# Dying drive or bad blanks?



## The VCR King

Something ain't right... I am trying to burn some mix CD's for my CD changer and I burned five coasters before I burned a good disc. Is my drive dying?


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## johnb35

Have you tried slowing down the burn speed?  What brand of disks are you using?  How are you burning them?


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## The VCR King

johnb35 said:


> Have you tried slowing down the burn speed?  What brand of disks are you using?  How are you burning them?


I've always had it set at max 52X speed and I use Verbatim printable disks.


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## johnb35

Too fast, reduce the speed to say half that and see what happens.


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## spirit

First thing to do is to try a slower burn speed. The slower the burn, the more likely it is to succeed. 

Can you try another brand of disks or maybe another burn these disks in another drive? 5 coasters sounds like a lot.


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## beers

How old is the drive?


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## The VCR King

spirit said:


> First thing to do is to try a slower burn speed. The slower the burn, the more likely it is to succeed.
> 
> Can you try another brand of disks or maybe another burn these disks in another drive? 5 coasters sounds like a lot.


I slowed down the burn speed to 32X and the problem seems to be fixed. I have a Memorex USB CD drive that I have and it'll burn at 52X or even 60X with no problems.



beers said:


> How old is the drive?


I don't know. There isn't a sticker on it but I'm pretty sure it's original to the PC, so assume it's from 2010.

Looks like this:


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## johnb35

The VCR King said:


> There isn't a sticker on it



The sticker is on the bottom of the unit and it will have a manufacture date on it.


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## The VCR King

johnb35 said:


> The sticker is on the bottom of the unit and it will have a manufacture date on it.


Confirmed from 2010.


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## spirit

For the time being just burn at 32x then unless you want to use your Memorex drive. At least you have that option and can still burn, if a little slower than what you've been used to. Drive isn't completely dead or discs aren't bad then.


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## The VCR King

spirit said:


> For the time being just burn at 32x then unless you want to use your Memorex drive. At least you have that option and can still burn, if a little slower than what you've been used to. Drive isn't completely dead or discs aren't bad then.


I might get an IDE to SATA converter and remove the Memorex from it's enclosure I got it in and put it into the rig later.


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## spirit

The VCR King said:


> I might get an IDE to SATA converter and remove the Memorex from it's enclosure I got it in and put it into the rig later.


OK sounds like an alright idea. Is it a 5.25" drive?

DVD-RW drives are so cheap these days that if it's a little more expensive to just buy a new SATA drive I'd honestly do that. You could get an OEM one really cheaply, doesn't even need to be branded really.


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## beers

The VCR King said:


> I might get an IDE to SATA converter and remove the Memorex from it's enclosure I got it in and put it into the rig later.


As per spriit, it's probably the same cost to just get an internal SATA drive.  Microcenter has a few for like $15.

Then you also get a NEW drive instead of screwing around with old IDE garbage on a drive that has a limited lifespan to it.


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## The VCR King

beers said:


> As per spriit, it's probably the same cost to just get an internal SATA drive.  Microcenter has a few for like $15.
> 
> Then you also get a NEW drive instead of screwing around with old IDE garbage on a drive that has a limited lifespan to it.


This memorex drive has been working since 1999 and I know It's burned over 2500 discs in its lifetime since i've had it. I might just get a SATA one like you said tho but I use my Memorex just for burning now as it can only read and write CDs


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## spirit

Trouble is that sometimes these SATA to IDE data adapters don't work too great. I've not had much luck with them.


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## beers

spirit said:


> Trouble is that sometimes these SATA to IDE data adapters don't work too great.



Yeah you'd probably be better off with a more 'native' IDE PCIE card instead which tend to be slightly better.


The VCR King said:


> it can only read and write CDs



Sounds like a limitation you would no longer be subjected to if you went new. 
http://www.microcenter.com/product/444260/SH-224FB-BSBE_24x_SATA_Internal_DVD_Burner_-_OEM



The VCR King said:


> Looks like this:



Lies, yours doesn't have a blu-ray sticker on it.   Also, pretty much every internal optical drive looks extremely similar.


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## The VCR King

beers said:


> Yeah you'd probably be better off with a more 'native' IDE PCIE card instead which tend to be slightly better.
> 
> 
> Sounds like a limitation you would no longer be subjected to if you went new.
> http://www.microcenter.com/product/444260/SH-224FB-BSBE_24x_SATA_Internal_DVD_Burner_-_OEM
> 
> 
> 
> Lies, yours doesn't have a blu-ray sticker on it.   Also, pretty much every internal optical drive looks extremely similar.


My drive has a Blu-Ray sticker on it and it will read Blu-Ray discs as I finally figured out how to got them to play in VLC.


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## beers

The VCR King said:


> My drive has a Blu-Ray sticker on it and it will read Blu-Ray discs as I finally figured out how to got them to play in VLC.



Cool, I thought you were referring to the other one


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## The VCR King

Guys I figured it out. Bad blanks. I bought a used TDK CDRW4008B drive at a Goodwill for $5 and put it in my external enclosure. I burned one of my current blank CDs (from the only spindle I have, some verbatim printables) and it failed four times before it burned a good copy on the TDK, and my Samsung took five tries before it burned a good disc. I then bought a brand-new spindle of Memorex CD-Rs and both worked perfectly first try. So this whole time I had crap blanks.


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## johnb35

Either dying drive or just needed a firmware update.


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## The VCR King

johnb35 said:


> Either dying drive or just needed a firmware update.


...


The VCR King said:


> Guys I figured it out.* Bad blanks*. I bought a used TDK CDRW4008B drive at a Goodwill for $5 and put it in my external enclosure. I burned one of my current blank CDs (from the only spindle I have, some verbatim printables) and* it failed four times before it burned a good copy* on the TDK, and my Samsung took five tries before it burned a good disc. I then bought a *brand-new spindle of Memorex CD-Rs and both worked perfectly first try*. So this whole time I had crap blanks.


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## beers

> I bought a used TDK CDRW4008B drive at a Goodwill for $5



Sounds super reliable bro.


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## The VCR King

beers said:


> Sounds super reliable bro.


It actually works really well to be honest, I'm surprised. This thing does 52x no problem, and the headphone jack on it is a nice feature that I enjoy.


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## beers

The VCR King said:


> It actually works really well to be honest


*


The VCR King said:



			it failed four times before it burned a good copy
		
Click to expand...

Mkay.*


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## The VCR King

beers said:


> *Mkay.*


BAD BLANKS... my other drives did the same issue until i bought new blanks


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## voyagerfan99

The VCR King said:


> It actually works really well to be honest, I'm surprised. This thing does 52x no problem, and the headphone jack on it is a nice feature that I enjoy.


Burning slower is better.


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## Darren

I'm no connoisseur of physical media, but is a bad batch of blank discs a feasible reason for this? I mean yeah, it's VCR, we gotta tease  , but thought I'd ask.


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