Read Errors Burning Data DVDs

Monday Night, June 8, 2009 10pm est.

Hello Again Master Technicians,

After attempting to tweak the 'virtual memory' page file on my celeron PC, I find I am still having trouble burning a decent data back-up DVD.

I downloaded a trial copy of Ashampoo - a burning suite which you can get here at this site. I also have Nero Burning ROM 7, and its assorted suite of apps.

I am trying to make back-up copies of data from my PC onto DVDs. There's already a bunch of posts I did last month about 'bad DVD burns'. We found that it's best to put no more than 4.2 GB of data onto a single DVD, since the last files would go on the outermost areas of the DVD, which is the least dependable. They record from the center out. So don't try to load all 4.7 GBs with data. The speed of the burn may also affect its quality, so burn 'em slow as possible: 2X or 4X. Also, the quality of the brand of DVD makes some difference - so invest in the bigger name brands and not fly-by-night cheap-o dubious 'deals' on eBay.

So here I am, after purchasing good quality store-bought Memorex DVDs, and attempting to burn less than 4.2 GBs onto it at a time, at the slowest speed available, 2X. I have 2GBs of DDR RAM, and my page file is on the slave drive (D:/), not C:/ where the operating system is. The page file is set to 'custom' at 2000 - 5000 MBs. I think we hashed-out the subject of 'virtual memory', page files, and RAM in this past weeks post here: http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?p=1342194

Well, last night and today I thought I'd try out the new settings I've made for my PC's 'virtual memory' by attempting a huge project such as burning 4.2 GBs of data onto a back-up DVD. That would use up all the regular available RAM (2GBs) and go into the page-file on drive D:/ for more usable 'memory'. Right ???

First with Ashampoo - after a long time, over an hour, it got so bogged down that it aborted. It wouldn't pass the verification test. And the DVD that came out of the drawer afterwards, although having a rim of 'breathing room' along the outer circumference, could not be recognized from 'My Computer'......it said it must be corrupted, or something.

Then I tried Nero this morning. Same deal. Slow speed for burn, 2X, high quality medium (Memorex), and a manageable amount of data: 4.2GBs. After an hour or so, and many, many, many sector verification failures, the darn thing begged me to abort. The DVD that came out of the drawer is readable, though, from 'My Computer', so it still served it's purpose: a back-up copy of the important stuff on my PC. I made sure not to include music or video files because I've had so much trouble with them in the past. Example: If I burn an MP3 CD I usually only put about 625 MBs onto it, and still get error reads from sectors in the verification process. Why, I can't tell. I burn 'em at a slow speed, and the files are perfectly good when played through the PC on MediaPlayer 11. But the CDs come out with skips and zippy little noises that you have all heard in your travels and know well. Why do they do that ??

I uninstalled Ashampoo and will stick with Nero 7 Ultra, but why am I getting all the sector errors and jamming up in the verification process ??
No other apps are running, except Sygate firewall, AVG Free anti-virus, and Windows Defender. 2GBs of RAM is alot, I think; and so is an extra 3 or 4 hundred MBs of 'virtual' memory in the page file.

Where am I going wrong here ? Why can't I burn and verify data back-up DVDs and MP3 CDs without errors and skips ???

Puzzled,

-scottportraits

 

HI,
I have burnt literally hundreds of DVDs ,CDs and Data DVDs using all different brands of media with no trouble since I upgraded my PC to a fast processor a couple of years ago. I don't like Nero Burning Rom but find Nero Express is the way to go, so simple to use, takes no brain power at all which suits me fine. What speed is your processor?

 

Tuesday June 9, 2009 1:00pm est

Thanks, yes, you're right, Nero Express is the best way to go, and that's what I use.....so you know what I'm talking about when I say 'burning a data DVD'....it's right on there as a choice - so simple, yet......

I've burnt hundreds of CDs and DVDs, and have been plagued with troubles since day one.

This is the first time anyone inquired about the micro-chip processor.:clap

Pretty low budget here. Had to get the best I could and fast when the last PC burned out - so I took the best deal I could find fast, which was Wal-Mart.:crap

It's an Intel Celeron D Processor 352, clocking in at 3.20 GHz speed, and 533 MHz FSB. It's not exactly your high-end, state-of-the-ART Pentium 4, or whatever the top of the line is these days. It's all I have, all I can afford at this time.

