Precautions when using - LG Electronics 4081 Multi DVD-CD Rewriter.

[traderv]

Stan,

My sympathies. I have the 4040B, and I started as a novice to DVD
technology, although knowledgeable in computer tech and capable with CD.

You are correct that support from LG is BAD, probably among the worste I've
encountered in my far too many years. I'm equating "Bad" with
"Nonexistant." My simple e-mail request asking for definition of which
specs to ask for when purchasing DVD-RAM media received a prompt email
response acknowledging recipot of the request. That was a month ago. I
followed up with another email saying that I was still waiting for the
promised answer. No such luck. I've lost a lot of time starting at the
bottom of the learning curve, unable to get any info from LG.

ANyway, my experience with the drive itself was initially very frustrating.
I was writing to RW DVD's. I found various brands to highly unrealiable. I
almost gave up on the machine. I have not yet found a reliable way to write
to rewritable DVDs. Writing to DVD R formats has been flawless.

My experience with the DVD-RAM has been the nicest part of the entire
episode. I am giving up on DVD-RW and going to DVD-RAM. With DVD-RAM, the
drive works as easily as a Diskette drive. No waiting to batch write as for
CD-R or DVD R on WinXP. It's like having another 5GB hard drive with
removable medium.

If you find a good (inexpensive?) source for DVD-RAM media, I'd like to
know.

Good luck to you. Maybe there should be a LG Forum or possibly an I Hate LG
forum.

Cheers,

traderv

This is being written because there appears to be a serious lack of
support on this product and some of the software, hopefully this will
help fellow sufferers to painlessly clear a few hurdles. Having very
limited knowledge about computing and having to rely on support from
manufacturers, suppliers and the www, an enquiring mind has proved the
best tool available. Any expert or otherwise input will be very
welcome.

The drive was purchased primarily to create data backups on fewer
discs, with its multipurpose abilities and cost it came to the top of
the pile. The appearance and mechanical operation are excellent,
these being marred by the lack of online support for both the hardware
and software. Maxell the disc manufacturer were the only company to
respond to cries of help, albeit after the somewhat impatient action
was taken.

The retail version of this unit is bundled with Software, connectors
and a DVD-RAM Disc.
The DVD-RAM disc was formatted, using the supplied software, to the
recommended UDF 1.5 format. Some 'test' files were then written to
the disc. A nice touch [I thought] was the ability to apply Write
Protection using the same software.

However, this write protection did not stop an attempt to copy
additional files by dragging and dropping from within Windows
Explorer.

Having written the latter files using Explorer the disc displayed as
if totally blank, gone were the originally written files and there was
no evidence of the latter files. On repeating the last operation the
Windows warning 'The file.....exists, do you wish to overwrite....'
appeared, but the disc resisted all attempts to have file\s written to
it. Attempts to remove the Write Protection failed with the disc
being indicated as 'in use'.

All attempts to reformat the disc failed, this included using the
supplied software, Windows Explorer [after uninstalling the third
party software] and from the command line. By moving the disc to
another machine, with identical hardware and software, it was possible
to reformat the disc. However, returning the disc to the original
machine it was found still unusable and could still not be
reformatted. Warnings given included ' the drive could not be locked'
, 'the disc\drive is in use' and eventually 'there is no disc in the
drive'.

Having only just set up effectively a new system from scratch due to
major hardware changes I decided, to reformat and reinstall Windows
XP. I chose this route in order to overcome the problem quickly, I
wanted removable backup right from the off, even though I was sure
there were controls within Windows XP and probably the root of the
issue. With the reinstallation completed the disc was reformatted and
in Explorer files can be dragged and dropped at will, no prizes for
guessing that I will not be using the bundled software again.

This proved that there was nothing wrong with the disc so I set about
finding out where the control was located within Windows XP. I found
by probing around in Windows XP the following:

Start > Control Panel (Classic View) > Administrative Tools > Computer
Management > Storage > Removable Storage > Libraries

expand Libraries in the left hand pane, then right click on the
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA 4081B drive [substitute your particular drive
details] which should be listed in the left hand pane, then the
dropdown box reveals:

Properties > Security (Tab)

The settings under Security can be changed by checking\un-checking the
appropriate checkboxes.

With the appropriate disc in the drive and the specific drive
highlighted, under Libraries in the left hand pane, in the right hand
pane the disc details will be visible. Right clicking on this entry
produces a dropdown menu. The 'Free' selection, if all else has
failed, gives a warning about destroying data on the disc. Clicking
on Free gives a second warning that the data would be destroyed, when
taking that option the data is removed and in Windows Explorer opening
the disc gives the warning 'The disc in drive..... is not formatted do
you wish to format the disc Yes\No'. It assumed this would have been
the simplest route to regain control over the wayward disc, if anyone
knows the answer to this please pass on the information. With
suitable backups and Restore Points in place, it is intended to
attempt to recreate this problem and test the abilities of these
facilities to recover a disc.

