WARNING, RITEK G05. Data loss

chas0039 2005-08-13 12:50:43 UTC #1

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but Ritek G05s seem to be doing the same thing that the G04s did. The first scan below was burned and scanned in May of 2005 and is typical of the scans I was seeing from this media when burned on an NEC 3500.

The second scan below was burned on May 5, 2005 on a NEC 3500 with 2.18 firmware at 8X. The scan was done today.

Needless to say, I am reburning all of my G05s. I checked about 12 out of 50 and found increases in errors similar to those shown below. Out of curiosity I checked my Prodisc S03s as I have used hundreds of these and I found no problem.

I'll be checking all my Ritek media very soon. 3 month life is a little low for my tolerance. These were purchased from Newegg in April, and are Ridata branded on the hub with matte silver tops.

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HarrySmiith 2005-08-13 13:30:39 UTC #2

A few weeks ago I bought some Fuji disks. All previous orders had been Yuden000 T02 but the batch I received were Ritek 03. When I complained I was told that these were grade "A" disks. I sent comparison scans back with the RMA -- there was no problem with the refund but no reply regarding the inferior scans produced by the Ritek disks. I have no idea how well the yuden0002 T02 Disks will stand up in years from now but your findings regarding Ritek do not surprise.

XND1n01h 2005-08-13 14:06:48 UTC #3

@chas0039

That's scary! thank god I re-burned my PS2 games to TDK TTG02 media which I am very satisfied with. All I have left in G05 media is like 20 DVD movie backups... If I leave them in those disks they won't be backups any more they'll be clean tub'd coasters. :doh:

Wizzu 2005-08-13 15:45:12 UTC #4

Hey Chas

Aaaaargh, G05 AGAIN!

Actually there is a recent thread about the whole G05's degradation thing:
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=143715

And the last C't study/roundup tells bad things about G05's longevity.

"seem to be doing the same thing that the G04s did"
Actually personally I don't notice any of this s***t with G04 discs. - recently I rescanned many of my movies on G04 (Ridsic purple) and everything is fine.

@Harry Smiith
"there was no problem with the refund but no reply regarding the inferior scans produced by the Ritek disks."
On which drive did you burn these R03?

Quema34 2005-08-13 15:49:17 UTC #5

There is another thread like this, regarding high degradation on anything RitekG05. I've reburned about 35, both of the Ritek Ridata DVD-R 8x and Maxell RitekG05. Both are garbage, although at least with the Maxell you'll have a full lifetime warranty on them (but then, you'd have to try to convince them to replace them with genuine Maxell, either MXL RG03 or Maxell002 mids).

Basically, my Ritekg05s were degrading just after 2 weeks to 2 months (although stored properly, in a cool place, out of sunlight, etc.), with a minimum of 2x the original PIF error totals, to as high as 4x and in case, 7x the original PIF total! Really, if you want peace of mind, don't record any data to any RitekG05...or for my money, nothing at all that's Ritek.

Deer_Slayer 2005-08-13 16:25:41 UTC #6

THAT SUX, my friend is buying pretty much ALL Ritek G05!!! I have to warn him ASAP, HAHAHAHA, that's what he gets for not listening to me about media. I told him to get the Sony D11s, those disks are holding up GREAT. I dunno why he insists on getting anything BUT what I say to get, he ALWAYS comes back with some crappy media. What he's been buying are Maxell 8x DVD-Rs which are Ritek G05. The other disks he's been getting are prodisc, so they'll be OK! What a DUMBASS, I told him he'd get screwed buying DVDs one day! I just told him his whole 50 spindle is JUNK, anything he burns on them will be gone in 3 months! He's whining, and asking me what kind of disks he should get!!! DUH, try the Sonys I suggested in the first place!!! Some people, just have their head up their butt too far to see the light of day. I hope the stuff I burnt onto the Ritek R03 is ok, I haven't had any refuse to play on me. That was 6 months ago when I had those disks, so I think it's OK. I dunno, I have to get one of them out, and give it a scan. :rolleyes:

chas0039 2005-08-13 19:58:11 UTC #7

I have checked quite a few G04s as I have been checking my G05s and they are all coming up OK, at least the silver top. I already replaced all the G04s that had labels.

