Topic 'Re: Can No Longer Read CD's' in forum 'Computer Hardware Help' - dslreports.com

Re: Can No Longer Read DVD/CD's

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 20:28:30 EDT

psafux posted : It's worthwhile to note that scratching the *top* of the disc is actually far more likely to render a disc unreadable/unusable than scratching the bottom is.

The same idea applies to the markers. Light scribe has fared better so far since it utilizes a special layer independently of the burn layer which is, of course, isolated. Light scribe hasn't been around long enough to stand the test of time but a consumer CD that still works after 10 years is really pushing it in my opinion.

Bottom line - no media should be a sole backup solution. Ever.

Re: Can No Longer Read DVD/CD's

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 07:33:55 EDT

Robotics posted :

said by FizzyMyNizzy:

robot, I think I found your answer

Interesting read. Wouldn't you know it, I did use Sharpies to label them.

Well....live and learn...damn

(thanks for posting this)

--
Long you live and high you fly, and smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry,
and all you touch and all you see, is all your life will ever be.

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 01:54:32 EDT

psafux posted :

said by wishera:

Maybe it is a different process.

It is. Professional recordings outlast consumer recordings because of how the data is written to the disc. The professional ones use bumps & grooves to send the data digitally while CD-R's (consumer discs) use a special layer which the cd burner makes darker. This mimics the effects of the bumps on a professional disc.

The special layer is far easier to ruin than the bumps are.

Re: Can No Longer Read DVD/CD's

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 01:41:50 EDT

FizzyMyNizzy posted : robot, I think I found your answer

»www.tapeonline.com/articles/usin···cds-dvds

quote:
Various postings are surfacing across the internet from professionals and hobbyists alike, reporting that over time permanent ink has made their properly stored discs unusable. There is no apparent reason for the corruption other than the ink used to label the disc.

»www.weeklytips.com/archive/compu···ers.html

quote:
Many people use markers to write on the surface of their CDs and DVDs when labeling their media. What most people do not know is that using markers, such as Sharpies, ballpoint pens, or any other sharp object can be very damaging to the media.
Most markers contain chemicals that create
oxidation, which can deteriorate the CD or DVD. The oxidation can ruin the aluminum, which covers the surface of the media and ultimately can destroy the data on the disc.

Re: Can No Longer Read DVD/CD's

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 11:38:24 EDT

Smoove910 posted : good read here:

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_rot

Re: Can No Longer Read DVD/CD's

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 04:41:15 EDT

n_w95482 posted : Unfortunately, with various qualities of organic dyes and adhesives used in recordable disc manufacturing, it can be hit or miss with long-term reliability. I've thought about picking up a burner with this technology and giving it a shot. Looks interesting at least.
--
KI6RIT

Re: Can No Longer Read DVD/CD's

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 06:09:37 EDT

Robotics posted : Thanks for all the suggestions/responses.

I have come to the conclusion it is bad media. I tried many of them on 5 different players now.

A program claims the DVD's and CD's are RAW type files on them.
Not sure how that happened. They were anything but that type of file.

The majority of them were Maxell type media, so I will never buy them again!

I also noticed the bad ones were thinner than the other DVD's I have which still are working after the same amt. of time.

I sure have a change of mind when it comes to DVD's and CD's now.
I don't see why they don't last forever if a good burner is used.
I guess this technology has quite a ways to go. Makes me wonder why even bother if they claim not to last more then 8 to 10 years anyway.
I have cassette tapes (personal music recordings), from back in the 70's that still play and sound good.

Live and learn....
--
Long you live and high you fly, and smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry,
and all you touch and all you see, is all your life will ever be.

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 23:49:37 EDT

mmainprize posted :

said by n_w95482:

Considering that the drive worked fine with a few dozen other discs (mainly Sony), I'm putting the blame on the Maxell discs. The drive deteriorated very quickly once I started using them.

I have CD and DVD disks i burnt back in 2003 and they are still good today (but not really using them anymore). I have always bought the cheaper disks. I have used many maxell from walmart (but i check the Media Code if it is not good i take it back). The main thing is to make sure you buy disk that are known to work good with your drive model. I would buy a drive based on what media it was compatible with using this site to look up the details from customer comments. You can look up both Writers or Media.
»www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters
»www.videohelp.com/dvdmedia

Some DVD burners will not work good with some Media.

I had one case of Maxell disks from walmart that was opened when i buoght them, it turned out it was a bad batch of disks, I used about 20 without error (i think they replaced the missing ones from the last person that returned them) then the next ten would not burn a good disk (the Media code was a cheap version, known bad). I took them back and got a full refund even with 20 disks missing.

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 20:32:52 EDT

alkizmo posted : Cheap DVDs from spindles tend to not last very long, especially if they are stored somewhere to can get very warm (doesn't have to be warm for very long).

Also, did you even bother checking if they worked after burning them? You may have burned a complete set of failures.

