dbminter

I've actually only ever bought one slim model drive that did not come new with a PC. It was a USB model sold by Verbatim and it did not say it was slim on the box. You can tell a slim model because they're slim. Slim model drives are about 2.625 inches thick; though they're called half height drives, they actually take put a "full" size bay in a PC case. Half height models are 5.25" thick. I've only ever used this USB model for reading, with a few write tests. So, I can't say how well that drive I got at Office Depot might do for writing as I haven't performed enough or long term tests. I've never actually bought a USB 2.x enclosure. All enclosures I've had were 3.0, necessary for the BD burners I was putting in them. You'll get by cheaper with a USB 2.x enclosure versus a 3.0, though, so if you don't necessarily need 3.0 for a 3.0 device, you can get by with a 2.x. However, since I've never actually bought a 2.x enclosure, I can't recommend X won't give you grief. Because the problem lies with the ALI USB bridge in the external drive and the USB controller on your motherboard. Without knowing the make/model of both in the devices you have or want to try, I can't guarantee anything will work. Those purple Verbatim do say AZO so they are the better quality media. However, those are DVD+R and the ones you were using were DVD-R. If that doesn't matter to you, then it doesn't make too much difference. DVD-R has better compatibility with older DVD players and playback devices and are slightly larger. DVD+R has a shorter WriteIn lead time, so the burning is a bit faster. I prefer DVD-R for its better compatibility and slightly larger size. Sabrent makes good stuff. They made the USB 2.x and 3.0 external HDD connections I've used in the past. I still have the 3.0 one just in case I ever need to access a spare mechanical HDD I have. Again, though, I've never used a USB 2.x enclosure or one from Sabrent. The USB 3.0 enclosures I've used in the past are from Other World Computing and VanTech; each have their own problems. The OWC one is easier to put drives in and out of, but, on 3 Dell's I've used them on, they have a major flaw. If the drive ever errors out or you power it off, after it's been powered back on, Windows will fail to recognize the drive is connected until Windows is restarted. The problems with VanTech's enclosure is they're a bit more difficult to swap drives into and out of. Plus, they're Chinese made, so the quality is iffy. The first one I received was utter junk. The 2nd one I tried was great. The 3rd one was slightly off balance. Not enough to affect reading or writing. but when you put discs in the tray with the enclosure on its side, it wobbles a bit. So, it's up to you what you want to go for. You could try a USB 3.0 if you're willing to pay for something you don't really need, but it will work with USB 2.x cables and connections. I've only ever put Blu-Ray burners in these USB 3.0 enclosures so I can't say how well they work for DVD burners.

Those orange ones in the link you posted say Life Series on them, so, yes, they're the CMC junk. You'd have to provide a link to these purple ones you described as I don't know what that necessarily means. As long as it doesn't say Life Series on it and says DataLife Plus or AZO, you're fine. It will definitely change your experience. You'll have fewer chances for failures if you switch away from CMC. However, with semaphore timeout issues and the like, better media most likely won't help in a case like that. It MAY as the bad media may be causing semaphore timeout issues attempting to burn, but I can't say for certain switching to the good media will help. You'll be better off in the long run, though, with better quality media. They'll last longer than CMC media and have a better chance of playing with other drives and standalone players. I'd recommend giving the better media a shot, at least. If it does solve the semaphore timeout issue, getting better quality media is definitely a cheaper solution than getting a whole other drive, which may also have a semaphore timeout problem. And, in the long run, you're better off using the higher quality media, over all.

Anyway, I now see this isn't an ImgBurn issue as I had forgotten it also affected other applications like Macrium Reflect and the screen saver. So, I'm sorry for taking up space here with this. Unless someone can think of something else, I guess we can consider this issue closed.

That won't work. I didn't enable the screen saver on my last test. I just locked Windows, turned off the monitor, turned it back on, and logged back into Windows. The ImgBurn Log window had moved again without the screen saver coming into play at all. But, if I did let the screen saver activate, the problem would persist because it persisted without the screen saver activating.

Those Verbatim discs you got from Best Buy were the Life Series CMC junk. I forgot to mention you can't find the good Verbatim in brick and mortar stores; you can only find them online. Officedepot.com and Amazon.com have them.

