Four 50gb BD-Rs down the drain with LG BU40N

[AbsoluteMan]

Having a very sad start to the weekend. 

Not managing to write an ISO to a 50gb BD-R. They are RITEK-DR3-000 BD-R DL 50GB (Inkjet Printable, 1-6x rated)

Drive: HL-DT-ST BD-RE BU40N
Firmwares Tested: 1.03 (stock), 1.00 (downgraded)
Software: ImgBurn 2.5.8.0

Settings Tested:

Write Speeds: 1x (rejected), 2x, 4x, 6x
OPC: On/Off
BURN-Proof: Enabled
Lock Volume: On/Off
Link Size: 0 (default)
Write Type: DAO/SAO
Best Result:
Firmware 1.00 with OPC enabled at 2x reached 54% before layer break failure.

Conclusion:
RITEK-DR3-000 is incompatible with LG BU40N at firmware level. Drive cannot calculate correct sector addressing for layer transition on this media.

Anyone have any advice for me? 

[dbminter]

You might want to invest in trying one more BD-R DL test.  It involves using Windows's built in disc image burner.  It may work where ImgBurn keeps failing.  See this thread: 

 

 

[AbsoluteMan]

Tried the isoburn.exe route and it spat the disc out. Gave me error code 0x80004005. 

Tried it a second time and it ran really quickly considering its a 40+gb ISO, then jumped to finalizing disc. Then it threw error up again saying: 'The disc image didn't burn successfully because an error occurred. Same error. 0x80004005

I'm not sure what the matter is with this drive. It can rip blu-rays but can't seem to write. It can't even erase a rewriteable from a company called BRTech. 

[dbminter]

That error code is Windows's infamous "I don't know what the Hell went wrong" return code.  It's "Unspecified Error."

[AbsoluteMan]

Tried Burnaware. Actually did a pretty good job writing the first half of the disc, but then crashed when it went to the next layer. At my wits end. 

[dbminter]

As you pointed out, it's probably an incompatibility in the firmware with your LG burner and those Ritek DID's.

 

The only thing I can recommend at this point is that you try Verbatim DataLife Plus BD-R DL.  However, they're about twice the price of the Riteks, but if they're the only thing that work in that LG, at least it's an option.

 

I've never used that particular LG BD burner, just the WH14NS40, WH16NS40, and the WH16NS60.  The 16 NS40 is not recommended unless you don't mind the fact that it can't properly read CD's in ImgBurn.  And, well, both the 16 NS40 and NS60 aren't manufactured anymore.

 

In fact, the only BD drive I know that is still manufactured by a major company is ASUS's USB BH-16 model.  I've tried the internal BH-16, but ImgBurn didn't produce regular positive results with that in my testing, even at 2x.

[dbminter]

You could try using the Hardware error correction and formatting with spare areas if you wish.  See this thread here for more details:

 

 

[AbsoluteMan]

I will try that, thank you. 

After 7 discs that all crashed out early on in their burns, I've just spent the last four hours hoping and praying. BurnAware, after changing the cache to 2048mb, seemingly burnt through an entire disc. Unfortunately, it failed the verification process and does not play in my Xbox One S. Here's the log: 

Disc #1 of 1
[19:34:10] Preparing compilation
[19:34:10] Anti-sleep mode activated
[19:34:10] OPC activated
[19:34:49] 41.33 GB
[19:34:49] Burn process started
[23:41:37] Closing track
[23:42:59] Burn process completed successfully
[23:43:00] Verify process started
[23:43:00] Verify process failed

Total time: 04:08:47
Average write speed: 0.7x (2938 KB/s)

 

So looks like the drive is capable of writing onto both layers, but yeah sadly not a legible disc. 

 

I will try the hardware error fix you outlined above and get back to you 

[dbminter]

I wasted about half of my first stack of BD-R DL's testing them out.  The most common issue was failure to Verify at the layer change, although I also got random failures like burning before the layer change in Layer 0 and a random lockup at near completion of a Verify.  What I did learn was never to use the VanTec Gen 1 or OWC USB enclosures, e.g use the VanTec Gen 2 USB enclsoure, to burn at 2x, and use the WH16NS60 as opposed to the ASUS BH-16.