dbminter

How are read speeds determined? Are there Read Speed descriptors written to media like there are Write Speed descriptors? I ask because some of my older discs from like 18 years ago read at only like 3x speed. However, some of my later 8x discs from a few years later read at like 7x. Thanks!

By your feature request, do you mean check the image in Read mode of an existing disc you just made against the contents of the disc? If so, no, that isn't available. You'd have to manually do a comparison in Verify mode. If you mean after writing an image to a disc in Write mode to check the image file against the disc you just burned, then, yes, this feature is already available. In Write mode, there's a check box that says Verify.

So, technically, I was right?

Oh, I thought that feature was still to be released. Like the detection of the proper Windows 10 release version number. Shows what I know!

It's a feature limitation in the current build of ImgBurn. ImgBurn's last update was over 5 years ago and, back when it was built, I'm not sure USB 3.0 specifications had been released yet. So, it couldn't differentiate between USB 2.x and USB 3.0. This limitation will be addressed when the next release comes out. And, no, don't ask when that will be. LUK has said he plans to get an update out "this year," but who knows? VSO said 2 years ago that ConvertXToDVD 8 would be out next year and there hasn't been any updates since. There is a speed difference between USB 2.x and USB 3.0 devices. (Actually, it's not the drive that's USB anything. It's the external enclosure it's contained inside that is.) However, if you are talking about a Blu-Ray device, it must be contained in a USB 3.0 enclosure, I think, in order to operate at anywhere near an acceptable rate to complete operations at intended speeds.

Unfortunately, Blu-Ray conversion is not my area of expertise, unlike DVD conversion. However, I use a piece of software called ConvertXToDVD and VSO Software, which makes it, makes something, I believe, called ConvertXToHD. I believe this achieves the same function of ConvertXToDVD to DVD for conversion of containers to Blu-Ray. So, do a little research into that software. There may be free utilities that do the same thing. I know there were for DVD, but they were slower and produced much less quality results, as well as several usage problems. Be aware ConvertXToHD is paid software, but it probably has an uncrippled trial version for 7 days like ConvertXToDVD had.

Depends. Does your Blu-Ray player support playing container files like MP4 natively from a disc like a Blu-Ray? If it doesn't support native playing of containing files, that's why it doesn't work. If it doesn't, you can't put an MP4 on a disc and get it to play from the disc. You'd need to convert the MP4 to Blu-Ray Movie format.

This is a brief overview of my years of using LG's WH16NS60 BD burner. I use this as my go to BD burner for now. It's the best of worst so far. It has a few drawbacks. For instance, it cannot write to the higher quality Verbatim MCC DVD-R or DVD+R. The MCC 03RG20 DVD-R will either fail to complete burns, fail Verify afterwards, or playback with skips and pops. LG refuses to acknowledge Verbatim/CMC has changed the dye formula, even though 2 years of results on different samples of the drive, 2 different firmware revisions, and different cake stacks bear this out, when the MID had been working before. Other than the above, the NS60 has passed every single quality disc I thew at it. For instance, it may choke on CMC MID discs but I don't use those. It is also, unusually for an LG drive, a pretty good reader. It's not failed to read anything I've thrown at it that wasn't degraded to begin with and failed in other drives. This is a change of pace for LG's drive which I've found to be problematic in the past failing to read discs other drives would. The drive is slower at Verifies, though, versus, say, a Pioneer or ASUS. Another speed issue is when the drive encounters a buffering issue, regardless of how fast it reached before. When it resumes writing, it's maximum write speed is significantly slower than the maximum allowed. Another speed issue is 16x DVD-R will write at 16x but only gets there with under 1 minute before the burn ends. Also, 16x rated Verbatim BD-R burns at a maximum of 12x only, unlike Pioneer or ASUS.

I get 2 different values for MID and DID, though. For instance, my Taiyo Yuden DVD-R have an MID of TYG03, but the Disc ID is 0@P-!-00, some apparently random text.