A few things of note: 1.) don't use the cheap CMC MAG discs. They are the worst out there and cause 50% of the problems here. Try Verbatim DataLife Plus/AZO. Do NOT get the Life Series Verbatim you find in brick and mortar stores. They will be CMC. Although, I don't THINK this will solve your problem, a.) it might and b.) you should avoid the CMC junk to begin with. 2.) your drive is a slim model burner. Slim models are generally junk. Try getting a half height drive and putting it in a USB enclosure. 3.) the semaphore timeout issue is generally a problem with the USB bridge in your USB drive conflicting with the USB controller on your PC's motherboard. This is what I think is generally causing your problems. Particularly the issue about the drive not being connected. The only solution is to replace the USB burner, replace the USB bridge in the USB burner, or replace the USB controller on your mobo. It's generally easier just to replace entire USB burner than try the other options. Cheaper, too.

Nope, didn't work! I knew it wouldn't.

Yes, I had dismissed the resolution changing because I thought it wasn't happening. I had forgotten about the screen saver changing size. But your link may just do the trick. I will try it out. I'm quite adept at following technological instructions.

Oh, one other data point. When I lock Windows, eventually, the screen saver activates. When I power back on the monitor and the screen saver is activated, the "screen" has shrunk to smaller sized square on the left side of the screen, with black areas under it and on the right side.

Yes, back when I had a dedicated nVidia graphics card in my last Dell XPS 8930, this issue was not present. Nor was it ever present on any of my DVI nVidia graphics card enabled PC's. Just on this current model of the XPS 8930, which has no dedicated graphics card and must use UHD/HDMI to connect on the mobo.

I was hoping the answer might be as simple as the PS3 is less forgiving a reader than a PC optical burner drive. That would, at least, make sense. Now, I STILL have no idea why the discs can be read on my PC by two different applications but don't playback properly on the PS3 because the disc has reached the end of its write lifespan.

It's 255 characters for the total path, which, I think, also includes the file name itself.

I would say the MDS doesn't care about extension case. If you want to see, create a disc image and then rename the .ISO to .iso. Then, load the MDS in ImgBurn for writing and try to burn the MDS to a rewritable disc so you don't waste a disc. If after you rename the extension to lower case and ImgBurn still burns the MDS file fine, then you can pretty much guarantee the case for the extension doesn't matter.

Question: I burned a DVD Video image to an 8x Ritek DVD+RW. The Burn passed. The Verify passed. I made an ISO image of the DVD+RW in Read Mode. I loaded the disc in DVDShrink and performed a read test on it, which passed. So, why in the HELL did my PS3 choke on trying to play the very end of it?! This generally means, when playing a rewritable DVD with a DVD Video on it that the disc has reached the end of its life span. What happens is the disc plays back with pauses and skips, which means the disc can't be properly read because it had died. I performed the same Read mode test in ImgBurn and the read processing in DVDShrink on this same disc and they still pass, yet my PS3 doesn't like to play the disc. Is an optical disc PC burner more forgiving when it comes to reads? Is a standalone DVD player less forgiving when it comes to reads? Thanks!

I don't know. Sounds very complex. Probably won't address my issue as it's not a power saving mode thing. It's powering off the monitor manually.

BTW, this isn't just an ImgBurn issue. It also happens with Macrium Reflect and open File Explorer windows. If I run a long backup overnight in Reflect and power off the monitor, the log window of that application is also no longer centered on the screen when the monitor is powered back on. I just thought maybe you might know something about this that I've overlooked.

The screen saver activates after 10 minutes, but that doesn't cause the issue. It's when I power off the monitor myself manually. I don't have standby/hibernation/power saving enabled on my PC. This issue will happen if the screen saver is active or not. If the screen saver activates while the monitor is powered on, the windows do not change position when logging back into Windows. If the screen saver is activated and the monitor is power cycled, the windows change position after I've logged back in. If the screen saver isn't activated and the monitor is power cycled, the windows change position.

I don't think it's changing the screen resolution. If it is, it is changing it on power off of the monitor, then reinstating the old value when its powered back on. To illustrate the issue, I discovered when the Log window is moved to the right of the main ImgBurn window, the log window, on power back on of the monitor, moves the Log window OVER the main ImgBurn window. I've attached screenshots to show it. I attached the screenshots in the wrong order. The 2nd one is supposed to be the first one, before the power off of the monitor. The 1st one is supposed to be the second one, after the power cycle of the monitor.