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 20:21:13 EDT

n_w95482 posted : Considering that the drive worked fine with a few dozen other discs (mainly Sony), I'm putting the blame on the Maxell discs. The drive deteriorated very quickly once I started using them.
--
KI6RIT

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 18:30:34 EDT

Aranarth posted : Both! LOL

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 18:10:19 EDT

AlphaOne posted :

said by n_w95482:

One time I bought a few Maxell CD-Rs, and by the third burnt disc, my LiteOn CD burner was fubar'ed. All it would reliably do at that point was read discs.

I'm confused. Are you blaming Maxell or LiteOn ?

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 16:57:03 EDT

n_w95482 posted : I've had problems with media longevity with cheap discs. I pulled out some Fuji CD-Rs that I burned about 9 years ago and I believe all three of them read fine. As for DVDs, I bought a spindle of Taiyo Yuden DVD+Rs and haven't had any issues with them.

One time I bought a few Maxell CD-Rs, and by the third burnt disc, my LiteOn CD burner was fubar'ed. All it would reliably do at that point was read discs.
--
KI6RIT

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 15:04:07 EDT

Omega posted : Sounds like you improperly stored them and as a result encountered DVD/CD rot.
--
What smells like blue?

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 10:51:36 EDT

wishera posted : I recently found a stack of CD-Rs and CD-RWs that were about 10 years old, and still in the original shrink wrap. Not a single one would write and most wouldn't even be recognized by any of my computers. It makes me cringe to think of all the people that backed up important info like photos onto CD media thinking it was forever.
Another interesting thing I found is that a bunch of Kodak photo CDs that I have (10-15 years old) still work fine, and they just look like burned media. Maybe it is a different process.
--
Douglas Adams: "Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job."

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 10:15:24 EDT

norwegian posted :
I can't help but think all f them failed - it maybe something else.
But the quality of DVD/CD's I have no question over quality is worth it. Some cheap types you use half the pack to grab 1 clean burn. They should be shot.

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 09:28:12 EDT

Aranarth posted : Specifically are these DVD-R DVD+R DVD-RW or DVD+RW.

DVD (and CD) RW disk DO NOT last very long and slowly degrade.
Some of them even become corrupted in a year if they are exposed to sunlight or florescent lighting for long period of time.

CD-R's typically last the longest at about 5 to 10 years (high quality ones last longer) DVD-R's come next at about 3-7 years with high quality ones last longer.

As previously noted -RW especially CD-rw disks burned with propietary software such as Nero's incd (Easy cd creator etc,) or similar must have the original software available to read the disk.
Having the original disk drive is really helpful as well especially with older drives as some of them burned their own proprietary format not always supported by other drives (overburn etc.) Luckily, this is much less common these days.

Manufactured (not cd-r, cd-rw, dvd-r or dvd-rw) software, music, movie cd's and dvd's typically have life times double to triple that of home recordable media if they are not abused.

So the end question is what are these cd's and dvd's exactly and how long ago did you burn them?

If these are not backup burned in a proprietary format that is only readable by the software that wrote to them, and they are CLOSED session disks, and are R not RW and they were burned in the last 5 years you should be able to read them.

Note you CAN burn cd-rw and dvd-/+rw as if they are -r but the lifetime of the data burned to them is still the same. This is a major gotcha in some cases where the price for -rw and -r disks was the same or if you picked them up by accident and the price did not not make you twig that something was wrong.

I suspect the data is gone especially if it was 5+ years ago or you do not have AC or the disks were not stored in the basement. Sorry.

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 08:08:15 EDT

norwegian posted : 1. Have you tried uninstalling the optical drives and trying after when they have been detected again?

2. Have you tried copying the CD image and then using a virtual disk drive?
»daemon-tools.en.softonic.com/
»www.magiciso.com/tutorials/miso-···view.htm

3. Have you tried checking the region that the CD's were initially burnt in? Don't change with out proper research - you only get a few changes before it is set and can no longer be modified.

4. Do you know what speed you worked with?

I'm for mmainprize 's suggestion. List each step in detail to give us something to work with. What are the exact errors in the event viewer too if possible.

Note: Those Sony drives can be moody drives - I have a few that work or don't. :)
--
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing - Edmund Burke

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 23:09:35 EDT

mmainprize posted : Lets keep this simple.
What error do you get? Screen shots are good.
Have you used a DVD info program to find out what format or mode the disks were written in, maybe you used a format no longer being supported in current OS.

Please tell use the errors if any and any disk info you can get from the DVD's.

Here are a few Info tools
»www.dvdinfopro.com/
»www.softpedia.com/get/CD-DVD-Too···ol.shtml

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 18:56:03 EDT

Robotics posted : I have tried in another pc, and a laptop (3 total trys/machines)

So it does seem to point to the media, but all of them? I'm talking 40 plus disk.
Two of them do work and they are the ones that happen to have windows 98 on one, and windows 7 on another.
But the ones that have different assorted type of files on them of personal stuff and a few programs/exe's those are completely unreadable.

