just yet.

Tried to order some Verbatim DataLife Plus BD-R from Amazon.com today only to discover that only resellers are offering them. So, I checked online and none of the major retailers have them, either! So, does this mean Verbatim is phasing out DataLife Plus BD-R? Their regular branded BD-R has the same MID/DID as the DataLife Plus, so maybe they're consolidating the line into just those. But, they'll probably just switch over the regular branded HTL BD-R to CMC! Or only offer the inferior LTH ones.

I was creating a double layer DVD image and noticed in the Log there are entries for Single Layer Profile and Double Layer Profile. Why is there an entry for Single Layer Profile when the contents won't fit on a single layer DVD?

Looks like I had a fluke BD-R. I burned again to a 2nd BD-R and it Verified fine. I was only worried because I'd never encountered a Miscompare before and I had some weird behavior with this drive. I burned some Macrium Reflect images that were split across multiple DVD's to a single BD-R. When I went to manually verify the contents in Reflect, it failed to recognize that the 2nd file was on the disc. Then I had weird behavior in the same drive when copying files from discs to the HDD. It would copy the contents but sometimes only by copying the contents into a folder named with the Label of the DVD. Windows did this on its own. Then I had the Miscompare on a BD-R in the same drive. With all this occurring over the last 2 or 3 days, I was wondering. I only installed this Pioneer BD burner a month or 2 ago, but that's no reason why it couldn't have gone bad.

Burned the image to a BD-RE. Verified fine. Maybe it was just the BD-R I used. I'll try burning another BD-R.

I mounted the image ImgBurn created and performed a manual Verify of the image contents against the mounted image. The contents verified okay, so the problem is with the burn to the disc.

