TDK DVD-R not recordable

Question

TDK DVD-R not recordable

My friend purchased me a 50 pack spindle of TDK DVD-R media to put her old home movies on. I have burned other -R media on here, and the drive itself is fine. What happens is that when I insert the media, the drive tries for about a minute to read it, with repetitive clicking sounds. It then offers to open the disc with the utility, finder, etc. iDVD is unable to burn straight to the disc. When checking in either Disk Utility or the System Profiler, the computer oddly enough reports that the media is NOT blank. I tried multiple discs within the same pack, with the same results. Anyone have this sort of issue before, or have any idea as to what to do with it?

Update: seems all the other media also say "no" to being blank, so I suppose that is not an issue.

Update: Ok, now it's an even bigger problem. Seems that the media I have been using won't burn from iDVD either!

Message was edited by: John-Robert La Porta

Message was edited by: John-Robert La Porta

MacBook Pro Core Duo, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Dec 15, 2009 6:59 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 15, 2009 7:36 AM in response to John-Robert La Porta

Well, now it seems as though nothing will burn....help....

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Answer 2

Dec 15, 2009 7:52 AM in response to John-Robert La Porta

Well, now it seems as though nothing will burn. I tried the disc in both my MacBook Pro and my Dad's PowerMac G5. You can see the difference in the two screen shots at these locations:

http://xserve3.21productions.com/~jlaporta/dvd/dads.png
http://xserve3.21productions.com/~jlaporta/dvd/mine.png

Same exact disc. My computer now says that the disc is not writeable. Is there a way to reset the drive? I last burned something two days ago, without issue, and have not changed anything system-wise.

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Answer 3

Dec 15, 2009 9:59 AM in response to John-Robert La Porta

*A few suggestions:*

Repairing permissions & then restarting your computer usually cures "burning" hiccups. Should be done after each burning session.

Another help source (if you haven't already done so).

Go to your OS Help Menu. In the search field type dvd

Click on all the troubleshooting topics & Support Articles that pertain to your issue.

You can also do the same in Disk Utility. Open same up.
At the bottom left of the window, click on the purple button w/the "?" in the middle.
This will bring up the Help Menu.

===============

Try a different brand. Top forum favorites
CDs
FUJI
TDK
Verbatim Strongly recommended by users.

DVDs
Maxell

Make sure the DVDs are not dirty, smudged and/or scratched.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=50448 How to Handle and Clean CD and DVD Discs

Your drive may need cleaning. Cleaning kits can be purchased from any store that sells CD/DVDs.

Check out the following KB Articles: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2288 Troubleshooting a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM Disc That Does Not Appear on the Desktop

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2801 Apple Portables: Troubleshooting the slot load optical disc drive

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Answer 4

Dec 15, 2009 5:47 PM in response to John-Robert La Porta

I may know what the deal is. It may be the same issue I had -- I work in film and just recently finished my first solo project. It came time to burn the DVD and it was so infuriating -- for some reason I kept getting that same error message you're getting. After many a head-ache and pouring through manuals (I was using DVD Studio Pro) I discovered that the burn speed on the DVD-Rs that I had were too powerful for my "older" computer (even though it's only 2 freakin years old). Just as the brand of DVD matters, so does burn speed on the DVD. Check the labels on the DVD's -- it'll either say 2x, 4x, 8x, or 16x (there might be more, but that's all I can remember off the top of my head). So my computer couldn't handle the DVD-R that had 16x speed, but I knew it could burn the 8x ones because it had already done that in the past. So I too had the wonderful fortune of wasting an entire canister of 16x DVD-R which were incompatible with my computer...

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Answer 5

Jan 6, 2010 3:48 PM in response to Splizzash05

I was having this exact same problem, with TDK's at that. I used a lens cleaner for CD/DVD drives. Drives works perfect now. If you have any problems at all with reading discs try using a lens cleaner first. Then try other steps.

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