Its very strange to say the least.
And I am lost. I cant see these disk going south in a matter of 5 years...but two still are readable (and happen to be one file type only) (hmmmm)

Also one of my pc's has 7 and XP Pro Corporate on it, and it doesn't wok in XP either, and that's the OS I happened to be on for all the burns.

I'm lost

--
Long you live and high you fly, and smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry,
and all you touch and all you see, is all your life will ever be.

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 18:47:26 EDT

Robotics posted : They have been kept in a cool place for about 5 years now. Id say average 68 degrees all year round.

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 18:05:50 EDT

Dogg posted : Test in another computer/drive. That will confirm if you have a drive or disc issue.

As a drive ages, the laser weakens. And the first media to have issues is burned media as it requires the most laser power.

Two possible issues: 1) aging/failing/faulty drive, 2) aging/failing/faulty media

And unless you have tested the media since it was burned, it's also entirely possible that the drive is faulty and didn't properly burn the discs.

It wouldn't surprise me if both are faulty, but you won't know until you do further testing.
--
Google is your Friend

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 18:04:14 EDT

FizzyMyNizzy posted : When you store your CD/DVDs. Is it in a cool place? If not. You will have a problem.
»www.makeuseof.com/tag/cds-truth-···old-rot/

Also, another reason why a burnt doesn't last as long as the rented, and retail one. It is because they are press on(unless they are low budget, Then it will be burn).

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:34:31 EDT

Robotics posted : Nero is software that for one makes movies, edits to movies, player, etc. It has its own burning software included (nero express).

None of the disk I am trying to access are back up disk. Just disk with movies, home made videos, documents, old software, music/mp3's etc.
--
Long you live and high you fly, and smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry,
and all you touch and all you see, is all your life will ever be.

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:23:31 EDT

AlphaOne posted : So we have DVD-R.

I'm not familiar with Nero (wut???), but are these disks "backup" disks?
In some softwares, like the Roxio I once used, made backups to a set of disks. These disks are not readable by the OS, and only readable by the app. And you need the index disks to unlock those disks.
For example you made a backup of your harddrive (or just a folder), and burnt 5 DVDs out from it, the 5th disk contains the index.
To read or download your data, you need to use the application to decode the 5th disk.

I stopped using this methodology, as it's slow, and most importantly, it's tied to a proprietary software that I potentially won't have in the future. I wised up and used actual hard drives for backups.

Have you done something similar?

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:02:44 EDT

Robotics posted : You know what I screwed up. Yes they are DVD's DVD-R
(and a few are CD's) None of them readable anymore.

The burner was/is a Sony DVD RW 810A. It doesn't really have a lot of use either. It doesn't have any problem playing, say, rented DVD's of movies and such.
--
Long you live and high you fly, and smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry,
and all you touch and all you see, is all your life will ever be.

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:55:08 EDT

Robotics posted :

said by bevills1:

Were the CDs burned with Nero Express or similar program, or were they created with Nero InCD or similar program that using packet writing? I have found packet writing so unreliable that I stopped using InCD type programs years ago.

Nero express for the majority of them. Some (not many) I used a free burning software, and for the life of me at the moment cant remember the name.
But 90% + was with Nero express.

********
DVDDecrypter was the program for some, and maybe another one Im still trying to remember.
********
DVD Shrink was the other I used to use.
Sorry my memory isn't like it used to be.
--
Long you live and high you fly, and smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry,
and all you touch and all you see, is all your life will ever be.

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:48:08 EDT

AlphaOne posted : Are you sure they're CD's ? Not DVD-R, DVD+R, etc?
What's the make and model of the burner you used ?

Your answer might give us a clue.

Re: Can No Longer Read CD's

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:46:45 EDT

bevills1 posted : Were the CDs burned with Nero Express or similar program, or were they created with Nero InCD or similar program that using packet writing? I have found packet writing so unreliable that I stopped using InCD type programs years ago.

Can No Longer Read DVD/CD's

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:37:59 EDT

Robotics posted : I have a problem here...hope its the right place to post it.

ALL of my CD's and DVD's that I burnt years ago are no longer readable.
I find it hard to believe its the media themselves.

I have tried accessing them on several pc's I have laying around the house. Even the original one that burnt them.

I don't have a clue as to what is going on. It's like there was an update awhile back that made these no longer readable.

Most the time I been getting an error saying something like "might not be a recognizable format for windows". And some just don't do nothing when trying to view in explorer. Some have said "windows cant read this disk, the disk might be corrupted or it could be using a format that is not compatible with windows".

Which is strange since I used windows to burn them. And I believe the majority of these were burned with Nero9, which I still have on one pc, but it still doesn't work when it comes to reading them.
Its all messed up to say the least.

Any suggestions as to how to gain access to these? They only about 5 to 6 years old and I have a lot of pics and videos saved on them.

Thanks
--
Long you live and high you fly, and smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry,
and all you touch and all you see, is all your life will ever be.