From the dropdown menu mentioned, in the last paragraph above,
choosing 'Properties' and then the 'Media' Tab shows is an entry for
'Sequence' it was interesting to see that this is incremented after
each operation including formatting and keeps a 'record' of the number
of operations performed on the disc.

Best regards,

Stan The Man

 

[Stan]

This is being written because there appears to be a serious lack of
support on this product and some of the software, hopefully this will
help fellow sufferers to painlessly clear a few hurdles. Having very
limited knowledge about computing and having to rely on support from
manufacturers, suppliers and the www, an enquiring mind has proved the
best tool available. Any expert or otherwise input will be very
welcome.

The drive was purchased primarily to create data backups on fewer
discs, with its multipurpose abilities and cost it came to the top of
the pile. The appearance and mechanical operation are excellent,
these being marred by the lack of online support for both the hardware
and software. Maxell the disc manufacturer were the only company to
respond to cries of help, albeit after the somewhat impatient action
was taken.

The retail version of this unit is bundled with Software, connectors
and a DVD-RAM Disc.
The DVD-RAM disc was formatted, using the supplied software, to the
recommended UDF 1.5 format. Some ‘test' files were then written to
the disc. A nice touch [I thought] was the ability to apply Write
Protection using the same software.

However, this write protection did not stop an attempt to copy
additional files by dragging and dropping from within Windows
Explorer.

Having written the latter files using Explorer the disc displayed as
if totally blank, gone were the originally written files and there was
no evidence of the latter files. On repeating the last operation the
Windows warning 'The file.....exists, do you wish to overwrite....'
appeared, but the disc resisted all attempts to have file\s written to
it. Attempts to remove the Write Protection failed with the disc
being indicated as ‘in use'.

All attempts to reformat the disc failed, this included using the
supplied software, Windows Explorer [after uninstalling the third
party software] and from the command line. By moving the disc to
another machine, with identical hardware and software, it was possible
to reformat the disc. However, returning the disc to the original
machine it was found still unusable and could still not be
reformatted. Warnings given included ‘ the drive could not be locked'
, ‘the disc\drive is in use' and eventually ‘there is no disc in the
drive'.

Having only just set up effectively a new system from scratch due to
major hardware changes I decided, to reformat and reinstall Windows
XP. I chose this route in order to overcome the problem quickly, I
wanted removable backup right from the off, even though I was sure
there were controls within Windows XP and probably the root of the
issue. With the reinstallation completed the disc was reformatted and
in Explorer files can be dragged and dropped at will, no prizes for
guessing that I will not be using the bundled software again.

This proved that there was nothing wrong with the disc so I set about
finding out where the control was located within Windows XP. I found
by probing around in Windows XP the following:

Start > Control Panel (Classic View) > Administrative Tools > Computer
Management > Storage > Removable Storage > Libraries

expand Libraries in the left hand pane, then right click on the
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA 4081B drive [substitute your particular drive
details] which should be listed in the left hand pane, then the
dropdown box reveals:

Properties > Security (Tab)

The settings under Security can be changed by checking\un-checking the
appropriate checkboxes.

With the appropriate disc in the drive and the specific drive
highlighted, under Libraries in the left hand pane, in the right hand
pane the disc details will be visible. Right clicking on this entry
produces a dropdown menu. The 'Free' selection, if all else has
failed, gives a warning about destroying data on the disc. Clicking
on Free gives a second warning that the data would be destroyed, when
taking that option the data is removed and in Windows Explorer opening
the disc gives the warning 'The disc in drive..... is not formatted do
you wish to format the disc Yes\No'. It assumed this would have been
the simplest route to regain control over the wayward disc, if anyone
knows the answer to this please pass on the information. With
suitable backups and Restore Points in place, it is intended to
attempt to recreate this problem and test the abilities of these
facilities to recover a disc.

From the dropdown menu mentioned, in the last paragraph above,
choosing ‘Properties' and then the ‘Media' Tab shows is an entry for
‘Sequence' it was interesting to see that this is incremented after
each operation including formatting and keeps a ‘record' of the number
of operations performed on the disc.

Best regards,

Stan The Man

 

[traderv]

Stan,

Sony DVD-RW were absolutely NG. Was told by the retailer before I bought
them that Sony would make good if they didn't work. Haven't been able to
find a contact for Sony for this and gave up on that. It's the wasted time,
not the money that is the real cost.

