Avoiding Bad and Unreadable Sectors from burned DVD-R & RW

[daddynaz]

yeah it's me again.

i just want to know what sorts of precations could you advice me so i could have burned discs without too much bad and/or sectors. not necessarily the best methods but the things that helps you most of the time which i could give a try.

you see i need to transfer 90% of my files in my Drive E (3.7 GB/6.4 GB, not so big i know) into a DVD+RW. i tried doing that for my Drive D (which is just as big), burnt it into a DVD+RW successfully with Nero but atleast 60% of it was unredable because of bad sectors. i plan to make DVD compliant movies as well.

im running a pentium 4 computer with windows xp os.
my cd writer is BENQ CDRW 5232X (secondary) and m
my dvd writer goes with a generic name of VOM-12E48X 2102 (primary). i already enabled both of the DMEs though.
the DVD+RW media i used goes with the generic name of DAWA-DRW-00 DVD+RW
the burning software im using came with the cd writer called Nero 6 OEM

most of the time it works fine with the cd writer but im doubtful about the results my dvd writer gave me. i dont want to make dvd coasters coz i the discs dont grow on trees.

[daddynaz]

any suggestions?

[ZippyP.]

any suggestions?

Use better disks. DVD Media section over there <<<<<<<

[redwudz]

Like ZippyP. said, DVD media is often the problem. If you are archiving files from your hard drive, Nero should work fine or most DVD burner programs that can do data discs.

Still, the media can cause the most problems. I would use regular DVDs as they are cheaper for backup than RW media. As far as software, what are you using for burning? There are freeware burners available in 'Tools' to the left. <<<<<<

[laspis59]

Yes RW discs will give you more problems.You should buy write once media to avoid burning coasters.
A couple of tips:

Like mentioned already,buy good media eg Verbatim (MCC) or Taiyo Yuden.
Burn at a slow speed eg 4x,writing at high speeds WILL cause coasters in a lot of cases.

Btw Nero should be fine for burning as long as you are using a version that hasn't a major bug.

[daddynaz]

i can see where you guys are going with this. ofcourse the media im using. talk about keeping it clean, is it wise to use wipes/cloth?

[redwudz]

If there is grunge on the disc, of course, clean it. DVD-RW is a little more sensitive to the burning program and the brand of media used. That's why we often suggest a regular disc instead.

[daddynaz]

i read somewhere here that even there is a single dot of dust is overlooked before burning the DVD disc, it could effect the burning/verifying/reading process.

[redwudz]

A single bit of dust may cause a quick dropout, but players, both software and hardware have a buffer to minimize that lose during playback. You might have the frame freeze for a 1/2 second, but it should keep playing.

On a regular disc, you can inspect the surface after a burn and if there was dust particles, that area would appear lighter. Those discs spin up fast enough that most dust is thrown off. But even so, I always do a quick check of the DVD surface before and after I burn a disc.