What exactly is the Disc ID? The Manufacturer ID, of course, lists who made the disc, but the Disc ID has me confused. The Disc ID seems to be the same for all the discs in the cake stack. Thanks!

I've gone through almost 50 of the 100 supply of CMCPro I bought. No errors burning thus far. And what few I actually watched all the way through played back without errors. Most of these burns were discs I'd already burned nearly 20 years ago. However, they didn't have inkjet printable covers and some were of lesser (And even bad.) quality. Plus, many were Panasonic DVD video recorder discs, which cannot be read to ISO's natively. But, you can copy the VIDEO_TS from them to a new ISO, burn that ISO, and can image that new disc. So, many of these discs weren't watched because there was no need to. @ianymaty Thanks for pointing those out to me!

I had an extra drive lying around so I tried this out. As I TOLD you Ghostbuster failed miserably. The ghosted device was removed, but when the enclosure was powered off and back on, Windows never recognized the device until Windows was restarted. Disconnecting and reconnecting the USB cable doesn't cause this. Only powering off the enclosure does it. Scanning for hardware changes in Device Manager never finds the device. And the device is not in the list of CD/DVD drives. Only cycling Windows with the enclosure powered on causes the OS to find the device when its power cycled. Which is why I cannot recommend the Other World Computing enclosure.

I definitely wouldn't put it past a 6 year old drive to need replacing. I have only ever seen 1 report, on this board, where someone had a drive still using it after that long. Someone said their drive was 10 years old.

You'd be surprised at how fast a drive can die. Defective units, within a month or 2. Somewhat defective ones, 4 months. Standard 9 to 12 months. The best I ever got out of a drive was 2 and a half years, but that was back when Pioneer made a quality product. It's not an all or none situation. When a drive goes bad, it's not uncommon for only one aspect of it to stop working. The rest will work fine. Plus, reads are less error prone than writes. However, I am still looking at the CMC discs as the problem. If they really have been sitting around for 4 yeas, they probably went bad. Try some new media.

Well, it probably won't solve the immediate problem. If you've been using these CMC MAG's for a while without a problem, the problem is either CMC changed the formula for those discs or your drive is going bad. However, you say these discs have been sitting around for 4 years before you used them? I wouldn't put it past cheap CMC junk to be unusable after 4 years. And, if these aren't new discs, you can rule out a change in disc formulation. I can't guarantee it will solve your problem, but that's what I'd do first. It's the cheapest and easiest solution. And, if it doesn't work, at least you have quality media to use with another drive if you need to replace it. Disc cleaners rarely do any good. They're designed to be sold. However, some people have had luck using them or blowing some compressed air into a drive. Or, at worst, a total disassembly of the drive for a thorough cleaning.

This is probably your problem: I 12:22:37 Destination Media Type: DVD-R (Disc ID: CMC MAG. AM3) Have you used these same discs before back when you said you had recorded to DVD-R before? CMC Magnetics makes the worst media out there. Incompatible media errors and errors such as inserting a disc after burn not being recognized are common with CMC media. Try powering off the PC and cycling it back on, but, next time, don't use the CMC MAG junk. Use Verbatim DataLife Plus (NOT the Life Series you find in brick and mortar stores. Those are CMC.) or AZO DVD-R, which you will only find in online stores.

As for files, I don't think there's a filter option available. For folders, about all you can do is what you'd have to do with files. You add the root directory and then manually delete the folders you don't want from the root. And, with files, you'd add all the files and manually delete the ones you don't want. You can do all of that in Build mode. No need to mount/edit the ISO.

Hm, maybe this upcoming Windows 10 Windows Update might address this issue: https://www.pcworld.com/article/3616968/microsoft-is-finally-fixing-windows-most-annoying-multi-monitor-bug.html

I've burned several of those CMCPro discs and watched a few and I've had no playback issues with them. So, these CMCPro TYG03 appear to be the same high quality discs Taiyo Yuden used to make themselves.

