How To Undo Already Formatted DVD-RW Discs

[trhouse]

I think I know what is going on. My version is the one that says it expires 07/02/06, is 3.9M in size and is freeware.

I tested this by removing it using "Control Panel", "add/remove programs" then downloading and reinstalling it. It downloads as "dvdinfoadvert" but it is not 3.9M in size, it is 5.84M in size, it does not have advertising, and it installs without asking for a serial number.

[jmsrickland]

Yeah, that one works! I didn't download it before because I got the impression that it had already expired on 07/02/06. Kind of a strange statement.

[jmsrickland]

I don't see what that program was suppose to do other than it did erase and format the discs but they still are unusable.

I think I am just going to hve to go and get that old recorder or one like it back again.

[piano632]

Something else you can try: Since you have Nero, you can try formatting the disc for packet writing using Nero's InCD and see if that works. If you don't have InCD installed, you can download it from Nero's site.

I don't see what good getting your old recorder back is going to do. Sure you may be able to use the discs on that recorder, but it still doesn't guarantee they're gonna be any more usable on another writer than they are now.

You never said what brand of discs these were. If they're Princo's or some other cheap junk, all I can say is good luck.

[jmsrickland]

Something else you can try: Since you have Nero, you can try formatting the disc for packet writing using Nero's InCD and see if that works. If you don't have InCD installed, you can download it from Nero's site.

Already tried that.

I don't see what good getting your old recorder back is going to do. Sure you may be able to use the discs on that recorder, but it still doesn't guarantee they're gonna be any more usable on another writer than they are now.

I think if I get it back, and since these discs were formatted on that recorder all I need to do is put each disc back in that recorder and finalize them. Once finalized thay are playable on other equipment and also reformattable on other equipment.

You never said what brand of discs these were. If they're Princo's or some other cheap junk, all I can say is good luck.

The discs are all Maxell. The original recorder was a Panasonic ES25S or something like that but the actual model may not matter as long as it is a Panasonic in that same model line which I know are still available at the same store where I bought the first one.

[piano632]

I think if I get it back, and since these discs were formatted on that recorder all I need to do is put each disc back in that recorder and finalize them. Once finalized thay are playable on other equipment and also reformattable on other equipment.

You may think that, but finalizing the discs does not magically make them useable again. As stated before, finalizing is not necessary to erase a disc - so if it doesn't work now it's not likely to work after they're finalized.

My suggestion (for the 3rd time) is still to try another burner, maybe a Panasonic burner. Or try different erasing programs till one finally works.

[trhouse]

Your original post said that Nero could not format these disks, if DVDInfoPro allowed you to erase and format then there is nothing wrong with your disks. The test I did was with a disk formatted on a Panasonic ES35V and not finalized which is the same generation as the ES25.

The problem does not appear to be the old recorder or the disk since the format with DVDInfoPro already eliminated the prior format with the old recorder. What are you trying to use these disks with that you say will not recognize them even after format with DVDInfoPro? Your computer should recognize these disks now does it not?

[jmsrickland]

Before I tried to erase/format these discs using DVDInfoPro I looked at the info from each disc and noted the contents. After I erased/formatted these discs using DVDInfoPro I noticed that the info was exactly the same as it was before I erased/formatted.

But nevertheless, I then took each disc and tried to format them again using Nero. In each case Nero gave me an error message saying that it could not format them.

The info on these discs after Nero tried to format them was still the same as it was originally. The original info was very much like what was posted earlier.

However, I made a second attempt using DVDInfoPro to erase/format the 20 discs that I had formatted on the Panasonic and this time I did get two of them to reformat using DVDInfoPro and then Nero. They are usable. The other 18 I was not able to get to a usable state but one thing I just now noticed about the remaining 18 is that I had put a note in the jacket in which they are in (I had forgotton about it and just now saw it) and the note said that this disc is protected (for each of the 18 ). Exactly how they got protected or what that means I have no idea. I had used these same discs on previous recordings from the Panasonic but I finialized all of them and they were all playable on other players and also re-formattable using Nero for my PC burner and I used them on my PC a couple of times. Then I took these 20 discs and, antisipating that I was going to use them on the Panasonic, I re-formatted all of them but had forgotton that I had done that when I returned the Panasonic back to the store and bought a Sony recorder. Then when I went to use them on the Sony recorder it told me that the 18 out of 20 discs were protected so I wrote a little note and slipped it in the jackets. The other two it just told me they were neither playable nor recordable.

