Unable to erase DVD+RW

kali007 · 04-07-2006

Hi!

I have a 'Pioneer dvd-rw dvr-109' drive.
I tried to write some Philips DVD+RW (4x) disc. They have failed during format. I used Nero 6 Ultra Edition v6.6.0.6.
Now I use Nero 7 Premium v7.2.3.1. It's able to write these DVD-s.
The problem is with the failed DVD-s.
The drive can recognize them but they can't be deleted or rewrited.
I tried with Nero, Alcohol, DVDinfo.
Even these programs recognized them as DVD+RW, when I try to erase I get messages about 'this is not a rewritable disc' or 'can't read information' and so on.

What can I do to erase them? There isn't any program which actually dosen't try to read anything just delete the (recognized DVD+RW) disc???

*LIGHTNING UK!* · 04-07-2006

If your drive is not reporting the disc as being erasable, chances are that even if the programs just played dumb, the drive itself would not.

I hate to plug my own program but I've seen people try and format / erase discs before using ImgBurn that the drive doesn't recognise properly. Although it will ask the drive some info about the disc, it'll still eventually (having probably asked you what it couldn't find out for itself) run the commands to erase/format the media.

Load ImgBurn, insert disc.
Tools menu -> Drive -> Erase -> Full.

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kali007 · 04-07-2006

Thanks!

full erase.
Erasing Disc...
but it's not doing anything. (led flash up for a few sec and there is nothing)

Now the drive can't read the disc at all. (no disc in drive)

This is pathetic. (not your prog but the fact this can happen)

Last edited by kali007; 04-07-2006 at 22:44.

*LIGHTNING UK!* · 04-07-2006

What does the log say?

Any messages? Warnings? Errors?

You might be able to salvage the disc if you do a full erase (format) in another drive (non pioneer).

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kikibug · 05-07-2006

OK, if it is DVD+RW, you don't need to erase it. Just burn it with Start Multi-session or No Multi-session - it will overwrite the data that was written before. those discs do background formatting the first time you burn them, and afterwards they only need overwrite - all the surface is always available for burning.
So, not formatting is OK, it's what is supposed to happen. Just overwrite with new data.

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*LIGHTNING UK!* · 05-07-2006

No offence kikibug but you're wrong.

What you didn't see (because kali007 edited their post) was that they tried a quick erase first. A quick erase on DVD+RW just writes over the first X number of sectors. That failed.

Also, simply burning to a new DVD+RW does not automatically format it.
You, the user, are just shielded from what's really going on in the background - and in the background the program is issuing the format command.

As the drive won't even initialise the disc now, no program is going to be able to talk to it.

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kali007 · 05-07-2006

When I clicked OK the prog. on the taskbar immediately wrote 99%. There was no question which type of media I have in the drive.
More than 15 minutes passed and there was no write activity at all (except 3 sec at the begining.)
Drive was locked and I coudn't quit.
There was no message because I had to restart. (kill the process of your prog)

kali007 · 05-07-2006

Isn't it possible to just activate the laser and start moving it from the begining to end? (even if the drive thinks there is no disc in it?)
That way the data which causing the problem would be gone and the drive will be able to recognize the disc again.

I don't know anything about it. just thinking. Well maybe I should stop thinking

*LIGHTNING UK!* · 05-07-2006

If it didn't ask what media you were trying to work with, it means the drive was reporting that information ok at that time.

No it's not possible to make the drive perform commands it thinks it can't.
If it says there is no media in the drive, it'll return error codes to that effect each time you try and tell it to do something.

Also, formatting is a two part process, foreground and background.

Formatting a disc does not (normally) provide visual feedback (via drive LED) beyond the initial foreground stage - which takes a matter of seconds.

When you format (not that you can now by the sounds of it), keep an eye on what it says in the status bar and in the log.

If you get to 30 mins and it's still not finished (assuming it didn't bomb out right at the start), it's time to reboot your PC, it failed!

Like I said, try and salavage the disc in another drive. Use a friends one or something if you don't have a 2nd one yourself.

__________________
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kali007 · 05-07-2006

So you want to say that I should have wait more than 15 min before restart?

and why wrote your prog 99% immediately after start the full erase? Is that normal?

*LIGHTNING UK!* · 05-07-2006

Well the time you need to wait depends on the speed the drive can write to that disc at. If yours was 4x, 30 mins would be longer than it should need. For a 2.4x one, 30 mins is about right.

The % values come straight from what the drive reports.

They will often report a percentage value for the foreground bit, then reset back to 0 and count up again for the background part.

The 99% you're seeing there must be from the foreground bit.

If it never moves off 99% and you don't get any error boxes coming up (even after 30 mins), the drive has just given up.

Throw the disc away and use a new one! For the sake of 50p, it's really not worth your time and effort messing around with it.

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kali007 · 05-07-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by LIGHTNING UK!

Throw the disc away and use a new one! For the sake of 50p, it's really not worth your time and effort messing around with it.

You are right. I already did that.
No disc - no problem

Chris99a · 30-10-2007

kali007 I had a very similar problem and found that CloneCD was causing burning software (Nero & CDBurner XP) not to erase my DVD-RW's .They kept telling me they where NOT rewritable discs

Solution was to right click on CloneCD icon in the system tray (beside your clock) and uncheck the "Hide Media" option , then Yippee I could erase again.

Obviously if you dont have ClonCD installed this wont be much help , then good luck

Last edited by Chris99a; 30-10-2007 at 09:49. Reason: spelling mistakes :-(

Unable to erase DVD+RW

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