Problem burning CD-R's

Why won't some CD-R's burn? First of all, I'm on a Mac, don't know if that makes a difference or not, but I've never had problems burning before.

Anyway, I got some TDK disks for computer burning and like every other one will say, "error occured while trying to burn-disk cannot be used." But the next one WILL work fine. I used Sony CD-R's before and had no problems whatsoever. Just wondering if someone might know what the deal is??

Also, I thought I heard somewhere that you can use DVD's to burn photos to, and they have a lot more space. Is this true? Is it the same process as burning CD-R's?

Not sure bout the CD-R problems. But yes, you can use DVD-R (or whichever format the disk is)
for data storage such as photo storage. They DO have a lot more space than CD-R/CD-RW's to.
Pretty much same process from what I've observed. BUT you need a DVD-burner to do this (of course).

Not used Mac's before also, not sure if that makes a diff or not..

On my machine, I have a combination CD/DVD write drive.

If I try to write a blank CD, it is a little particular about the blank media. The cheapest media is out completely, since 50-70% will seem to fail during the write process. The ones that seem to write successfully often fail later when it is time to be read. So, they are worthless to me. Good ones of one particular brand work correctly 98% of the time. As a general rule, the better the blank is, the faster it can be written. And with some blanks, writing it slower gets better results.

For DVD blanks, you get five or more times as much capacity. Here, my drive will accept only one of the DVD formats to write with, and I don't know why. However, if I buy one of two brands of the correct format, then they work correctly 98% of the time.

So, see where your system's limitation is.

---Bob Gross---

Inskip
There are different write speeds on all CD's and DVD's, just make sure you have got compatible discs for you CD burner.
also if the drive is old it may be wise to to clean it.
if intermitant problems it could be software probs, if pos try a disc that wont work on a different machine at least this would give a clue to the problem.

Martin (Huckaback Photo)

Should have mentioned

4.7 Giga byte on DVD
650 to 700 Mb on cd rom

Try burning at the slowest speed this will sometimes over come certain issues.
I have a Panasonic DVD/CD burner dual layer and use cheap discs generally with no problems. Usally 1x is the best. It will take a while but generally will burn well.

I just had to replace my DVD/CD-R burner. It was only burning whenever it felt like it, but it wasn't ruining the CD-R's in the process. It would say that the write process was complete but not do anything at all. After pulling out what little hair I have left I decided to replace it. And my frustrations have disappeared! lol I use the cheapie CD-R's for everyday things like music or short-term photo storage and they work fine - haven't had any problems yet.

Try setting the burn speed to a slower speed.

I'm glad I am not the only one with problems burning CD/DVD's. I even went out and bought Roxio's Easy Media Creator because the shareware programs I was using were not working - errors all the time. I get the same errors with Roxio. The only way I can burn is to import the photos into PS Album and burn from there. Anything else, I get errors.

I had a similar problem on my PC. Tried different media but it made no difference. Searched the net and all results said it was a software issue and gave fixes. None of them worked, so as a last resort called Dell support.

Tech said the drive was shot, but I didn't really believe him. He said he'd send out a new drive & a tech to install it. I didn't even know I had a 3yr warranty (this was about 2 1/2 years into it), never mind it being on-site, so since it was free, and since I was able to have him come at my convenience accepted it!

For the first time in almost 20 years of dealing with Dell (going back to when they were called "PC's Limited") one of their techs got it right and I've had no problems since.

If you're under warranty, contact Apple, or if you have access to another machine, try swapping drives to see if that's the problem.

Good luck