Good DVD burner?

[whoisquilty]

I've got a few DVDs that my internal Powerbook burner won't read (I had it replaced, so it's not the one that came with my computer). I will get errors while trying to copy discs that I've been able to copy in other drives.

I used to have a Plextor that would read ANYTHING. Now, I'm looking for another external drive.

Question is:

Do you think that the problems with my internal burner are a problem with the burner itself and might be fixed by the addition of another burner? If so, are there drives that read better than others? Or...are they pretty much the same?

[tomlee59]

If your drive can read at least some discs ok, then that's a good indication that everything basically works. The fact that it doesn't work well with certain discs can be due to several factors (singly or in combination): Marginal media; marginal burn; marginal drive. Marginal media can sometimes work better if burned at a lower speed (say, half of the maximum the media is allegedly capable of). Some lousy media are actually not flat, causing challenges for the focusing mechanism. Different drives have differing amounts of tolerance for that sort of error. I've also seen media that had bad runout (hole not centered, basically). Again, the ability to track a moving target varies from drive to drive. Without knowing more, my guess would be that your new drive is fine, but it's fussier than the one it replaced. Its fussiness is now highlighting marginality in the discs themselves.

But that's just a guess from afar.