Incompatibility Issues

[PhillyBtv]

Hey all,
Long time reader, first time poster. I've been having a lot of problems with my external DVD burner as of late and I almost went out and got a new drive, but I figured I'd do some testing before it came to that. I've had a 16x Megastor Mad Dog external burner for about 5 or 6 years now, and I've always used Memorex 16x DVD-Rs to get my jobs done. Never had any problems before, but now when I use ImgBurn, I only get an initial incompatibility error. My internal burner works just fine, but I prefer using my external. Just as a test, I tried to burn a CD with iTunes using my computer and it wouldn't even do that, so I did the same test on my brothers computer and the CD burned just fine, but it still wouldn't burn .iso's. The Mad Dog is SUPER old, pretty sure they went out of business, but there might still be some life in this thing. I want to try using some higher-grade blanks to see if that would fix the error, but I don't know if that'll fix it. Here's the ImgBurn log:

I 15:04:19 ImgBurn Version 2.5.6.0 started!
I 15:04:19 Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition (6.0, Build 6002 : Service Pack 2)
I 15:04:19 Total Physical Memory: 1,963,332 KB - Available: 919,204 KB
I 15:04:19 Initialising SPTI...
I 15:04:19 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices...
I 15:04:20 -> Drive 1 - Info: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-K17LF 4.53 (D (ATA)
I 15:04:20 -> Drive 2 - Info: MAD DOG MD-16XDVD9A2 1.F3 (E (USB)
I 15:04:20 Found 1 DVD±RW and 1 DVD±RW/RAM!
I 15:04:35 Operation Started!
I 15:04:35 Source File: C:\Users\Owner\Documents\Justice Files\WarGames(1983).ISO
I 15:04:35 Source File Sectors: 2,282,522 (MODE1/2048)
I 15:04:35 Source File Size: 4,674,605,056 bytes
I 15:04:35 Source File Volume Identifier: WARGAMES
I 15:04:35 Source File Volume Set Identifier: 4F522EAEDVDSHRNK
I 15:04:35 Source File Implementation Identifier: DVD Shrink
I 15:04:35 Source File File System(s): ISO9660, UDF (1.02)
I 15:04:35 Destination Device: [0:0:0] MAD DOG MD-16XDVD9A2 1.F3 (E (USB)
I 15:04:35 Destination Media Type: DVD-R (Disc ID: MBI 01RG40)
I 15:04:35 Destination Media Sectors: 2,298,496
I 15:04:35 Write Mode: DVD
I 15:04:35 Write Type: DAO
I 15:04:35 Write Speed: MAX
I 15:04:35 Link Size: Auto
I 15:04:35 Lock Volume: Yes
I 15:04:35 Test Mode: No
I 15:04:35 OPC: No
I 15:04:35 BURN-Proof: Enabled
I 15:04:35 Write Speed Successfully Set! - Effective: 1,385 KB/s (1x)
E 15:04:41 Failed to Reserve Track! - Reason: Cannot Write Medium - Incompatible Format
E 15:04:42 Operation Failed! - Duration: 00:00:07
I 15:04:42 Average Write Rate: N/A - Maximum Write Rate: N/A


Any and all help is very much appreciated.

Update: After going to get some better quality media, 4.7GB Verbatim DVD-Rs, I tried again with the Mad Dog. It actually started burning which was a huge leap forward, but then it errored out. Here's the other log:

