OPTIARC DVD-RW AD-7170A: Getting Error #6 when burning

My suggestion is ditch the Optiarc drive. Replace it with a Pioneer DVR-112D ( retail box DVR-1810 ) a far better drive without Apple's well intended but crippling firmware.

Not really the firmware at fault, the build quality is just plain BAD.

Mine says this on both

OPTIARC DVD RW AD-7170A:

Firmware Revision: 1.N8
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +RW, +R DL
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Burn Underrun Protection DVD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: No

I notice yours says CACHE 0kb

I know people slag these drives off , but Ive burned close to a 1000 CDs and around 200 DVDs , without anything going wrong
I dont know much about computers , which is why Ive always liked Macs , SO easy to use
But the Cache thing looks dodgy to me
Anyone else know more about it ?

I have almost the same drive:
Optiarc DVD RW AD-7170A:

Firmware Revision: 1.02
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Generic Drive Support)
Profile Path: None
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RAM, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: Insert media and refresh to show available burn speeds

Mine works great for burning DVD-R, DL, CDs, etc. but if I leave any disc inside this drive longer than necessary to get a job done, I have to force-reboot my Mac because it will not let me eject the disc. When I use Toast to burn a disc, it is fine unless I am also compressing a movie first--which could cause a coaster because the disc is in the drive too long. What I do for a workaround is save movies as a disk image in Toast then when I am ready to burn the movie, it can be done quickly. I also have Toast set up to automatically eject the disc when it is finished. Unfortunately, when I am ripping audio books in iTunes from CDs, the same thing can happen if I go away and forget to eject the CD when it is finished ripping. I could set up iTunes to automatically eject too except my choice is also to automatically start ripping and I like to first select all tracks and join them, so that option is out.

The person who suggested getting a Pioneer drive is probably right on. I have been thinking of that too even though this one works great for burning discs--as long as discs don't stay in the drive too long. It is supposed to be able to write to DVD-RAM discs and it does, but it is temperamental there too. It could again be the problem of having the discs in the drive too long.

Try setting the "Energy Saver" system preference to not put drives to sleep. Some DVD drives with non-Apple firmware go to sleep with the hard drives, and do not respond to commands as they should.

I have the Optiarc as well. My reported info from system profiler is:

Firmware Revision: 1.NC
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: Insert media and refresh to show available burn speeds

I have not had one coaster.

Try resetting the PRAM and SMC/PMU. You may also try repairing disk permissions. Something may be corrupted somewhere. The lack of it noticing the cache is strange.

I too, wondered about the reliability of the Optiarc. I have had nothing but success with the unit.

I just got my MP with the 7170A Rev 1.NC and it's a total steamer. FCP install was going dog slow (18 hours estimated) and the data written per sec in activity monitor under Disk activity never got above 2 MB/sec. I went as far as to put my old Pioneer 116 in the second bay, from my old G5. I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with the sony issue. I guess I'll call Applecare. I'd like to get it exchanged, it can't possibly be working as intended.

yes I think the 0 cache is suspect

Mine is 0 KB cache as well...
... and its slow as molasses

OPTIARC DVD RW AD-7170A:

Firmware Revision: 1.NC
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 0 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO

I flashed my drive and the speed on it doubled. It's still slow topping out at 5 ish MB / sec on reads, but that's still a 2x improvement. I flashed it in windows. I flashed the Optiarc from firmware 1.N8 to Libby's 1.02c which I got here.


Optiarc DVD RW AD-7170A:

Model: Optiarc DVD RW AD-7170A
Revision: 1.02
Serial Number:
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
Low Power Polling: No


Firmware Revision: 1.02
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Generic Drive Support)
Profile Path: None
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RAM, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: Insert media and refresh to show available burn speeds

null

I have the drive on my MacPro and the same problem !
Mine shows 2048kB for the cache.

It fails at authoring DVD too...

And it also fails at copying DVD with Toast (read errors)

I gonna buy a cheap retail Teac drive and see if it solves these issues...

I can confirm Eric's success with the 102cbt firmware update. Before re-flashing, my Optiarc DVD RW AD-7170A (firmware 1NC) could not burn at all in OS X or XP Pro. The drive kept reporting "sense error ... bad medium." After 5 coasters I realized it wasn't my blanks 🙂

Click on the link in Eric's message to download the 102cbt_orig.bin file. You can then go to:

http://binflash.cdfreaks.com/

to download BINFLASH for WIN or OSX (there's a GUI version for WIN). Use BINFLASH to connect to your writer, save a copy of your current firmware to disk, flash the writer with the new firmware, and hopefully you'll be good to go.

When my writer tried to burn before the re-flash, it reported it could only write at 6X. After the re-flash, it writes at 48X on 48X speed blanks.

Thanks for finding this, Eric. You saved me from having to haul this 50 lb. box to the Apple Store.

Update ...

Even with different firmware (1.02c) the drive started failing again after only 3 successful CD-R burns, so the problem is erratic. Re-installing the original firmware again resulted in no successful burns in 6 attempts. Error code: 0x8002006E

AppleCare is sending a replacement drive. The level-2 support specialist wouldn't say whether the problem with the Optiarc DVD-RW AD-7170A drives is widespread. He only wanted to know if I had tried burning to different batches of blanks. He did not advise a Leopard re-install. I'll post an update on the new drive.

AppleCare did a DIY replacement of the Optiarc with the Pioneer DVD RW 112D. Works great. Quieter and so far no coasters on 10 CD-R burns.