Can't erase BDRE XL disc (write protected)

[pyronaut]

I just got a Sony BDRE XL 100GB disc and am trying to erase it to write onto it, but I'm getting an error that the disc is write protected. It's rewritable, so that doesn't make any sense. Below is the log output. Any ideas why this might be happening?

 

I 00:57:33 Initialising SPTI...

I 00:57:33 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices...

I 00:57:33 -> Drive 1 - Info: Slimtype BD  E  DS4E1S EA2B (D:) (SATA)

I 00:57:34 -> Drive 2 - Info: ASUS SBW-06D2X-U C701 (G:) (USB 2.0)

I 00:57:34 Found 1 BD-ROM/DVD±RW and 1 BD-RE XL!

I 00:58:12 Operation Started!

I 00:58:12 Device: [0:0:0] ASUS SBW-06D2X-U C701 (G:) (USB)

I 00:58:12 Media Type: BD-RE (Disc ID: SONY-ET2-002)

I 00:58:12 Media Supported Write Speeds: 6x

I 00:58:12 Quick Erase: No

I 00:58:12 Format Properly: Yes

I 00:58:12 Format Size: Preferred

I 00:58:12 Format With Full Certification: Yes

I 00:58:12 Format Without Spare Areas: Yes

I 00:58:12 Erasing Disc...

E 00:58:12 Failed to Erase Disc! - Reason: Write Protected

E 00:58:12 Operation Failed! - Duration: 00:00:00

 

[LIGHTNING UK!]

As it's only supposed to support BD-RE TL at 2x and yours is still claiming 6x for the supported write speeds, I'd have to say it has no firmware support for the 'SONY-ET2-002' MID.

[dbminter]

Yeah, there's no 6x support for any rewritable BD media.  There is for BD-R.  So, your drive is returning wrong information for that media, and it's most likely as LUK said.  No support in the firmware.

 

 

Or it could be just typical Sony junk.  My first BD-RE SL was a Sony and it died before its fifth write.

[pyronaut]

Thanks for the tips guys. I went on Asus's site for the drive and there didn't seem to be any firmware updates available, so I emailed their support about the issue. Let's see if they can do anything about it. 

[dbminter]

Which ASUS drive?  Be warned that if it's the latest BD drive they put out, I thoroughly tested two units and discovered they actually destroy rewritable Verbatm BD-RE DL discs I fed them.  Also 8x Ritek DVD+RW  I sent the drives back because they're borked.  A firmware update in the future may fix this, but it's been about a year so far and there's no firmware update for it.

[pyronaut]

Which ASUS drive?  Be warned that if it's the latest BD drive they put out, I thoroughly tested two units and discovered they actually destroy rewritable Verbatm BD-RE DL discs I fed them.  Also 8x Ritek DVD+RW  I sent the drives back because they're borked.  A firmware update in the future may fix this, but it's been about a year so far and there's no firmware update for it.

 

It's the  ASUS SBW-06D2X-U drive. I bought it a couple years back, so I'm guessing it's not the latest one they've put out. 

 

I've been in touch with their support and they're trying to say that the drive doesn't support BDRE-XL, even though on the web site for the drive it says it supports BDXL and 100GB discs. In the list of discs they gave me that they support, BDRE-TL is there, and they don't seem to understand that it's the same as BDRE-XL (i.e. triple layer). 

Kinda frustrating when a company's support doesn't know what they're talking about. 

[dbminter]

Pioneer did a somewhat similarly silly thing with their tech support with me recently.  I told them their BD-209M and D series drives don't recognize Ritek 6x DVD-RW when inserted.  (Most drives don't, anyway.  Only LiteOn DVD and LG BD do.)  They forwarded me a PDF of all MID's their drive supports, because they said not all Ritek media were supported.  The PDF contained the MID of the discs they said it supports, but doesn't.  When I pointed this out to them, the best I got was they said they'd forward it to the engineers.

 

 

Now, it is possible that a BD drive might support BD-R XL/TL but not BD-RE XL/TL.  My first DVD+R drive was an HP that only supported DVD+R, not DVD+RW.  They said it would eventually support DVD+RW with a firmware update and then later finally had to admit they were lying because the drive laser was never designed to support DVD+RW! 

[pyronaut]

In case anyone was wondering what happened, Asus said that my drive was defective and I had to send it in for repair, because they couldn't reproduce the problem on their end. That's AFTER numerous emails where I finally convinced them that the drive actually supports BDRE-XL. When I asked them if they tried the same model disc as I used when they couldn't reproduce the problem, they didn't respond.

In the end, since my drive was out of warranty, I didn't send it it because I didn't want to pay for any "repairs" they might do (or $35 on top of shipping for them to just look at it). Luckily the seller on eBay that I bought the disc from gave me a refund because it didn't work. 

I guess no one was really happy in the end here. But at least it wasn't because if IMGBurn.