Any way to 'pep-up' the system so it will burn these data DVDs ?? And clean MP3 audio CDs ?? The sector read errors are too many to ponder, so I will abandon the verification process altogether, since it often gets 'stuck' and won't proceed after 2 - 5%.....ouch !:cry

Actually, no prob burning video movie DVDs with "DivX's" burner that play well through my DVD player and TV set. But those are 700 MB files, roughly, onto 4.7 GB disks. Most all of those turn out fine, as I say, no prob. The problem is with MP3 music CDs and back-up data DVDs. I think the peripheral DVD burner I use is good hardware, but that might too be a culprit here. It's a USB device that has 2.0 or 2.2 rating. You know what I mean.

Thanks for your attention and help, always much appreciated to visit MG's.

-scottportraits

 

one thing that could cause errors is other programs running in the background. have you scanned your system for malware recently?

could also be the burner, like you suspect. try getting a cd/dvd lens cleaner. It's a disc with a small brush on it to clean the lens.

unfortunately, memorex is not exactly "good" quality. I have had some bad ones in the past. I lean more towards sony, tdk, and fuji.

 

The only programs running in the background are AVG Free AV, Sygate Firewall, and Windows Defender. These burn tests were done when nothing else was going on, so there's no 'multi-tasking' while doing any burns.

I thought about the peripheral DVD burner, and I do have that DVD/CD cleaning disk with the little brush; use it once in a while. I'm thinking, with 2GB of RAM, the problem must be the cheap Celeron 'D' processor, from Wal-Mart:crap.

Since vitually ALL my movie DVDs burned from 700 - 1400 MB files turn out okay (play well through my DVD player and TV set) :-D it can't be the burner/hardware. So it must be the Celeron Processor.:cry

I heard somewhere that most CDs and DVDs are manufactured almost identically, and at a few places only.....then get bought up and packaged by Sony, TDK, Memorex, etc. etc., so I think the DVDs from Memorex are okay, too. It must be the PCs capacity to process 4.2 GBs of data at once.

When I burn these back-up data DVDs in Nero Express, and keep it under 4.2 GBs in size, the burn is okay, but the verification process is riddled with sector errors. Most of the time the data is secure and recoverable.

Which leaves us with MP3 music CDs - which also fail verification almost always:cry, but are largely okay, except some have zippy skips which I hate.:mad

Other than that, I guess we've covered this topic pretty thoroughly, so buy a Pentium 4 (or whatever is top-of-the-line) these days - if you can afford it.

Unless there's anything else anyone would like to add, we can close this topic now, and I'll just learn to live with things as they are.

Thanks again, my friends:wave
'til next time......

-scottportraits

 

I think you might be on to something. I would also make sure that you have your burner plugged into a usb port that is usb 2.0.

I have another suggestion that you could try:
http://www.iobit.com/gamebooster.html
I think you can use this program to run burning software. See if it suits you. Also, remember, when burning audio cd's from mp3s. It is actually converting the mp3 to a wav, then burning it to a cd. Most of the times, it converts and burns at the same time. See if there are settings that you can change to convert the files first, before you burn.

 

Tried that 'GameBooster' app and it is a clever tool, indeed. If you need to free up every gram of PC resources for a big job, it can't be beat. It literally turns off all those running 'services' we find in the 'Services & Applications' list under 'Computer Management'.

But after running another back-up data DVD burning test in Nero Express, I still keep freezing up at around 4% after verification scan begins. Lots of sectors make read errors. Just like before.

Have yet to try an MP3 CD burn. Didn't know those music files were converted from MP3 to .wav and then back again. Am not sure that will help, even if I figure out how to get in there and tweak it.

Anyway, thanks for the 'GameBooster' app; it will come in handy from time to time. For now it is best to just learn to live with the fruits of a cheap-o Celeron D processor from :crap Wal-Mart:crap .

Until next time,:wave

I am

-:bangheadscottportraits

 

oops, i forgot that game booster is listed here as well
http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=5952