10.7.2 Bug, Showing Data DVD as blank, but it's not!

I have a very similar problem with a DVD not being readable oin 10.7.2. After a bit of research it looks like this MAY be an issue with DVDs created with Windows Vista, which seem to not close the second session correctly. Like so many things they work OK on Windows but because they do not adhere properly to the standard they don't work in other systems (like MacOS X) unless the support in the OS is coded to workaround the problem, which hasn't been done. I can't 100% vouch for this as the answer, but it appears likely from what I have found so far.

For a good verdict, test as many CDs and DVDs you can, of various types and brands. If most of them cannot be read and / or burnt, then you may have a hardware problem, otherwise see ncollingridge’s answer.

I'm having a simlar problem with my recent Lion 10.7.3 update. I've installed Parallel 5 and attempting to install a OEM Windows 7 Professional purchased from Newegg. My MBP (Late 2008) is recognizing the disc as 'Blank' in Bootcamp and through the Parallel UI.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated....

I'd say it is because you still have an open session.

I've had problems with this before.

Burn a DVD and give it to someone else (or vice-versa) and it looks blank but works on the original computer and maybe another computer.

See above for my previous comment - I think that as Chris CA's confirms this is the right answer. It works on the original Windows computer but not on other non-Windows systems.

I just experienced this frustrating phenomenon with DVD+R discs sent to me from a colleague on the east coast. He had previously sent me two DVD-R discs that worked as expected. I am running Lion on every Mac in the place. I tried everything. Then took the DVD+R discs to a local friend who—unbeknownst to me— was still running Snow Leopard and he could see everything. That would seem to indicate that it is a problem with Lion and DVD+R discs wouldn't it?

May be an isolated issue with that disk, may happen. Does it repeat with any DVD?

May also indicate a system corruption, I cannot reproduce what you describe.

Open Session Disks have always been problematic in Mac OS, and not recommented. Open sessions made sense 10-12 years ago, when rw-CDs did not exist, and a blank CD cost a lot. Now, open sessions are entirely senseless, and I do not wonder if Apple completely drops support for this outdated method.

You may like it or not, but open sessions discs are really antiquated, and never recommended. This does not solve your issue, I just tried to suggest to abandon this way of burning discs, in the context in which optical discs in general are towards their end.

Why should I be angry? I try to direct you to the good direction, you insist in driving the wrong one, it is your choice.

BeanCurdNerd wrote:

Thank you for proving my point kind sir. 🙂

If this was a problem for more than a handful of people then I would be sure that Apple would have addressed it. I have seen no such issue in any of my Macs or any others I deal with. I notice that a few top range Software Burning programs have already dropped Session Burning.

As much as you dislike it, Cattus is correct that the Optical Disk era is coming to an end. Apple and Microsoft have already pointed to the future being Internet download driven and Cloud storage.

This is not a general problem that has been resurrected here. And your attitude towards other people is both rude and arrogant and I would be very surprised if anybody would even bother to help out in this old thread now. You reap what you sow.

Best of Luck

Bye

Pete

There are some things you do not know, and that is why you are uselessly ironical:

- HFS+, the system format used in Mac OS since 8.1 (if my memory is good, i.e. over the last 14 years, check this with wikipedia) is not something good for multi-sessions discs, that is why Mac OS has NEVER been friendly with such discs. HFS+ has a lot of other advantages, multisession burn is entirely irrelevant as compared to other aspects.

- the overwhelming majority of burn apps in Mac OS X do not include multisession burn, because this is something not supported in Mac OS, all generations, even if some patches have been found

It is very possible that Lion has completely abandoned any support for multisessions burn, this has not been specified in any Apple statement, as far as I know, but I would not wonder if so.

Last, I repeat: multisession burn, at a time when a blank DVD costs below $ .50 is something beyond my understanding. I admit you insist in making Lion read multisessions discs, something useful 10 years ago, now entirely antiquated.

So said, enjoy life as it is.

Can I just add that I have had this problem too. Also running snow leopard. I felt quite silly actually, because a someone from another company sent this disco to me, and it was blank. So I told her, she apologised and sent another. This was blank also! If I hadn't have asked my colleague running windows on a pc to check it, I would have gone back to her proclaiming her to have sent me another blank DVD. I doubt the first one was blank too.