Did I buy some bad media?

Newbie Forum
#1

Today I saw a sale at Staples for some Sony 50CDQ80LS3 CD-Rs. Thinking that Sony was a decent brand, I picked up two 50-packs at $9.99 each.

Here’s the info from CDspeed:

Nero CD-DVD Speed: Disc Info
Basic Information
Disc type: : CD-R
Manufacturer: : Sony
MID : 97m24s16f
Write speeds: : 2 X - 4 X - 8 X - 12 X
Capacity: : 79:59.74
: 703 MB
Extended Information
Usage : General
Disc Status : Closed
Raw Data
ATIP
0000 - D0 00 A0 00 61 18 10 00 4F 3B 4A 00 00 00 80 00 - …a…O;J…
0010 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - …

When I got home I decided to do some quick research to find out why they were on sale. Turns out there are tons of reviews on Amazon saying that this media is crap. Many claim it only burns about 50% of the time. To see what I mean read a review or two here.

As I had already opened one of the packs and burned a 670mb disk I decided to do some CDspeed tests. On the first test I had no C1s but two C2s! This was after taking the disk out my drive only once.

I thought it might be a fluke so I tried another full scan. On the second time through it didn’t find any errors at all. After that little scare I was beginning to question the quality of these discs. I tried burning another and found that it burned fine and returned no errors. I just hope the rest of them burn well.

So my question is… should I return the other pack?

#2

It seems weird to me those will only write up to 12x for CD-R, when they should be 48x-rated. Don’t know what to tell you, but it would be better to attach the Nero CD-DVD Speed Disc Quality Scan you made. What kind of burner do you have (e.g. BenQ 1640)?

[edit] Then the 12x limit isn’t from a CD-R media problem, but it’s just from the fact your burner is old…

What does the media look like? It is a silver front with a silver back? If it is both, that would mean it’s phthalocyanine dye (IIRC), the most durable one for CD-R media… However, after reading the reviews, I would be leery of these, as only 2 of 29 say they got a good batch. Of course, that is if Amazon’s reviews are indicative (which I do not know), as Amazon could have stored them where they were exposed to too much light, heat and/or humidity. Sony DVD media is acceptable quality based on scans I’ve seen, but based on that I wouldn’t buy it when I can spend a few $ more and get guaranteed quality with TY CD-R.

#3

Oh lol, it’s an old TDK121032A with a max write speed of 12x thats why :bigsmile:

I’ll find the project file and attach it in a sec…

[edit] For some reason I can’t save it, when I click the disk icon it just gives me an error.

[edit 2] Wow, I finally looked up and read your edit. Yeah it says it’s Dye Type 6: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine), and it’s silver on both sides. The two burns I’ve done so far seem to have gone fine, but if I have the chance I think I’ll return the second spindle.

[edit 3] Where’s the best place to get some TYs (is it just any fuji?)

#4

Yo-

First off - welcome to the forums-

Looks like you have stumbled into some ‘iffy’ media-

Suggest taking back the unopened pack and get your money back-

You may also want to acquire a burner that will give you faster burns - suggest a LiteOn or BenQ - can get from www.newegg.com for reasonable prices and great customer service/return policies-

Taiyo Yuden 100 pack of CD-R can be gotten from www.rima.com for $24 plus shipping - and you will have the best consumer CD-R’s available - again from a excellent vendor-

Happy Burnin’

Mike

#5

Thanks for the help! I’m definitely ordering that 100 pack for my data backup.

As for a better drive, I recently built this computer with parts entirely from newegg, except for an optical drive :rolleyes: .

I wanted to save some cash so I popped in an old burner I had lying around. It’s fast enought for me so I’m not going to upgrade until I have the cash for the latest LiteOn.

#6

Yo-

Newegg has the latest versions of the ‘6S’ line of the Lite-On DVD/CD burners for around $40 - which sometimes includes shipping - very good and reliable drives with the added benefit of the ability to do good Quality Scans-

As in this one here:

Happy Burnin’

Mike