Got my very first file Miscompare on Verify in my entire history of using ImgBurn. It occurs on one large file. I 16:21:49 Operation Started! I 16:21:49 Source File Sectors: 12,040,256 (MODE1/2048) I 16:21:49 Source File Size: 24,658,444,288 bytes I 16:21:49 Source File Volume Set Identifier: 4889818C00B7B7A6 I 16:21:49 Source File Application Identifier: ImgBurn v2.5.8.0 I 16:21:49 Source File Implementation Identifier: ImgBurn I 16:21:49 Source File File System(s): UDF (2.60) I 16:21:49 Destination Device: [0:0:0] PIONEER BD-RW BDR-209M 1.33 (S:) (SATA) I 16:21:49 Destination Media Type: BD-R (Disc ID: VERBAT-IMe-000) I 16:21:49 Destination Media Supported Write Speeds: 2x, 4x, 6x, 8x, 10x, 12x, 16x I 16:21:49 Destination Media Sectors: 12,219,392 I 16:21:49 Write Mode: BD I 16:21:49 Write Type: DAO I 16:21:49 Write Speed: MAX I 16:21:49 Hardware Defect Management Active: No I 16:21:49 BD-R Verify Not Required: Yes I 16:21:49 Link Size: Auto I 16:21:49 Lock Volume: Yes I 16:21:49 Test Mode: No I 16:21:49 OPC: No I 16:21:49 BURN-Proof: Enabled I 16:21:49 Write Speed Successfully Set! - Effective: 71,920 KB/s (16x) I 16:21:49 Advanced Settings - Optimal Writing Speed: No I 16:21:49 Filling Buffer... (40 MiB) I 16:21:50 Writing LeadIn... I 16:22:01 Writing Session 1 of 1... (1 Track, LBA: 0 - 12040255) I 16:22:01 Writing Track 1 of 1... (MODE1/2048, LBA: 0 - 12040255) I 16:30:27 Synchronising Cache... I 16:30:28 Closing Track... I 16:30:29 Finalising Disc... I 16:30:39 Exporting Graph Data... I 16:30:39 Export Successfully Completed! I 16:30:39 Operation Successfully Completed! - Duration: 00:08:50 I 16:30:39 Average Write Rate: 47,684 KiB/s (10.9x) - Maximum Write Rate: 69,769 KiB/s (15.9x) I 16:30:39 Cycling Tray before Verify... I 16:30:54 Device Ready! I 16:30:55 Operation Started! I 16:30:55 Source Device: [0:0:0] PIONEER BD-RW BDR-209M 1.33 (S:) (SATA) I 16:30:55 Source Media Type: BD-R (Disc ID: VERBAT-IMe-000) I 16:30:55 Source Media Supported Read Speeds: 12x I 16:30:55 Source Media Supported Write Speeds: 2x, 4x, 6x, 8x, 10x, 12x I 16:30:55 Source Media Sectors: 12,040,256 I 16:30:55 Source Media Size: 24,658,444,288 bytes I 16:30:55 Image File Sectors: 12,040,256 (MODE1/2048) I 16:30:55 Image File Size: 24,658,444,288 bytes I 16:30:55 Image File Volume Set Identifier: 4889818C00B7B7A6 I 16:30:55 Image File Application Identifier: ImgBurn v2.5.8.0 I 16:30:55 Image File Implementation Identifier: ImgBurn I 16:30:55 Image File File System(s): UDF (2.60) I 16:30:55 Read Speed (Data/Audio): MAX / MAX I 16:30:56 Read Speed - Effective: 5x - 12x I 16:30:56 Verifying Session 1 of 1... (1 Track, LBA: 0 - 12040255) I 16:30:56 Verifying Track 1 of 1... (MODE1/2048, LBA: 0 - 12040255) W 16:40:15 Miscompare at LBA: 8850880, Offset: 0 W 16:40:15 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:15 Image File: 0x46 W 16:40:15 Total Errors in Sector: 2,040 I 16:40:15 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:17 Miscompare at LBA: 8850881, Offset: 0 W 16:40:17 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:17 Image File: 0xB6 W 16:40:17 Total Errors in Sector: 2,041 I 16:40:17 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:34 Miscompare at LBA: 8850882, Offset: 0 W 16:40:34 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:34 Image File: 0x2C W 16:40:34 Total Errors in Sector: 2,036 I 16:40:34 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:35 Miscompare at LBA: 8850883, Offset: 0 W 16:40:35 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:35 Image File: 0x1B W 16:40:35 Total Errors in Sector: 2,033 I 16:40:35 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:36 Miscompare at LBA: 8850884, Offset: 0 W 16:40:36 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:36 Image File: 0xAE W 16:40:36 Total Errors in Sector: 2,042 I 16:40:38 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:38 Miscompare at LBA: 8850885, Offset: 0 W 16:40:38 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:38 Image File: 0x92 W 16:40:38 Total Errors in Sector: 2,034 I 16:40:38 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:38 Miscompare at LBA: 8850886, Offset: 0 W 16:40:38 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:38 Image File: 0xA9 W 16:40:38 Total Errors in Sector: 2,037 I 16:40:38 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:38 Miscompare at LBA: 8850887, Offset: 0 W 16:40:38 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:38 Image File: 0x81 W 16:40:38 Total Errors in Sector: 2,040 I 16:40:38 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:38 Miscompare at LBA: 8850888, Offset: 0 W 16:40:38 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:38 Image File: 0x63 W 16:40:38 Total Errors in Sector: 2,039 I 16:40:38 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:38 Miscompare at LBA: 8850889, Offset: 0 W 16:40:38 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:38 Image File: 0x7B W 16:40:38 Total Errors in Sector: 2,046 I 16:40:38 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:38 Miscompare at LBA: 8850890, Offset: 0 W 16:40:38 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:38 Image File: 0x39 W 16:40:38 Total Errors in Sector: 2,040 I 16:40:38 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:38 Miscompare at LBA: 8850891, Offset: 0 W 16:40:38 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:38 Image File: 0x4A W 16:40:38 Total Errors in Sector: 2,041 I 16:40:38 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:38 Miscompare