ElliotW 2005-08-13 22:47:07 UTC #8

I'm checking my Ritek R03's that I bought and burned Feb. '05. Bought 100 from the Egg on sale. Checked fifteen so far - 3 bad, one of which failed to read at all on 2 burners; got it to the hard drive with DVDDecrypter on the third burner. Thanks for giving me something to pass the time. :sad:

Deer_Slayer 2005-08-13 22:51:27 UTC #9

The Ritek 05s were from last year some time that I have, and they scan Ok still. PI is still under 100, except for the SCRATCHED disks I had, but the surface scan looked good still. I dunno, it's OK for now, no big hurry to get them backed up. :iagree:

ninbang 2005-08-13 23:15:11 UTC #10

Lol ... man, this is awful!! I guess I'll be passing on Ritek's from now on.

HarrySmiith 2005-08-14 02:00:04 UTC #11

[QUOTE=

@Harry Smiith
"there was no problem with the refund but no reply regarding the inferior scans produced by the Ritek disks."
On which drive did you burn these R03?[/QUOTE]

BenQ1620

Deer_Slayer 2005-08-14 02:40:46 UTC #12

Oh, OOPS, I meant the Ritek R03s were what I scanned. I haven't burnt any of the Maxell disks yet, I'll save those for the mooches :Z :Z :Z , that way their disc is fubaar in 3 months! I hate it when people want to burn DVDs but won't buy blank media, and just ry to MOOCH all the time, I'll fix them!!! I can't WAIT until I make a nice Ritek G05 for somebody, and 3 months later, it's a coaster!!! That's actually a GREAT practical joke, I'm glad I hae them actually. Anyways, the Ritek R03 seems a like it's holding up OK, the scans I did look decent except for the scratches. :doh: Oh well, I don't have anything REAL important on those disks anyways. I'll copy them again before they PUKE. :Z :Z :Z

bigmike7 2005-08-14 11:44:45 UTC #13

Yo-

I just binned 12 or 13 unburned G05's that I acquired last November - I have burned about 187 of these with no coasters - but have noticed lately that the quality scans of the new burns were getting worse every week - so now I have only Taiyo Yuden, Verbatim and 50 Maxells left to burn and will stick with the TY and Verbs from here on-eh!

Mike

chas0039 2005-08-14 15:49:10 UTC #14

Well, I transferred the last of these. They keep getting worse. I think I am going to put the one below in the sun for a few days and see how bad it gets. All in the name of science of course.

I am amazed that these are still readable.

ninbang 2005-08-14 16:24:20 UTC #15

Ya see ... they are of some 'value' afterall .. hehe :). Lesson learned (for all of us). I'd imagine if this thread catches on, the Hall of Shame will fill up with these re-scans in no time. :sad:

HarrySmiith 2005-08-14 16:27:07 UTC #16

Isn't this the point at which someone suggests that perhaps your drive is failing and that your ought to RMA it because they have had 3 all of which failed within
days ?

Wizzu 2005-08-14 17:26:57 UTC #17

In case you haven't seen it yet in the other thread, here is how looks, now, an unbranded printable G05 that gave a perfect scan just after the burn in june....

This much degradation in two months... scary.

An it stayed in a case, far from the heat, from the sun, from humidity (I control all of these for my medias )

My Traxdata G05s from last year are still fine. I don't think G05 is a badly engineered disc at all, I think they are manufacturing it very sloppily to meet the 8X medias demand. This much degradation can ONLY be due to bad manufacturing letting air and humidity get inside the disc.

chas0039 2005-08-14 18:13:24 UTC #18

I can't quite see your point. But if you are saying my 1693 is failing due to scans of G05s which also scan badly on 2 other drives, that is not the case.

ninbang 2005-08-14 20:30:01 UTC #19

hey, chas ... I'm sure he was just kidding around about that.

I'm sure there are those who are trigger happy when it comes to the RMA option ... but, obviously that doesn't apply to you considering all the thorough testing you do to assess your hardware and media.

HarrySmiith 2005-08-14 23:01:07 UTC #20

Yep - sorry just my sense of humor. As I read the threads every day it never ceases to amaze me how frquently people blame their drives. Every part of the burn process is important but I think that the media used is the most important - with chas0039 showing just how bad things can get with poor quality media.