Re-using DVD+RW ... how many times?
 

I have some Verbatim DVD+RW discs which I use for transferring TV recordings from my Mac to our DVD player, to watch on the telly in our living room.

I'm beginning to find the drive in my Mac doesn't want to recognise some of the discs, or recognises them after a lot of chunnering. Thing is, they have only been erased and re-used maybe 3 or 4 times at most. Is this what I should expect from this type of media, or is something more serious amiss?

Re: Re-using DVD+RW ... how many times?
 

I read somewhere that they could be written to upto one thousand times.

Re: Re-using DVD+RW ... how many times?
 

Try fully formatting them instead of a quick format which just deletes the ToC

Re: Re-using DVD+RW ... how many times?
 

As long as the discs aren't getting scratched or dirty then they should be re-writable hundreds, if not thousands of times

Re: Re-using DVD+RW ... how many times?
 

Yep - giving that a go now on one of the discs that just barely loaded up ... presumably the idea is to do this before the discs get to a state where the machine won't recognise them at all!

I'll be able to report back in a few minutes whether the full format makes it easier for the Mac to load up the fully-erased disc.

---------- Post added at 16:06 ---------- Previous post was at 15:55 ----------

The disc I completely erased will now not work at all. I'm becoming concerned for the health of my iMac's built-in Superdrive. What's the best piece of kit to try to clean one of these, before I have to start thinking about repairing or replacing the drive?

Re: Re-using DVD+RW ... how many times?
 

That's an odd occurance :S

I'm not sure how you clean the laser inside a drive...

Re: Re-using DVD+RW ... how many times?
 

We used to clean old well used CDROM lasers with a bit of spittle and a cotton bud on the laser eye. ;)
Worth a go.
But in my experience with DVDRW+, it can always be a bit hit and miss.
Have you tried burning the disc at a low a speed as possible?

I Found RW- to be better, but I agree the full format should really have done the trick.
I did eventually give up though and bought a DivX player and used a USB key.
Now just the Xbox does everything.

Re: Re-using DVD+RW ... how many times?
 

The iMac's superdrive is completely internal and slot-loading. You can't get at the laser. If cleaning it is likely to help, then I need some sort of cleaning implement. I have a CD player cleaner; it's a disc with plastic brushes glued to it. But I want to be sure I'm not doing more harm than good by putting it inside my iMac.

The problem I am having is with both burned and unburned DVD+RWs not being recognised, and being spat out after about 15 seconds of the iMac trying to mount them. I have managed to produce some DVD-Rs without any issues though.

Re: Re-using DVD+RW ... how many times?
 

Ah, I see. Is there perhaps a firmware update for the drive Chris?

I'd say if the brushes are soft enough, they'll be fine - but if your -RW's are ok, then doesn't look like there a problem with that to be honest. With it being slot, it's likely it's kept pretty sanitary (to a point).

Re: Re-using DVD+RW ... how many times?
 

If there are any updates, Software Update always catches them within 7 days, it's set to check automatically ... so no, I don't think there are, and there certainly haven't been any recently.

Oddly enough I've just tried another disc off the same spindle - has been used maybe 2 or 3 times - and it loaded up immediately. I'm now doing a full erase on it, and we'll see whether the drive likes it as much after that. If it's still ok then, I'll burn something on it, erase and burn again ...

I'm wondering if this might just be a dodgy batch of DVD+RWs?

Re: Re-using DVD+RW ... how many times?
 

Could easily be, yeah.

I am talking about firmware updates for the specific drive Chris though - not OS or software updates.
Some manufacturers release updated firmware for their drives to handle incompatibilties with formats and even brands. Might be worth a Google on the relevant forums anyway. Good luck with it.

Re: Re-using DVD+RW ... how many times?
 

I got the difference mate ;) Apple normally releases firmware updates through software update as well.

Re: Re-using DVD+RW ... how many times?
 

Ah, I see.
/me Mac ignorant ;)

Re: Re-using DVD+RW ... how many times?
 

You don't clean the laser, you clean the lens used to focus it.

Re: Re-using DVD+RW ... how many times?
 

Aye i just refer to it as the laser thats all ;)

Re: Re-using DVD+RW ... how many times?
 

dont suppose you happen to have an xbox360 or a playstation3 do you?

If so was going to suggest putting the video on a stick and playing it on them ;)


Some burners are a bit funny about certian discs don't spose you have another burner you could try?

If your worried about the longevity of the superdrive could always buy/make a usb dvd writer, should work with the mac ok.

My USB burner is just an IDE drive i had spare shoved in a 5.25" usb> ide caddy.

Works fine with pc and mac :)