Is there a good burner for double layer BD-Rs (50 GB)?

[dbminter]

A friend of mine has the same ASUS in a VanTec Gen 1 enclosure.  She's burned 3 BD-R DL's at 2x without incident.  I've yet to try my same ASUS in the VanTec Gen 1 enclosure at 2x.  2x may be the sweet spot.  It definitely isn't in the NS60 in the OWC enclosure.  2x in the VanTec Gen 2 enclosure MIGHT work as I ALMOST got 1 successful burn with the NS60 in the Gen 2.

 

Now, my tests may not necessarily be as valid as they seem.  There was SOME issue with my ASUS which was why I "retired" it.  I forget what it was.  I THINK it was 8x DVD+RW that weren't being written correctly, but it could have been BD-R's that weren't, which was why I retired it.  IF it was the BD-R's, then that means the blue laser might be the one that is bad and not the red laser like I thought.  IF that's the case, it could explain my random failure behavior in my ASUS.

 

Around June 13th, I'll be able to order another batch of BD-R DL's, which means 25 further tests can be performed.  If I get consistent failures at this point, I'll get 1 more batch IF I can get one of the ASUS USB models of BW-16 to test with.  IF I get consistent failures at 2x with that, then I'll know the technology just isn't ready for prime time.  At which point I'll just compress all of my future BD-50's to BD-25's.  BD-R SL has proven itself to be consistently reliable technology.

[dury]

You have already done far too much, don't waste any more BD-R's  

[dbminter]

Actually, I WANT these BD-R DL's to work.  I've got many many more BD-50's that I need to archive.  I want a consistent pattern that works for my own benefit.  These "tests" were actually for my own purposes.  I was testing at the same time I was trying to make my own archives.  I definitely wouldn't waste $95 just for tests for other people. 

[dbminter]

Well, it seems 2x is a no go as well.  A friend of mine using an ASUS in a VanTec Gen 1 enclosure got 4 good burns in a row at 2x and then a failure.  So, this means my 2x tests will also not bear fruit because one of the circumstances I will test is ASUS BD-R DL's in a VanTec Gen 1 enclosure at 2x.  I know the NS60 won't write properly in the VanTec Gen 1 and OWC enclosures.  The closest I got to success with the NS60 was 1 burn in the VanTec Gen 2 enclosure which crapped out at 96% into the Verify after no errors thrown back by ImgBurn during the Write process.  It failed for a semaphore timeout error.  The drive lost communication with ImgBurn, which is generally indicative of:

1.) an incompatibility between the USB bridge in the enclosure and the USB controller on the motherboard

2.) a read error, which would be indicative of a Write error.

[dbminter]

I decided to compile all of my test results into one recap post.  Further tests will be added here as they are performed.

 

1.) LG WH16NS60 is NOT a good burner for writing BD-R DL's!  It's an utter failure.  On the first two discs right off the bat when attempting to write:

I 13:13:52 Writing LeadIn...
W 13:14:02 Failed to Write Sectors 0 - 31 - Reason: Write Error
W 13:14:02 Retrying (1 of 20)...
I 13:14:07 Writing LeadIn...

 

This resulted in a complete and utter Verify failure right at the start, like I predicted the moment I saw the above.  I normally perform 3 tests in a row before declaring an error, but this one is too obvious.

 

I 13:11:00 Verifying Layer 0... (LBA: 0 - 12219391)
E 13:12:09 Miscompare at LBA: 16, Offset: 1
E 13:12:09 Device: 0x00 (Empty Sector!)
E 13:12:09 Image File: 0x42
E 13:12:09 Total Errors in Sector: 6
E 13:12:09 Failed to Verify Sectors!
E 13:12:12 Operation Failed! - Duration: 00:01:09
I 13:12:12 Average Verify Rate: 0 KiB/s (0.0x) - Maximum Verify Rate: 0 KiB/s (0.0x)

 

Also, the drive does not properly Synchronize Cache when completing writing these discs.

 

I 13:09:33 Synchronising Cache...
W 13:09:45 Potential 'WaitImmediateIO' Deferred Error - (0/3) - Session Fixation Error
W 13:09:45 Synchronise Cache Failed! - Reason: Session Fixation Error
W 13:09:45 Retrying (1 of 3)...
I 13:09:46 Closing Track...

 

It's not like I stressed the drive!  My first test was a just under 26 GB test.

 

2.) ASUS passed the Writing LeadIn test that NS60 failed miserably on.  The ASUS also seems to write at 8x max to 6x max rated Verbatim DataLife Plus BD-R DL discs.

Verifies appear to be pretty slow in the ASUS on these BD-R DL.  They're starting at under 4.0x.

Verify passed.  So the ASUS BW-16D1HT appears to write BD-R DL correctly.

 

3.) I tried a 49.2 GB test in the ASUS and it failed to Verify shortly after the layer change.