Also no luck with Memorex DVD+RW and -RW and FujiDVD+RW.

Actually, haven't found a satifactory RW to work with the machine.
I have several unopened pieces of the preceding brands available at 1/2
price.

I would sure like it if the manufacturers would stand behind their products.

traderv

 

[John Turco]

Stan,

My sympathies. I have the 4040B, and I started as a novice to DVD
technology, although knowledgeable in computer tech and capable with CD.

You are correct that support from LG is BAD, probably among the worste I've
encountered in my far too many years. I'm equating "Bad" with
"Nonexistant." My simple e-mail request asking for definition of which
specs to ask for when purchasing DVD-RAM media received a prompt email
response acknowledging recipot of the request. That was a month ago. I
followed up with another email saying that I was still waiting for the
promised answer. No such luck. I've lost a lot of time starting at the
bottom of the learning curve, unable to get any info from LG.

ANyway, my experience with the drive itself was initially very frustrating.
I was writing to RW DVD's. I found various brands to highly unrealiable. I
almost gave up on the machine. I have not yet found a reliable way to write
to rewritable DVDs. Writing to DVD R formats has been flawless.

My experience with the DVD-RAM has been the nicest part of the entire
episode. I am giving up on DVD-RW and going to DVD-RAM. With DVD-RAM, the
drive works as easily as a Diskette drive. No waiting to batch write as for
CD-R or DVD R on WinXP. It's like having another 5GB hard drive with
removable medium.

If you find a good (inexpensive?) source for DVD-RAM media, I'd like to
know.

Good luck to you. Maybe there should be a LG Forum or possibly an I Hate LG
forum.

Cheers,

traderv

<cut previous messages, for brevity>

Hello,

I live in the USA, and my local Wal-Mart has 3-packs of Maxell DVD-RAM
(single-sided, no cartridge), at $12.97 apiece. That's pretty damned
cheap, so I stocked up on a few, last year.

Good luck, and happy hunting!


Cordially,
John Turco <[email protected]>

 

[Stan]

tradrerv

It is no surprise to find others who have had poor response from LG
Electronics Customer Service\Help department. First, try to discover
where in LG Electronics sites ANY information can be found regarding
the GSA 4081B Multi DVD-CD Writer!
Given that many of LG's products have downloads for Manuals, Drivers
etc, it appears that LG wish this particular product was not on the
sales list.

Two help request submissions to separate LG websites brought
absolutely nil response. There are nil e-mail addresses or Fax numbers
to facilitate contact. Straightforward telephone contact, which
involves contractual process, is avoided because it eliminates written
record of the event being discussed. In addition, it is possible that
the telephone line for support will be charged at premium rates, this
is certainly the case with many e-retailers.

Please can you advise the type of DVD-RW used in the failed attempts
i.e. Plus or Minus?


John

On the subject of DVD-RAM Disc supplies, I would like to learn of any
UK sources. [Do Wal-Mart mail order to overseas destinations? Just
joking]

Best regards,

Stan The Man

 

[John Turco]

tradrerv

It is no surprise to find others who have had poor response from LG
Electronics Customer Service\Help department. First, try to discover
where in LG Electronics sites ANY information can be found regarding
the GSA 4081B Multi DVD-CD Writer!
Given that many of LG's products have downloads for Manuals, Drivers
etc, it appears that LG wish this particular product was not on the
sales list.

Two help request submissions to separate LG websites brought
absolutely nil response. There are nil e-mail addresses or Fax numbers
to facilitate contact. Straightforward telephone contact, which
involves contractual process, is avoided because it eliminates written
record of the event being discussed. In addition, it is possible that
the telephone line for support will be charged at premium rates, this
is certainly the case with many e-retailers.

Please can you advise the type of DVD-RW used in the failed attempts
i.e. Plus or Minus?

Hello, Stan:

In my opinion, Panasonic is the way to go, most notably where DVD-RAM is
concerned. (No personal experience with the company's support, as I've

John

On the subject of DVD-RAM Disc supplies, I would like to learn of any
UK sources. [Do Wal-Mart mail order to overseas destinations? Just
joking]

Best regards,

Stan The Man

Seriously, the Maxell DVD-RAM 3-packs aren't available on Wal-Mart's Web
site (http://www.walmart.com), which "only ships orders within the 50
states, APO/FPO military addresses as well as major offshore territories
and protectorates of the United States."

ASDA <http://www.asda.com> is the store's UK branch, but, doesn't carry
computer supplies, apparently.


Cordially,
John Turco <[email protected]>