CD burning (still?) broken

[mikeebb]

I've been here before, but CD Burning is still broken. This time, even with a total of 71 minutes and change (less than 72), I got the message about not enough space. In the past, I've complained about not being able to burn more than 74 minutes (a standard CD) on a 80-minute (700 MB) rated disk. But this is even less than a standard CD by more than a couple of minutes.

I had used Windows Media Player to burn as a workaround - OK, but CDs were not always recognized by an old (but good) Sony CD player. Today I tried an updated (for Win 7-8-10) version of CDBurner XP. Flawless burn at 16x, readable right away on everything. Freeware. I think this replaces WMP for burning.

So I'm giving up DC's burning function as a lost cause and will use cdbXP, unless there are some other suggestions for things to look for. Reinstall (again)? Some odd incompatibility with the drive (ASUS DRW-24B3ST, SATA attached internal, 52x rated for CDs, using 52x-rated 700 MB-rated (80 minute) blanks; no issues flagged by Windows)?

Windows 7 Pro, all updates except a couple that are for Win 10 upgrade; ample HD space (489 GB free); ample RAM (6GB installed, never see more than about 1/2 used).

[Craig Maier]

Hi,

We do not know what is causing that on your system. We have not seen that on our systems here but wonder if anyone else is seeing it. We would be curious to hear more about it from other users.

Craig

[Dan McDonald]

I haven't had any issues burning CDs or data cds, although I must admit I don't do it very often any more. But I do try it out with each release of DC and DCForensics. I think I'd reinstall it if I was having issues because you also got an issue with WMP.

Dan

[Craig Maier]

We looked at the math associated with that portion of the Diamond Cut Software. We are handed a value from the burner driver which represents the length of the disc in the drive. From that, we perform some calculations, etc. I am wondering if this could be related to the burner driver? Maybe it is worth updating the burner driver. It is possible that some CD burner programs ignore this information.

Craig

[Craig Maier]

I just burned a 75 minute (and change) CD without any issues. Not sure what could be going on with your system. Maybe the driver is providing incorrect information to the software regarding CD length?

Craig

[mikeebb]

Thanks for checking things out. Your comments, plus something that happened last night (inability to play certain DVDs), plus some of the difficulties it's had burning CDs that an older CD player can read, lead me to think that there might be something wrong with the drive itself. ASUS usually is reasonable quality, but maybe I got one with early end-of-life issues turning up. FWIW, there are no separate drivers for it - nothing other than whatever MS builds in to Windows, and they're up to date.

Guess I should start looking for another replacement (this one's only about 3 years old, but of course nothing has more than a 1-year warranty any more) - maybe Blu-Ray this time? Do Blu-Ray drives do an acceptable job burning CDs?

[Craig Maier]

I have never had a blue-ray computer optical drive, so I do not know how well that they work with CDs. At least you pinned down the problem.

Craig

[glenntsc]

Have you tried looking for a firmware update from the Mfgr. for the drive? I've had to do that many times to correct specific problems related to the hardware releases/changes for the same product model. You will need to interrogate your drive with some software (Nero?) or physically remove the drive, and look for the mfgr date and model serial/code numbers. Check with the mfgrs. site.

Respectfully,

Glenn P.

[Craig Maier]

We are not sure what you mean or what you suggest that we should actually do --- please advise.

Craig

[glenntsc]

Upgrading the blueray drives firm ware?

It's just like upgrading the ECU on a car. Most mfgrs have corrective firmware updates (versions) to correct certain flaws in the hardware. If you know your drive specs./model, the mfgrs website usually has the latest firmware you can download and correct any particular/various errors that went out the door.

Respectfully,

Glenn P.

[mikeebb]

Just for the record: ASUS lists no firmware updates for the drive I have. Also no drivers (use MS generic). It's a SATA DVD writer.

Also FWIW, I've tried the following audio CD burning software with it:

DC8: doesn't work. "Too long" warning and generates coaster if burned anyway.
Windows Media Player: unreliable; about 40% of burn attempts (essentially all if burning beyond 78 minutes) are coasters in my test CD player unless burned at the slowest possible speed.
cdBurnerXP ( https://www.cdburnerxp.se/ ): works, up to at least 40X speed (52X max speed claimed).

My test player for CDs is an old Sony CDP-311 ( http://www.hifiengine.com/manual_lib.../cdp-311.shtml ). It's perfectly happy playing up to 80 minute CDs (some old ones generated using Roxio and a CD-only burner in XP are only seconds short of that), but is apparently picky in other ways. Some CDs that don't load on the Sony do work in the car stereos (2003 Mazda and 2007 Prius) and in the Sony carousel player downstairs.

As noted, I'm going to assume at this point that the drive is bad and look for a replacement. Might be nice to service or replace the Sony, too, but it sounds and otherwise works very good and nobody makes CD players like it any more (closest alternative: a cheap DVD player).

[Craig Maier]

Re-iterating, the CD Writer sends a few bytes saying how long the blank CD is. We use that information in the DC Software burner. If that information is not correct, there will be problems. Some other software programs may ignore that information and just burn the disc without regard to the length of the data string.

On CD players, my olde DBX unit failed recently (started skipping - wish I knew how to fix that). I replaced it with a Tascam CD-RW900 Professional. It sounds great so you may want to consider that. Problem with DVD players is that there is no display and the noise level is higher than a CD player.

Craig