I would have done the Virtual CloneDrive thing first as that's my go to application for mounting images. I didn't think about using just one VCD drive and mounting the different ISO's to the same drive each time a disc was called for. That was good thinking. Glad it worked!

If by remove the device you mean deleting its entry in Device Manager, no, I didn't try that. Didn't think of that. I did try removing the USB cable from the port on the PC, turning the device back on, and reinserting the cable; that didn't work. In about a month or 2, I intend on trying an ASUS BD again. This could be a chance to try out this Device Manager/Ghostbuster tip. I have to question whether this Device Manager deletion would matter, though. The device is recognized on rebooting the PC, which leads me to believe it wouldn't be a ghost device issue.

Well, if you've tried many other software besides ImgBurn, then the problem is either the disc itself or the drive you've been trying to read it in.

I've no personal experience with Arita recordable discs, but my memory of past posts on the board is that they were cheap quality media. It probably has nothing to do with rot as it probably started going bad long before disc rot would have been factored in. Cheaper media just gets parts where it can't be read anymore over time. Sometimes, the entire disc is not recognized by a drive. I began a project to convert all my non MCC and TY discs, which are the quality stuff, to TY discs. I came across two MXL GR03 DVD's recorded in like 2003. One was fully readable, but one had data on it that couldn't be read, yet the rest could. I've learned a few things. For instance, Ritek DVD-R have lasted almost 19 years. Lead Data DVD-R as well, but VIVASTAR and those MXL GR03 had read issues after roughly the same amount of time.

One thing that may or may not work. Copy all the installer files and folders from the DVD's/from the ISO's to a single folder somewhere else. Do not choose to replace existing files. Then try running the install/setup executable from this copied to folder. As I said, this may or may not work. If that doesn't work, another thing to try is copying the ISO's of these DVD's (You may have to make those yourself.) to a temporary location. When the installer asks to insert Disc 2, etc. mount the ISO natively as a virtual drive in File Explorer. This is usually done by just double clicking the ISO, unless ISO is assigned to something else. Then, when you're asked to insert Disk 2, etc., just point the installer to the virtual drive. You can tell the drive letter by checking in File Explorer for new disks. Alternatively, you could install a virtual drive software like Virtual CloneDrive, create 3 virtual drives, and mount all 3 ISO's copied somewhere else as their own individual virtual drive. Then, when the installer asks you to insert Disc 2, etc. just point the installer to the virtual drive for Disc 2, etc.

Like I said, it may not work. Your drive appears to be an OEM like mine, so you'd need to find a firmware update from the site that made it. Which is apparently this Archgon entity. The bottom line, though, is generally, for whatever reason, very few companies ever release firmware updates for external drives, even when the actual drive inside the enclosure is just one that a firmware update is available for when used internally or put in an external enclosure. My guess is they do this to force people to buy new ones all the time when the firmware is updated, even though firmware updates SHOULD be part of the general manufacturer maintenance of the device. The only other thing is to try a different external burner, preferably not a slim model one. The USB LG I noted is a half height external model. What I use is the LG WH16NS60 half height internal model and put it in a VanTech USB enclosure. However, with VanTech you have to thoroughly test it because it's Chinese made and you get 50/50 junk or usable. If you're going to use a BD burner, you must use a USB 3.0 enclosure. USB 2.x won't be fast enough. And as far as I know, there are only 2 USB 3.0 enclosures. The VanTech I already mentioned and the Other World Computing model. However, the OWC one has a fatal flaw. If you power off the device or it loses contact due to erroring out, you MUST restart Windows before it will recognize the drive is connected again. Powering it off and on won't do the trick and neither will disconnecting and reconnecting the USB cable. OWC's is easier to put drives into than the VanTech, though. I went with the VanTech because I wanted something I didn't always have to restart Windows to get recognized.