DVD-RAM drive -- can't burn?

[*rain*drops*]

I've got a DVD-RAM drive in my notebook. I bought blank DVD's, but I can't
burn to them. I get a message saying that it's not writable media. I
thought a DVD-RAM would write to DVD too? What gives?

 

[LVTravel]

If it is a true DVD-RAM drive you need a DVD-RAM disk (NOT DVD+R or DVD-R or
DVD+/-RW media although some DVD-RAM drives will use anything) and the
proper software to write to it. If it is a DVD-ROM drive that is for
reading CD and DVDs (with some that can burn CDs but not DVDs.)

What is the make and model of the DVD drive (Right click My computer, left
click manage, device manager, DVD/CDrom drives for the information)? What
DVD authoring software are you using. XP won't burn DVDs without 3rd party
software.

 

[Brian A.]

If it's not a DVD-RW you can't burn to any CD or DVD.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

 

[Paul]

I've got a DVD-RAM drive in my notebook. I bought blank DVD's, but I can't
burn to them. I get a message saying that it's not writable media. I
thought a DVD-RAM would write to DVD too? What gives?

There is a review of a DVD_RAM capable drive here. Notice the
special media they use for the DVD_RAM test.

http://www.cdfreaks.com/reviews/Samsung-SH-S182D-DVD-Writer-Review/DVD-RAM-performance.html

First page of review:

http://www.cdfreaks.com/reviews/Samsung-SH-S182D-DVD-Writer-Review

Output of "Nero Infotool" for that drive:

http://gfx.cdfreaks.com/reviews/samsung_sh-s182d/image018.png

The software they use to test all the modes of the drive are
at the bottom of this page. "Burning ROM" is probably doing
most of it. Kprobe is used for scanning, to determine the
quality of the burn. (I thought Kprobe only worked on
Liteon drives, but what do I know...)

http://www.cdfreaks.com/reviews/Samsung-SH-S182D-DVD-Writer-Review/Features.html

Nero Burning ROM
Nero CD/DVD Speed
Nero Info Tool
Slysoft CloneCD
Exact Audio Copy v0.95 beta 4
K-Probe

Paul

 

[*rain*drops*]

There is no "Manage" when I right-click "My Computer." (Where the heck did
it go?). The DVD-RAM drive is Matshita DVD-RAM UJ-841S. Perhaps I am
trying to use the wrong type of DVD disc. That is helpful information --
I'll do some more shopping.

 

[*rain*drops*]

Thanks Paul. I checked Office Depot's site and they don't have any media
that specified DVD-RAM. I found this at another site:
http://www.meritline.com/optodisc-3x-dvd-ram-94g-in-jewel-case.html
Is that the kind of media I would need? And then I could make a DVD with a
slug of programs and music on it?

 

[Paul]

Thanks Paul. I checked Office Depot's site and they don't have any media
that specified DVD-RAM. I found this at another site:
http://www.meritline.com/optodisc-3x-dvd-ram-94g-in-jewel-case.html
Is that the kind of media I would need? And then I could make a DVD with a
slug of programs and music on it?

DVD-RAM is intended for random access, read or write. It is handy if you
want to treat optical media like it was a hard drive. It is not a very
fast technology. Have a look at this page, to see some of its characteristics.
A big question would be, what other drives in your house can read it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvd-ram

A more conventional way to use optical media, is to have the burner
software prepare an image of all the files to be burned, and then
burn a disk. That is a much more popular way to do it. If you buy
an optical drive that comes bundled with Nero, then you can do stuff
like that.

For my own usage, at first I was buying rewritable media, thinking
I would be changing stuff all the time. Everyone's access patterns
are different, and what I've discovered over time, is write-once
media is OK for my usage. Because most of the stuff I archive,
it turns out, I don't overwrite later.

I think if I was you, I'd buy a sample pack of DVD-RAM and play
with it. And see what you think. I bought a bunch of different
3 packs of stuff when I was first tuning up my burner, and by
working with small quantities, you can see which brands work
well.

My main complaint with optical media, in the stuff I've tried the
last couple of years, is burn quality and compatibility. I've burned
stuff on one computer, only to find I cannot read it on another
computer. I end up doing error scans on the burned disks, to see
whether there are problems or not. Which pisses me off big time.
I'm beginning to think my floppy collection is a safer way to do
stuff :-( YMMV.

Now, the DVD-RAM should be different, in that the above Wikipedia
article says the DVD-RAM does read-verify during burn, and has
error management. Which means, if you had flaky media, the
drive would become extremely slow (because of all the extra work
it would be doing, sparing out sectors/tracks and the like), and that
would be an indication that the disks you bought were bad. So
you'd be trying to detect the difference between "slow" operation,
and "extremely slow".

Paul

 

[smlunatick]

I've got a DVD-RAM drive in my notebook. I bought blank DVD's, but I can't
burn to them. I get a message saying that it's not writable media. I
thought a DVD-RAM would write to DVD too? What gives?

If the drive is truly a DVD-RAM drive, then you need to use DVD-RAM
blank media disks. XP natively can only burn onto CD-R(W)s or use DVD-
RAM disks. If you want to burn other types of DVD medias, you need a
third party (not Microsoft) DVD "burning" system like Roxio, Sonic or
Nero. There are some "free" burning tools also.

 

[*rain*drops*]

Thanks, Paul. I'm disappointed to learn that I bought a poor DVD burner.
Here I thought I was getting something good. I do have Nero and can make an
image and burn it to DVD, I guess. I'll follow your suggestions to buy some
3-packs and try them out. I just hope I don't have to spend too much
money -- those DVD discs are expensive!

 

[*rain*drops*]

Well, I do have Nero, and it was Nero that said it couldn't burn to the DVD
discs that I bought. I presume they were either DVD-R or DVD+R. (Why do
things have to be so confusing?)

 

[smlunatick]

I've got a DVD-RAM drive in my notebook. I bought blank DVD's, but I can't
burn to them. I get a message saying that it's not writable media. I
thought a DVD-RAM would write to DVD too? What gives?

XP natively can only burn CD-R(W)s or use DVD-RAM disks. To burn
other DVD media, you need to use a third party utility like Roxio,
Sonic or Nero. There are other "free" utilities.

 

[LVTravel]

Remember that DVD-RAM disks are reusable (some up to 50,000 times per my
Panasonic DVD-RAM instructions). Many devices can not read DVD-RAM disks and
some DVD drives can be damaged (according to the operating instructions) if
you put a DVD-RAM disk in a device that can't read it. So make sure that
the device that is to read the disk is capable of it.

BTW, I attempted to find out more information about your drive from
Matshita - Panasonic but they had no record of the drive even though I see
many references about the drive on various newsgroups (many were never
answered by the newsgroups.)

 

[*rain*drops*]

Thanks for digging up that information. I don't think I feel comfortable
with DVD-RAM. It sounds fussy. This is on a laptop computer that I hope to
reformat and sell as soon as I get my desktop computer up and running. I
will plan to buy a better DVD burner for that one. I'm guessing that DVD-R
or DVD+R would be my best choices. I don't want to be rewrwiting to the
same disk. I just want to burn stuff for archive purposes.

As for the model of this DVD-RAM drive, it's unusual in that it ends in a
"S". There are lots of models with the same number, just no "S". I had to
have the drive replaced, as it didn't work when I brought the computer home.
The warranty repair shop told me they replaced it with the identical drive
that came with the machine.