erI 21:39:45 ImgBurn Version 2.5.6.0 started!
I 21:39:45 Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition (6.0, Build 6002 : Service Pack 2)
I 21:39:45 Total Physical Memory: 1,963,332 KB - Available: 950,088 KB
I 21:39:45 Initialising SPTI...
I 21:39:45 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices...
I 21:39:45 -> Drive 1 - Info: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-K17LF 4.53 (D (ATA)
I 21:39:46 -> Drive 2 - Info: MAD DOG MD-16XDVD9A2 1.F3 (E (USB)
I 21:39:46 Found 1 DVD±RW and 1 DVD±RW/RAM!
I 21:39:57 Operation Started!
I 21:39:57 Source File: C:\Users\Owner\Documents\Justice Files\WarGames(1983).ISO
I 21:39:57 Source File Sectors: 2,282,522 (MODE1/2048)
I 21:39:57 Source File Size: 4,674,605,056 bytes
I 21:39:57 Source File Volume Identifier: WARGAMES
I 21:39:57 Source File Volume Set Identifier: 4F522EAEDVDSHRNK
I 21:39:57 Source File Implementation Identifier: DVD Shrink
I 21:39:57 Source File File System(s): ISO9660, UDF (1.02)
I 21:39:57 Destination Device: [0:0:0] MAD DOG MD-16XDVD9A2 1.F3 (E (USB)
I 21:39:57 Destination Media Type: DVD-R (Disc ID: CMC MAG. AM3)
I 21:39:57 Destination Media Supported Write Speeds: 2x, 4x, 6x, 8x, 12x, 16x
I 21:39:57 Destination Media Sectors: 2,298,496
I 21:39:57 Write Mode: DVD
I 21:39:57 Write Type: DAO
I 21:39:57 Write Speed: 8x
I 21:39:57 Link Size: Auto
I 21:39:57 Lock Volume: Yes
I 21:39:57 Test Mode: No
I 21:39:57 OPC: No
I 21:39:57 BURN-Proof: Enabled
I 21:39:57 Write Speed Successfully Set! - Effective: 11,080 KB/s (8x)
I 21:39:58 Filling Buffer... (40 MB)
I 21:39:59 Writing LeadIn...
I 21:40:29 Writing Session 1 of 1... (1 Track, LBA: 0 - 2282521)
I 21:40:29 Writing Track 1 of 1... (MODE1/2048, LBA: 0 - 2282521)
I 21:49:35 Synchronising Cache...
I 21:49:52 Exporting Graph Data...
I 21:49:52 Graph Data File: C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\ImgBurn\Graph Data Files\MAD_DOG_MD-16XDVD9A2_1.F3_THURSDAY-MARCH-15-2012_9-39_PM_CMC_MAG._AM3_8x.ibg
I 21:49:52 Export Successfully Completed!
I 21:49:52 Operation Successfully Completed! - Duration: 00:09:55
I 21:49:52 Average Write Rate: 8,376 KB/s (6.0x) - Maximum Write Rate: 11,494 KB/s (8.3x)
I 21:49:52 Cycling Tray before Verify...
I 21:50:09 Device Ready!
I 21:50:13 Operation Started!
I 21:50:13 Source Device: [0:0:0] MAD DOG MD-16XDVD9A2 1.F3 (E (USB)
I 21:50:13 Source Media Type: DVD-R (Book Type: DVD-R) (Disc ID: CMC MAG. AM3)
I 21:50:13 Source Media Supported Write Speeds: 2x, 4x, 6x, 8x, 12x, 16x
I 21:50:13 Image File: C:\Users\Owner\Documents\Justice Files\WarGames(1983).ISO
I 21:50:13 Image File Sectors: 2,282,522 (MODE1/2048)
I 21:50:13 Image File Size: 4,674,605,056 bytes
I 21:50:13 Image File Volume Identifier: WARGAMES
I 21:50:13 Image File Volume Set Identifier: 4F522EAEDVDSHRNK
I 21:50:13 Image File Implementation Identifier: DVD Shrink
I 21:50:13 Image File File System(s): ISO9660, UDF (1.02)
I 21:50:13 Read Speed (Data/Audio): MAX / MAX
I 21:50:14 Verifying Session 1 of 1... (1 Track, LBA: 0 - 2282521)
I 21:50:14 Verifying Track 1 of 1... (MODE1/2048, LBA: 0 - 2282521)
W 21:50:22 Failed to Read Sector 48 - Reason: Unrecovered Read Error
W 21:55:30 Retrying (1)...
W 21:55:32 Retry Failed - Reason: Unrecovered Read Error
E 21:55:35 Failed to Read Sector 48 - Reason: Unrecovered Read Error
E 21:55:35 Failed to Verify Sectors!
I 21:55:36 Exporting Graph Data...
I 21:55:36 Graph Data File: C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\ImgBurn\Graph Data Files\MAD_DOG_MD-16XDVD9A2_1.F3_THURSDAY-MARCH-15-2012_9-39_PM_CMC_MAG._AM3_8x.ibg
I 21:55:36 Export Successfully Completed!
E 21:55:36 Operation Failed! - Duration: 00:05:22
I 21:55:36 Average Verify Rate: 0 KB/s (0.0x) - Maximum Verify Rate: 0 KB/s (0.0x)

[cynthia]

The first log shows that the media (code) was not supported by the firmware (there is no supported write speed row in the log).

The second one shows that the quality of the discs can be a bit tricky. I would try with another write speed like 4x or 6x to see if the burner can read back what it just burned.

If you still get errors, try with some Verbatim AZO and if they also crap out, get a new burner.