The burn failed because of a medium write error.

Question

Level 1

4 points

The burn failed because of a medium write error.

iDVD won't burn to my DVD player for some reason. So, I made a disk image, and am trying to now use disc utility to burn that.

I am getting the following error. I am using Apple branded DVD-Rs (yes, I still have some, bought a large amount of them in 2007). I have also tried TDK, Maxell, Verbatim and Sony media. I have cleaned the lens in my DVD player. The DVD mechanism plays movies just fine, and mounts disks bought commercially as movies, and burned on my PC.

I can burn to CD-R, but not to DVD-R. I can burn to CD out of itunes, but I can't burn to DVD out of iDVD, or with disk utility.

I get this message:

"The attempt to burn disc failed. The burn failed because of a medium write error."

Here is the info on my DVD-R from System Profiler:

MATSHITADVD-R UJ-857:

Model: MATSHITADVD-R UJ-857
Revision: HAEA
Serial Number:
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
Low Power Polling: Yes
Power Off: Yes

And here is what is says under 'Disc Burning':

MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857:

Firmware Revision: HAEA
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO
Media:
Type: DVD-R
ID: RITEKF1
Blank: Yes
Erasable: No
Overwritable: Yes
Appendable: Yes
Write Speeds: 1x, 2x, 4x

This is an original 2006 2 ghz Core Duo 15" MacBook Pro.

i've tried TDK, Pioneer, Maxell and Generic DVD-R andT DVD-RW media, but always get this same error.

The log says:

Disk Utility: Burn started, Thu May 7 09:26:15 2009
Disk Utility: Burning to DVD-R (AN32) media with DAO strategy in MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857 HAEA via ATAPI.
Disk Utility: Requested burn speed was 2x, actual burn speed is 2x.
Disk Utility: Burn underrun protection is supported, and enabled.
Disk Utility: Write (10), block: 0, count: 64 -> 3/11/00 Medium Error, Unrecovered read error
Disk Utility: Burn failed, Thu May 7 09:27:37 2009
Disk Utility: Burn sense: 3/11/00 Medium Error, Unrecovered read error
Disk Utility: Burn error: 0x8002006E The burn failed because of a medium write error.

Macbook Pro 2Ghz Intel Core Duo, Mac OS X (10.5.6), 2gb RAM

Posted on May 8, 2009 9:07 AM

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Answer 1

Klaus1

Level 9

52,879 points

May 8, 2009 3:16 PM in response to mdfrancois

I have also tried TDK, Maxell, Verbatim and Sony media

Me too. Out of that list the only brand that has NEVER produced a coaster (on the same burner as yours) is Verbatim DVD-R and Fuji DVD-R. All the others produced a 25-50% failure rate.

Have you tried burning at a slower speed?

Using 16x DVD media is fine - in fact it is difficult to buy any other - but there is a consensus in the Apple Support Forums that a slower burn is a better burn i.e. 2x or 4x (slow burns are better burns!). I always use Toast for burning.

The term "Best" means the fastest speed that the drive told Toast it can write to a specific disc. The drive's firmware and info on the disc decide what speed burns are available. When you press the speed setting button in Toast (after inserting a disc) you'll likely see some speeds in italics and some in bold face. The ones in bold face are supported by that media on that drive. The fastest one is what Toast calls Best.

Audio CDs in particular should be burned at the lowest supported speed.

Verification is a good indicator the disc is burned okay. However, other DVD players can still have problems with the disc. Media problems with various drives is not uncommon. Slower burning may reduce the chance of those problems, and is one of the reasons why RW (read/write) media is always rated slower than DVD-R.

There are some interesting facts here:

http://www.osta.org/technology/dvdqa/dvdqa4.htm and here:

http://www.osta.org/technology/dvdqa/dvdqa4.htm

But many will tell you that the 'slower burn is best' theory is outdated. Who really knows? At the end of the day, if your home-made DVD was verified by Toast and will play anywhere on anybody's DVD player, then that is the result we are all after!

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Answer 2

mdfrancois Author

Level 1

4 points

May 8, 2009 3:27 PM in response to Klaus1

The log indicates I was burning at 2x speed, the slowest I could select.

After reading your post, I tried Toast, still get errors. So, the same basic error message in iDVD, Disc Utility and Toast.

CDs burn fine (at up to 24x speed), but no DVDs will burn.

Can one burn capability have hardware failure, but other one keep working?

Or is this related to the whole firmware fiasco?

Any help is appreciated.

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Answer 3

Klaus1

Level 9

52,879 points

May 8, 2009 4:38 PM in response to mdfrancois

Burning CDs is different to burning DVDs - different laser settings etc.

I would get the Superdrive checked out - is it still under warranty?

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Answer 4

mdfrancois Author

Level 1

4 points

May 8, 2009 5:29 PM in response to Klaus1

i'm into my 3rd year with this machine, so past warranty ...

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Answer 5

Klaus1

Level 9

52,879 points

May 9, 2009 1:07 AM in response to mdfrancois

You didn't get AppleCare?

A replacement Superdrive is not expensive.

Definitely worth getting it checked.

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Answer 6

May 9, 2009 12:54 PM in response to mdfrancois

Just my 2 cents worth, but I agree with Klaus1 that your super drive may be the culprit. Mine did the same thing and refused to burn DVDs, while still allowing burns to CDs. You probably need to get it replaced.

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Answer 7

mdfrancois Author

Level 1

4 points

May 11, 2009 9:17 AM in response to Klaus1

Apple care expired months ago. Was hoping someone could say 'oh, you need this firmware update, or delete this corrupted prefs file' or something, in terms of getting it to work again.

Guess I'll just stop making DVDs.

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Answer 8

May 11, 2009 10:16 AM in response to mdfrancois

A new drive is not that expensive.

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Answer 9

Vetten

Level 1

0 points

May 11, 2009 3:58 PM in response to Beverly Maneatis

If you replace the drive, how do you change the drive software?

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Answer 10

May 13, 2009 2:19 AM in response to Vetten

Are you going to replace the drive yourself?

I took mine to a place called 'We Fix Macs' and they installed a new Pioneer drive. I didn't have to do anything with software.

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Answer 11

Jul 2, 2009 10:45 AM in response to Klaus1

Have you tried burning at a slower speed?<<<</div>

My computer just turned two years old a week ago and I experienced the dreaded "The burn failed because of a medium write error" message when trying to burn an audio CD. I immediately went to Apple Discussions and tried the suggestion of burning at a lower speed (16x) - it worked!

Thank you, smart guys.

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