What are clear signs your dvd burner is failing?

[parachutestx]

I have a Pioneer brand 12x speed dual layer cd/dvd burner which I use like crazy! I noticed today that for the first time in a while I burned a dvdr that had issues it was a concert dvdr of Radiohead and I noticed on the last song that it had little issues with blockiness and as if it was going to freeze but it didnt and the last track continued to play.

Now I reripped the same dvd later on and burned another copy and it didnt seem to have any problems but then again I havent watched it all the way through but the last track which had the issues on the first burn seemed clean.

Ive been using Maxell 8x dvd-rs and burning at 2x speed and so far although I havent had any burns fail this has made me wonder what the issue might have been ? And more importantly what are big signs your burner is dying?

Thanks

[cynthia]

My own experience:

http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=49733

[kikojames]

Hello all, this is my first post
Anyways, cynthia, reading your post about a dying/dead writer has me worried, your description seems to be what is happening to me today for the first time. I'm hoping that my Sony DRU-710A is not on the way out just yet since I can insert a different brand of blank DVD+R (actually Verbatim +R DL) media than the type giving me the dreaded scratching noise and the drive reads them fine. The media I had been using with no problem for at least 20 discs was the TDK 8X +R so I'm hoping my problem is more associated with the (lack of) quality of the media as opposed to the life span of my drive. I tried cleaning the drive and even restored some registry settings I changed before the problem started, just in case, but the scratching noise still happens I thought Sony drives were pretty good and am still hoping that's the case, but if it's dead...I'll change my way of thinking

Edit: Later the same day...I contacted Sony directly about my problem and they conlcuded: it's a goner BUT, Sony is sending a replacement
Guess I'll give them another chance.

[Taelon]

kikojames,

The Sony DRU-710A is acutally a re-badged LiteOn SOHW-1633 (all the Sony burners in the last few years have actually been LiteOn's).

I'd be interested to hear how the Sony rep concluded the drive was bad, did they ask you to run any specific tests on it? Glad to hear they are sending you a replacement.

[kikojames]

Hi Taelon,
I contacted Sony support by phone and described the problem, the rep asked if I had specific types of software installed (Roxio and Nero) as they might conflict and cause problems (which wasn't the case), and then asked me to download a drive check program from their support site and run it and email the results to them. Well, the rep figured the drive was bad since I couldn't even run the test with the blank media that I had been using (but was no longer able to), the drive just made noises and eventually stopped trying to read it. I was pleasantly surprised that coming to the conclusion that I had a bad drive wasn't a long and drawn out process BUT...they are now out of stock on replacements but "will ship one out any day now"...sigh...what can you do, right?
I miss my burner lol and it's only been a week.

[Taelon]

kikojames,

Sorry to hear you haven't received your new burner yet, hope it comes soon!