Brand new drive won't read simple DVD-R data disc

[zero5uk]

Hi Guys

I have a new LA1 and my friend burned all my old data onto DVD's ready to put on my new machine.

When I insert the discs (normal single layer Verbatim DVD-R discs) the drive just clunks away and takes ages to prompt the menu box, where I then choose to view the folder. It states the disc as having 0 bytes used and 0 bytes free.

I tried them in my friends laptop and no problem, all the data was present, so it's my PC that is stumbling - very frustrating considering it's brand new...

Idea's would be grateful. Would magic ISO and groove sync have anything to do with it? Or do some drives just not like certain discs!

Cheers

PS - it plays audio CD's and DVD's without problems

[jumbles1971]

Did your friend burn them as multi-session? If he did then they probably won't read on your drive. I'm not exactly sure how to do it, but get your friend to finish the sessions and they should be readable on all drives.

[kee-lo_]

Does it read other DVD-R disks? Or only DVD+R?

[zero5uk]

Thanks for the replies guys..

I've asked my friend how he burned them, waiting on a response. he did say he had to use a different OS from Vista to burn the C drive (laptop HD - Seagate) because it messed his PC up.

as for the DVD- DVD+ issue - I got it wrong...the DVD's he burnt to were DVD+ not - I haven't got any - ones to test on as yet, though when i put a blank DVD- in it reads as having 0 bytes free, so perhaps it has problems reading both

cheers

[MattWilson]

It will always say it has 0bytes left on it when it is blank because it hasn't been written to therefore effectively not formated.

Multisession discs (the reason suggested above as to why it will not read it) are a big problem as software tends to have the option activated by default as it allows you to add data to a disc that is single write.

Problem is that sometimes the drive cannot read them properly and you don't get anything out.

[Blencogo]

What program has your friend used to burn the DVDs?

If it is Magic ISO, has he burnt the files as an ISO Image?

[zero5uk]

well I didn't chat much to him, but I think he put the HDD in a USB enclosure and connected it to a another PC, then just put the material onto the hard drive and burnt it onto DVD's in normal format - i.e. when I inserted it into my housemates laptop, all the data (MP3's) were visible in their respective folders.

My friends drive is older and more out of date than mine, so I don't know why he can view the DVD's and I cannot - he is running XP whereas I'm on XP media edition if that makes any difference

[zero5uk]

Ok here is my friends response:

The first few discs were done on a Vista PC using the built-in DVD burning facilities. I intended to do the whole lot using the "Mastered" file system option for compatibility, but at least one was done using "Live" file system (is this just another name for UDF - not sure on that one). Vista claims that "Live" should work on XP or later OS. The last few discs (from the C drive) were done using Nero on a Windows 2000 PC and I'm always burning discs with that and using them on other machines, so I can't imagine there would be a problem.

It sounds to me more like a hardware problem but this can only be confirmed by trying some other DVD discs (ROM/+R/-R/+RW/-RW).

PS the discs are now not working on the other PC I had got one working on previously

[zero5uk]

I tried a DVD- disc on it today and no joy. It was burnt via Sonic digital media software, just a simple data disc.

I wonder if my drive is just faulty?

[kee-lo_]

Have you tried reinstalling it?