What is "Medium write error"???

Try setting your burn speed lower (try 4x speed). If that doesn't work, use some compressed air to clean the drive out and try again at a lower burn speed.

I've been getting the same errors lately on my Macbook - blew out the slot with some compressed air, and burned on 8x instead of 24x and it's working (burning in the Finder, Verbatim CD-R) - any clues as to why it's burning slow but not fast? (we use that brand at work, and it has always worked) - Should I take in the Macbook for service? Is this indicative of a larger problem w/ hardware?

EDIT: The disc burned, but then after finishing spit out with the following message:

"This disc could not be verified and might be unreliable. Try again using a new, blank disc. (Error code 0x80020063)"

Message was edited by: nickdynamite

What application are you using? What type of media are you using? Have you successfully burned to it before? Try reducing the write speed if you can (e.g. if burning an audio cd in iTunes, you can select a lower speed to burn at).

I've had exactly the same problem. Burning CDs was never a chore before this weekend, but all of a sudden, "Medium Write Error".
I'll try burning at a different speed.
Thanks for asking the question.

Bethan Williams wrote:
I've had exactly the same problem. Burning CDs was never a chore before this weekend, but all of a sudden, "Medium Write Error".
I'll try burning at a different speed.

"Medium" is just short for "recording medium".

All it means is that you probably have some error writing to that particular CD at that particular speed. Could be a verify error, although I thought that it should say something different in that case.

The same problem started occurring with me today. Lens cleaner disc did not help. I picked a previous itunes list I had recorded before with no problems and got the same medium write error again. I slowed the record speed from maximum possible to 12x and the disc recorded. This is the first time in the year since I bought my mac this has occurred.

Somewhat annoying but at least it records at a slower speed. This i the first time I have tried to record a disc since the latest itunes update. Could that possibly have something to do with it?

5/18/2009. May I suggest, in my humble experience, since I have read other replies elsewhere to questions similar to this, note the speed on the disc. I have read the posts that recommend blowing compressed air into and over the CD/DVD laser lens in its compartment. I have read the replies elsewhere that tell to try a low speed, such as, 1x or 2x or 4x and so on. I have tried these with mixed results. What does work for me is this. I use Disk Utility for DVDs and where the window asks for speed of recording, i.e., best and 2.4x and 4.0x, the DVD DL--regardless of brand--says 2.4x so that is the speed of recording that I select. And it works, well, OK. Many regular DVDs say 16x speed on the top of their disc. That is greater leeway. Many CDs say up to 48x speed. Macintosh help says that earlier SUPERdrives would record DVD-R but not DVD+R. I simply suggest that one follow the recording speed printed on the disc itself or on its package. Roxio Titanium Toast 7, which I have, was no help for DVD DLs because it had no 2.4x speed to select. Best wishes. C. Yopst Chicago area

Any chance you are trying to use Memorex discs? They're crap, and probably your problem if so.