Iomega Super DVD Writer problems

[keithcat]

I bought the drive for just 4 days. When I format the DVD+RW (the one bundled with the drive) using 'long' format (Hotburn), the verification process continues and does not stop after several hours (whole night). The PC has to be reboot to release the drive. When the disk was inserted again, no data can be written on it.

According to the advice of the iomega support team, I have tried formatting another DVD+RW (Verbatim) disk but it failed (just like before). The Hotburn software keep 'verifying' for several hours (over 7 hours!) and could not be stopped. Then I tried to use the Hotburn to 'erase' the disk, but got an error message starting with '2a' (according to your knowledgebase, this means the disk has been corrupted).

I have upgraded the firmware of the drive (to 1.0.6) according to the knowledgebase and applied the latest patch to my HotburnPro (2.4.2) software. During the burning process, all antivirus software and background tasks were stopped. However, all these did not help.

I then tried burning a DVD-R disk (Mitsubishi)using Hotburn (with about 3.2 GB data). The process completed successfully. However, when I review the DVD-R disk (using the super DVD drive), only a small portion of files could be found. The disk 'property' showed that the disk has 3.2 GB of data (on an UDF file system), but under the Windows (XP) Explorer, the files shown only add up to about 22 MB. Other files just disappeared! I then read the same disk on another machine with DVD/CDRW combo drive. In this case, NO FILES can be read and the drive simply cannot recognize the disk! I tried burning another DVD-R disk using the 'ISO image' method again and the same thing happened (exactly the same : the same files found on the burned disk and other files disappeared).

I then tried burning a CD-R (with about 600 MB data). To my surprise, the process was successful and the disk was fine. (I wonder whether this is only a CD-RW drive packaged under a Super DVD Writer box).

I thought the drive may be defective, or otherwise the Hotburn software has major flaws. But I have no other software that can be used to burn DVD (Windows Explorer seems not able to burn DVD directly) to do a comparison.

Should I return the drive or what else can be done?

[keithcat]

Here's the reply from Iomega :

>Thank you for using Iomega's Online Support Services. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced using your Iomega product.

>I understand that you are facing problem with the burning of DVD discs with your DVD drive.

>I would suggest you to refer the link given below and make sure that you are using Iomega recommended media with the software :

http://www.iomega.com/support/documents/11741.html

>Also suggest you to try burning the DVD disc using Sonic MyDVD instead of using Hotburn Pro software as this will help us in isolating the problem and assisting you better.

Hope it helps and I will try again ...

[keithcat]

I think I should post some updates on my previous posts :-

Last night, I finally burn a DVD-RAM successfully with the Super Drive. Since my XP can recognize the disk, I did not use Hotburn but rather format the disk with FAT32 (like a hard disk) and write directly to it under Windows. It seems more stable that way.

It relieved me quite a bit since this proves that the hardware is working. But there seems some more way to go. I have to try different brands of media (why Verbatim doesn't work? Any better media on the market?) and also try some other software (Hotburn seems to be the root of the problems. What other software can I try?).

Hope this helps!

DVD Newby
Keith

[rsd78]

I had the same issue with InCD/HotBurn. Basically the way they do RW stinks. I would literally have to unplug the computer to unfreeze it-Ctrl-alt-del did nothing etc etc. It is something with the software I imagine..

Anyways I decided to not deal with the RW and just try burning some +R's and -R's, and about 40 DVD's later I haven't had a single coaster or one freeze up or anything.

Shrug

[keithcat]

Shrug,

Thanks for your response. What software would you recommend to burn the DVD-R /+R's then? Is the bundled Sonic myDVD reliable? BTW, are you using the Iomega Super DVD as I do?