Plextor 708UF (USB 2)
XP, SP1
Nero 6.6.0.8
DVD type: DVD-R
Mfr name: Taiyo Yuden Co. Ltd
Mfr ID: TYG01
I have no problems burning CDs, on various types of media. My problems are only with DVDs.
I was having problems burning DVDs a couple of months ago, so I flashed the firmware on the Plextor, updated Nero, and tried different brands of blanks. I heard that Taiyos were great, so I bought 200 of 'em from supermediastore.com.
Every single one I have burned so far (at least half a dozen) has bombed, big-time. Although Nero completes the burn and no error messages pop up, the Nero File Test and Surface Scan reports large “unreadable” areas (tonight’s burn was 11.74% unreadable). And the Nero transfer rate test bombs – it gets partway through, and then pops up the message:
Error!
No additional sense information (000000)
FWIW, when I burn CDs or DVDs, I shut down applications, including my firewall and virus scanner. I’ve tried rebooting just before burning. I’ve burned from different hard drives. All of my hard drives have plenty of empty drive space (as much as 40 GB). Most of my hard drives are fast SCSI, with one big IDE drive. All are internal drives. I never try to burn from my external hard drive.
I am burning data files at the moment, not movies. These are backups of important graphic design files, so I really need to find blank media that burns reliably. I am burning at 4x.
And here’s the kicker: the Plextor just LOVES the spindle of HP DVD+Rs I bought at MicroCenter a couple of years ago. They burn with no error message, Nero’s tests report no damaged or unreadable areas, and the transfer rate tests look great – nice and smooth.
The HPs are ID’d as:
CMC Magnetics Corp
CMC MAG F01
I realize that CMCs don’t have a good reputation, but I am consistently getting good burns with them. But I’m almost out of them, and certainly not married to them.
And I would love to be able to use these new Taiyos, but I have not gotten one single good burn with them.
Can anyone shed any light on this? If I can’t get the Taiyos to work, what would be a good second choice to try?
I am not a technical person, but I figure somebody, somewhere must know what the “no additional sense information” message means and what to do about it!
TIA,
Mallomar