I don't think it makes a difference if ImgBurn is the foreground application or not, but I'm not entirely sure. I am pretty sure, though, this does happen to ImgBurn when it's minimized to the System Tray when the power to the monitor is turned off. When the monitor is powered back on and ImgBurn is made the foreground application again, the Log window has changed position. I guess it's Intel UHD because there was a recent Dell Update called Intel UHD. I believe Windows does some kind of resizing. For instance, some open File Explorer windows have changed position when the power comes back on. And some open application windows, if open when the power was on, are in a different place on the screen when the power is turned back on to the monitor. Device Manager --> Display Adapters says "Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630."

I've got a nagging issue with the Log window that there may be nothing that can be done about. Whenever I turn off my monitor with ImgBurn open, the Log window starts at the bottom of the screen, which is where I want it to be. Whenever I turn my monitor back on, though, the Log window has moved farther up the screen to nearly the bottom of the top ImgBurn window. This forces me to drag and drop the Log window back to near the bottom of the screen to lock it back where I want. This happens every time I power off the monitor, but it does NOT happen if I Lock Windows, e.g. lock Windows where I have to input my password to log back into Windows. I have a feeling it has something to do with my monitor and the graphics hardware. My monitor is an old DVI one that has an HDMI adapter on it because I have no dedicated graphics card. Just the HDMI port on the motherboard. So, I have to wonder if this has something to do with UHD/HDMI that my monitor is connected by. Thanks!

Yeah, I was going by my decidedly ancient memory (16 years.) that there were those options or something similar in the program that might be attempting Registry writes. Given the age of the application, the code to write Registry entries might not be up to date enough for modern Windows versions. I'm glad my memory was right and helped in this situation.

Ah, so it looks like LUK may actually meet his stated expectation to release a new version this year!

Interesting. It's not what I thought. You're not using cheap media. It's the quality Verbatim MKM discs. Try doing as LUK said and adjusting to a slower speed for writing if your drive will allow it; it may not. Try also seeing if there's a firmware update available. There probably isn't and even if it is, it probably won't address the issue. In Write mode, right click on the drive and choose the last item in the context menu for checking for a firmware update. If using a slower speed doesn't work and there's no firmware update that helps, you will need to try a different USB burner. One problem that could be causing it is your burner, the TS-L633R, is a slim model drive. Slim model drives are generally junk. Trying getting a half height USB drive. Or get a half height internal drive and put it in a USB enclosure. You will probably need to try a different drive, anyway, as the TS-L633R is having incompatibility issues with the MKM media you're trying to use, which generally means you will need to try a different drive.

I have a pretty good idea what caused that error, but I'll need to see the entire log for the attempted operation. Under Help, choose ImgBurn Logs and open the Log file, which opens in your default text file editor for logs for editing. Find the portion of the log for this failed burn and copy and paste that section into a new post. From what I did see in the screenshot you posted, it looks like the Write operation failed at the layer change. That is generally the result of using cheap discs, which the log will tell me what you used. Which I have a feeling is CMC media. Probably Life Series Verbatim from a brick and mortar store. Even if it isn't cheap media being used, it's some kind of conflict between your drive and the discs you're using. Something wrong in the firmware. Anyway, post the Log portion and I'll be able to tell what discs you used and/or go from there.

You could try this, though the efficacy is probably 50/50. Explore the contents of the ISO in Windows/File Explorer, assuming your version of Windows is current enough that it natively supports navigating ISO files. Then, copy and paste the contents of the ISO to somewhere else temporarily. Then, use Build mode to add the contents you just copied into a new ISO. Try creating a new ISO and see if that helps. It may not. If that doesn't work, download a piece of free software (It's ancient but it still works.) called DVDShrink. Use DVDShrink to create a new VIDEO_TS, but make sure you choose No Compression. Then, use Build mode to create a new ISO with this new VIDEO_TS folder created by DVDShrink. Again, it's probability of success is 50/50. It may simply be there's nothing you can do based on how the original DVD was created.