Can ImgBurn format RAW Blu-ray disk?

[JillB]

I  have a 25GB  BD-RE disk with a RAW format that I cannot format in Win 10 in the usual manner.

Can ImbBurn be used to do this so that Win 10 will recognise the disk?

 

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Yes, you can perform a full format of it within ImgBurn.

Right click the drive selection drop down box and pick Erase -> Full.

That won't make it accessible within Windows via a drive letter though, but maybe it'll allow Windows to actually try and prepare the disc if that's the type of access you require (i.e. use it like a large floppy disk).

[JillB]

That didn't work, sadly. Suspect something is wrong with the Blu-ray BD-RE disk. See screen print below

[dbminter]

Not necessarily something wrong with the BD-RE; could be the drive.  It may not like that particular brand of BD-RE.  Particularly since it was made by CMC Magnetics, the worst optical disc manufacturer out there.

[LIGHTNING UK!]

I did specifically say Erase -> Full too, but it looks like that log was from an attempted Quick Erase.

[dbminter]

A Quick Erase looks like it was being performed on an unformatted disc.  That could explain such an error message, yes.  Make sure you're doing a Full Erase.

[JillB]

Many thanks for your great advice and support. I  did a Full Erase this 2nd time, as per your advice, but got a Write Error. Looks like the BD-RE disk is cactus, beyond repair

[JillB]

dminter, I  used  Verbatim BD-RE 25GB disc because I  thought that was a really good  and reputable brand. Can you please suggest a replacement brand I can buy?

[dbminter]

It's either a bad disc, which I wouldn't put past CMC Magnetics, but it's most likely a firmware incompatibility between that particular brand of CMC MAG BD-RE and your drive.  So, it's either try a different BD-RE brand or try a different BD burner.  You could try to see if there's a firmware update.  In Write mode, right click on the target drive and select the last option in the context menu, which is something like Check for firmware update.  However, be aware CMC MAG makes most BD-RE out there.  The other option is Ritek, which is only slightly better than CMC MAG.

[dbminter]

Unfortunately, CMC owns Verbatim and Verbatim only uses cheap CMC BD-RE for its brand.  Verbatim is good if you get the right Verbatim, as Verbatim does farm out to CMC.  And Verbatim only uses CMC for its BD-RE.

 

You could try finding Memorex BD-RE, which is what I used to get last time I got any.  Memorex uses Ritek, but some BD players like the Playstation 3 don't like playing them back.

[JillB]

What a great forum this is !! Thank you all.

I  switched back to my old Pioneer DVD burner, did a Full Erase, and it successfully completed.

I  then opened  My PC in windows Explorer, and was able to format the disk from there too. All fixed. Except for the errors  in the ImagBurn erasing process, as seen in the attached. Are these significant?

So far, ,my PS3 is the only one that has recognised this Verbatim BD-RE in the past. I  do have an older Sony stand alone DVD /Blu-ray  player that does not like this particular brand of disk.

Is TDK or Sony a better BD-RE disk than Verbatim?

My kind regards to all,

Jill

Edited August 19, 2021 by JillB

[dbminter]

I know TDK made a decent brand of BD-RE DL that I used to use exclusively back when I was burning on those.  To find out who made it, open ImgBurn in Write mode with the TDK BD-RE inserted in the drive.  In the pane of information on the right side top, there should be an entry for MID/Manufacturer ID.  Copy and paste what that line of text is.  As long as it doesn't say CMC, it's not a cheaper CMC disc.

 

As for the warning you're seeing, I've never encountered Internal Target Faulure before.

[JillB]

Extract from Wikipedia:
CMC Magnetics Corporation (Chinese: 中環股份有限公司) is a Taiwanese company that manufactures optical discs. Established in 1978, its factories are located in Taiwan, China (Memorex, HP, Philips, TDK, Maxell) and Hong Kong (Memorex, Philips).

In December 2015, Taiyo Yuden, one of the inventors of the recordable CD and inventor of the original cyanine dye for CD-R, sold its optical disc brand and intellectual property to CMC Magnetics, ending its own production in Japan.^[1]

[dbminter]

What you only learn from CMC through experience is they make the worst optical discs out there.  Over half the problems on this board are caused by CMC Mangetics discs and most disappear when people switch from CMC to something better.  CMC now, pretty much, owns all the optical manufacturers out there.  Thankfully, thus far, they haven't changed the production of higher end Verbatim and Taiyo Yuden discs.  They're still the quality DVD-+R, DVD-+DL, CD-R, and BD-R, although Verbatim still makes cheaper CMC discs, particularly under their Life Series DVD+-R, CD-R, and DVD+R DL.