Can a DVD R/W get corrupted?

[macamba]

Hi,

(Sorry if I ask this question for the second time. But I can't find the first one, I asked earlier today).

Is it possible for a DVD R/W to get corrupted?

What I noticed
I burned myself a movie on a DVD R/W. This was the second time the DVD was used. The first burn delivered a movie that I could view without a problem. But when the latest movie was put in my regular DVD player, loading took a long time, and ended with an error message.

What I did
I burned the movie again, hoping that it what a fluke. But again, long loading, and an error message. I checked the movie on my harddrive, and could not find fault with it (I even ran a few .VOB files through Media Player Classic).

Then what?
Next I got myself a new DVD R/W (never used before), and burned the movie again. Although I had not the time to check it in the DVD player, it ran without a problem in the DVD player/burner of my computer.

The big question
The obvious question is, can a DVD R/W get corrupted, even when it is only burned once of twice before?

Macamba

[bendixG15]

Did you reformat the "corrupted" RW disk ??
That should bring it back to "good as new" status.

[jman98]

Yes, they can get corrupted. Despite industry claims that such discs are good for something like 10,000 burns, my limited personal experience is that they don't last anywhere near that long. My Dad has a DVD recorder and he had a disc that went bad after the first burn. I just told him to throw it away because he had a spindle of 24 other DVD+RW discs and there was no need to worry about 1 disc that might be bad.

DVD+/-RW discs are a different type of media from DVD+/-R discs. Re-writable discs use what's called a "phase change media" (if I remember correctly) and it's not really a dye like with DVD+/-R discs. These are inherently somewhat less reliable than DVD+/-R discs simply because the RW discs weren't designed for longevity but to be re-used. If you have a bunch of RW discs, just throw away the bad one and don't worry about it.

(Edited because I forgot to put "not" in the 2nd sentence in the 2nd paragraph - very important)

[usually_quiet]

The second time your disc was used. it was either bad burn, or more likely, the disc itself was defective. I have had a couple of RW discs fail after only one or two uses.

If the disc itself is bad, reformatting it won't help. I would not try to re-use it, especially not for for anything important.

[RabidDog]

Yes they do go bad.. You already have a very quality checking device.. your eyes. Check for scratches dirt etc. Discs can be washed under the tap and then dried carefully, centre to edge, not round and round.. but be prepared to throw a disc away rather than be wondering if it will work. They also wear out after awhile, 5,000's of uses

[macamba]

Thanks. I rest asured

[Midzuki]

You should full-erase the problematic DVD-RW as slowly as possible
before trying to write data on it again. Better send the disc to the garbage can
only if this trick doesn't work.

[kisrum]

My cheap office depot dvd-rws only last about 10 burns on my JVC dvd recorder. still they seem to work better than dvd-r on this unit