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Old July 13th 11, 05:07 AM posted to alt.comp.periphs.cdr
smh
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Posts: 691
Default New drives don't recognize old-stock media

whit3rd wrote:

For a casual backup operation, I recently loaded a CDRW blank into my
iMac; it ejected after a few seconds. Every time. Thinking there might
be a problem with the blank, I tried a second, and a third.
They all ejected.
Maybe it was a bad batch? I found some old burned disks from the
same batch, and loaded one or two: they read out normally.
I have an external DVD burner from years back, so I powered it
up... and it also rejected these blanks.
But, I know the blanks worked BEFORE that; rummaging through the
pile I find a CDRW drive from a previous generation and NOW
the disk is writeable.

The newer drives, Pioneer DVR-105 and Matsu****a UJ-825,
are probably unequipped with the first generation CDRW (2x)
recording algorithm, and won't even report the media characteristics
to the burner software. They just eject the (new old stock) disk.

The badge "ReWriteable UltraSpeed" is seen on misbehaving drives,
but "ReWriteable HighSpeed" is on the drive that can write CDRW (2x).

This kind of incompatibility is disturbing... I've always assumed my
pencils will write on ANY paper I can find, and that technology
never lets me down.
They say optical disk is the "new papyrus" - HAH!


Space is limited to store media id strings and write strategies in
256K(?) rom. Good thing the discs are ejected without writing anything
which surely would have resulted in coasters.

Also if the problem discs are virgin 2x, that is nothing has ever been
written to, then they may have exceeded shelf life which is 5-10 years.