 

I 15:01:59 Verifying Layer 1... (LBA: 12219392 - 24019327)
W 15:02:31 Failed to Read Sectors 12323360 - 12323391 - Reason: L-EC Uncorrectable Error
W 15:02:49 Failed to Read Sectors 12333248 - 12333279 - Reason: L-EC Uncorrectable Error
W 15:03:18 Failed to Read Sectors 12346688 - 12346719 - Reason: L-EC Uncorrectable Error
W 15:03:33 Failed to Read Sectors 12349440 - 12349471 - Reason: L-EC Uncorrectable Error
W 15:03:48 Failed to Read Sectors 12352032 - 12352063 - Reason: L-EC Uncorrectable Error
W 15:03:56 Failed to Read Sectors 12354784 - 12354815 - Reason: L-EC Uncorrectable Error
W 15:04:09 Failed to Read Sectors 12357216 - 12357247 - Reason: L-EC Uncorrectable Error
W 15:04:19 Failed to Read Sectors 12361088 - 12361119 - Reason: L-EC Uncorrectable Error
W 15:04:26 Failed to Read Sector 12361088 - Reason: L-EC Uncorrectable Error

 

So, the ASUS BW-16D1HT apparently doesn't write properly to BD-R DL either. 

 

4.) The NS60 is definitely NOT capable of writing BD-R DL's consistently.  I got 1 successful burn out of about 10 in the NS60 and that was only a test between 25 GB and 26 GB.  All other tests failed.  The NS60 in a VanTec Gen 1 enclosure, a different NS60 in a VanTec Gen 2 enclosure, and that same NS60 in an OWC enclosure all failed either Write or Verify stages at different points for different reasons.  That last test even failed to complete writing Layer 0!  The Gen 2 ALMOST worked, crapping out by disconnecting the drive for semaphore timeout error at 96% into the Verify!

 

The only combination that worked consistently thus far is the ASUS in an OWC enclosure.  All tests I've written in that passed.

 

5.)  After 3 successful BD-R DL burns in the ASUS in an OWC enclosure, including 2 nearly full BD-R's, I got a failure writing just 29 GB!  Failure to Verify at the Layer change, of course.

 

6.) I burned 3 more BD-R DL's in the ASUS in the OWC enclosure without issue.

 

7.) ANOTHER BD-R DL failure!  This time failure to start Verifying Layer 1.

 

8.) Tried changing from 8x to 6x.  Got 1 good burn at 6x then a failure Writing at the layer change.  BD-R DL is too unreliable a technology.  It is not ready for prime time.

 

9.) The NS60 is a verifiable bad drive for writing BD-R DL.  1 BD-R in the package tried in my NS60 with the good red laser, the live one I use, in an OWC enclosure.  It has the same issue as the VanTec Gen 1 enclosure.  1 Write Retry at Writing LeadIn, which results in immediately crapping out at the start of the Verify.

 

The NS60 also doesn't support 1x for writing BD-R DL.  2x is the lowest writing speed allowed.

 

10.) A friend of mine has the same ASUS in a VanTec Gen 1 enclosure.  She's burned 3 BD-R DL's at 2x without incident.  I've yet to try my same ASUS in the VanTec Gen 1 enclosure at 2x.  2x may be the sweet spot.  It definitely isn't in the NS60 in the OWC enclosure.  2x in the VanTec Gen 2 enclosure MIGHT work as I ALMOST got 1 successful burn with the NS60 in the Gen 2.

 

11.) Well, it seems 2x is a no go as well.  A friend of mine using an ASUS in a VanTec Gen 1 enclosure got 4 good burns in a row at 2x and then a failure.  So, this means my 2x tests will also not bear fruit because one of the circumstances I will test is ASUS BD-R DL's in a VanTec Gen 1 enclosure at 2x.  I know the NS60 won't write properly in the VanTec Gen 1 and OWC enclosures.  The closest I got to success with the NS60 was 1 burn in the VanTec Gen 2 enclosure which crapped out at 96% into the Verify after no errors thrown back by ImgBurn during the Write process.  It failed for a semaphore timeout error.  The drive lost communication with ImgBurn, which is generally indicative of:

1.) an incompatibility between the USB bridge in the enclosure and the USB controller on the motherboard

2.) a read error, which would be indicative of a Write error.

 

What I need to test around the 15th are:

1.) ASUS burns at 2x in the VanTec Gen 1 enclosure

2.) ASUS burns at 2x in the VanTec Gen 2 enclosure

3.) ASUS burns at 2x in the OWC enclosure

4.) 3 more tests in the NS60 in the VanTec Gen 2 enclosure.  The closest I got to any success in the NS60 was on the VanTec Gen 2 which had no errors in burns but failed the Verify process at 96% when a semaphore timeout caused the drive to lose communication with ImgBurn.  This is generally indicative of a read failure, which is generally indicative of a write failure.