at LBA: 8850892, Offset: 0 W 16:40:38 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:38 Image File: 0x18 W 16:40:38 Total Errors in Sector: 2,038 I 16:40:38 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:38 Miscompare at LBA: 8850893, Offset: 0 W 16:40:38 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:38 Image File: 0x7E W 16:40:38 Total Errors in Sector: 2,042 I 16:40:38 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:38 Miscompare at LBA: 8850894, Offset: 0 W 16:40:38 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:38 Image File: 0xAF W 16:40:38 Total Errors in Sector: 2,041 I 16:40:38 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:38 Miscompare at LBA: 8850895, Offset: 0 W 16:40:38 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:38 Image File: 0x83 W 16:40:38 Total Errors in Sector: 2,039 I 16:40:38 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:38 Miscompare at LBA: 8850896, Offset: 0 W 16:40:38 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:38 Image File: 0x66 W 16:40:38 Total Errors in Sector: 2,037 I 16:40:38 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:38 Miscompare at LBA: 8850897, Offset: 0 W 16:40:38 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:38 Image File: 0x1A W 16:40:38 Total Errors in Sector: 2,039 I 16:40:38 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:38 Miscompare at LBA: 8850898, Offset: 0 W 16:40:38 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:38 Image File: 0x93 W 16:40:38 Total Errors in Sector: 2,037 I 16:40:38 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:38 Miscompare at LBA: 8850899, Offset: 0 W 16:40:38 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:38 Image File: 0x1D W 16:40:38 Total Errors in Sector: 2,042 I 16:40:38 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:38 Miscompare at LBA: 8850900, Offset: 0 W 16:40:38 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:38 Image File: 0x65 W 16:40:38 Total Errors in Sector: 2,042 I 16:40:38 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:38 Miscompare at LBA: 8850901, Offset: 0 W 16:40:38 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:38 Image File: 0x43 W 16:40:38 Total Errors in Sector: 2,035 I 16:40:38 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:38 Miscompare at LBA: 8850902, Offset: 0 W 16:40:38 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:38 Image File: 0x95 W 16:40:38 Total Errors in Sector: 2,031 I 16:40:38 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:38 Miscompare at LBA: 8850903, Offset: 0 W 16:40:38 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:38 Image File: 0x6C W 16:40:38 Total Errors in Sector: 2,034 I 16:40:38 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:38 Miscompare at LBA: 8850904, Offset: 0 W 16:40:38 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:38 Image File: 0xED W 16:40:38 Total Errors in Sector: 2,041 I 16:40:38 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:38 Miscompare at LBA: 8850905, Offset: 0 W 16:40:38 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:38 Image File: 0x09 W 16:40:38 Total Errors in Sector: 2,044 I 16:40:38 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:38 Miscompare at LBA: 8850906, Offset: 0 W 16:40:39 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:39 Image File: 0x2D W 16:40:39 Total Errors in Sector: 2,043 I 16:40:39 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:39 Miscompare at LBA: 8850907, Offset: 0 W 16:40:39 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:39 Image File: 0x36 W 16:40:39 Total Errors in Sector: 2,025 I 16:40:39 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:39 Miscompare at LBA: 8850908, Offset: 0 W 16:40:39 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:39 Image File: 0x9E W 16:40:39 Total Errors in Sector: 2,041 I 16:40:39 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:39 Miscompare at LBA: 8850909, Offset: 0 W 16:40:39 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:39 Image File: 0x57 W 16:40:39 Total Errors in Sector: 2,040 I 16:40:39 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:39 Miscompare at LBA: 8850910, Offset: 0 W 16:40:39 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:39 Image File: 0x71 W 16:40:39 Total Errors in Sector: 2,043 I 16:40:39 Verifying Sectors... W 16:40:39 Miscompare at LBA: 8850911, Offset: 0 W 16:40:39 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!) W 16:40:39 Image File: 0xB6 W 16:40:39 Total Errors in Sector: 2,042 I 16:40:39 Verifying Sectors... I 16:43:12 Exporting Graph Data... I 16:43:12 Export Successfully Completed! I 16:43:12 Operation Successfully Completed! - Duration: 00:12:11 I 16:43:12 Average Verify Rate: 33,032 KiB/s (7.5x) - Maximum Verify Rate: 57,643 KiB/s (13.1x) What exactly does it mean by Empty Sector? That it attempted to write a sector but no sector was written?

Be sure you don't buy the Verbatim DVD+R DL's you find in a brick and mortar store. They will be CMC Magnetics. CMC is the worst manufacturer of optical discs out there. Probably half of the problems people report here with burns are caused by CMC media. You'll want the DataLife Plus brand. Unfortunately, you can only find them online. I get them from Amazon.com in the US.

Yeah, as LUK said, I'd first target replacing the Ritek DVD+R DL media with Verbatim DataLife Plus MKM DVD+R DL. I had 5 Ritek DVD+R DL's as a test and though they completed write and verify, 3 of them were unreadable a few years later.