So, out of the 20 discs, 18 had been marked as protected and 2 were not marked as such.


piano632,

You stated that finalizing the discs does not magically make them useable again., but everytime I finalized a +/- RW disc it was useable again. Isn't that one of the reasons why you finalize them? To make them playable on other equipment and reformattable again. Every RW that I finialized on one recorder was formattable on another.

[jmsrickland]

.....What are you trying to use these disks with that you say will not recognize them even after format with DVDInfoPro? Your computer should recognize these disks now does it not?

The burner on my PC is a Sony DRU-820A. The standalone Sony, which I just got about a week or so ago to replace the Panasonic is a model RDR-GX315.

I have tried using Nero and Video Studio but to no avail for those 18 protected discs. As far as the two that I was able to format using DVDInfoPro I was able to burn to them using DVD Shrink and Video Studio and then reformat them on my standalone Sony and record to them again and so on back and forth.

[trhouse]

We have new mystery. The Panasonic ES35V does have a protection mode, but it only works on dvd-ram. With a dvd-rw inserted, the function does not appear.

The Panasonic manuals are available online. You might check if the ES25 can protect a dvd-rw. If it can, then you really do need it to undo the protection.

[jmsrickland]

I put one of the 18 discs back into the standalone Sony and the first thing it said was Disc is neither playable nor recordable. I get this message all the time if the disc has been previously burned and finialized.

Then I went into disc functions and the only thing that was enabled was to format. I pushed the OK button on format and it prompted me to select either VR or Video Mode. I selected Video Mode since this is the mode I have always formatted in. It started to do the format and then about 5 seconds later a message box appeared and said Disc cannot be formatted. Disc is protected. OK, so I tried the format again and this time I selected VR Mode. So far, it has been formatting the disc in VR Mode for about 30 minutes or more. I don't know if this is normal to take this much time or if the recorder is just spinning wheels.

What is the difference between DVD-VR and DVD-Video?

[trhouse]

VR mode is video recording mode. It is used mostly for editing purposes and is not compatible with a lot of players. Dvd-video mode is very compatible.

I have used and tested the GX315. It can format a dvd-rw in VR or video mode in a few minutes. The GX315 is spinning its wheels.

Now that I think about it. I do remember that when I was using the GX315 a similar problem came up. I wil have to look at my notes to see if what I had to do, but it would not recognize a rw disk. Off the top of my head, I think I used Sonic DLA to format the disk in UDF2.0 format on my computer and then it worked.

[jmsrickland]

That's what I though. It wouldn't allow me to exit out and none of the other buttons worked so I had to literaley unplug it.

Well, I am at a point where I believe the only solution is to go back and get that Panasonic ES25SV recorder and use it to get these 18 discs back to a usable state.

There must be a reason (probably political) that DVD recordors all have a proprietary format. What a pain in the @$%!

[trhouse]

I should read my own review on this product. Here is what I found,

A few problems were encountered doing these tests. The GX315 does not like dvd-rw's that have been formatted by the computer. It would not accept such a disk and would eject it with the message "The disc can be neither played nor recorded". The disk would work if it is first formatted on the Panasonic ES10 in video mode. The Sony will still display the above message but this time it will not eject it. It can then be formatted on the Sony.

[jmsrickland]

A few problems were encountered doing these tests. The GX315 does not like dvd-rw's that have been formatted by the computer. It would not accept such a disk

I ran across something like that with the Panasonic that I had. But it turned out to be BS.

I called Panasonic Support and asked them about the recorder not accepting DVD's that had been authored and burned from a PC and they told me that was exactly the case. This was before i had ever burned an authored DVD from my PC so I took it to be the gosple truth. Howevcer, once I did author and burn a DVD from the PC the Panasonic accepted it without any problems.

Anyway, about the Sony GX315, that is not so. I have burned many -RW's on the PC from a authoring video and had no problems playing them on the standalone Sony recorder.

Even if that was so, that still doesn't explain why I can't use them with my PC which has a Sony DRU-820A attached to it. And, the discs were not formatted by the PC burner but rather by another brand name standalone recorder.

BTW. Exactly what determines whether or not a previously formatted but not finialized disc can't be used? Is it a firmware feature of the PC burner or is it some rule within an application like Nero?

[trhouse]

You misunderstood what I said. I meant a disk that was only formatted on the PC ( ie no video or authoring ) would be spit out by the GX315. If I formatted on the ES10 it would give the same error message but not spit it out and it could be formatted such that the GX315 would accept it.

P.S. I have a DRU820A as well.

[jmsrickland]

Yeah, I guess I did misunderstand.

I have always thought that given any DVD recorder that if all you did was format the disc (and/or optionally burn it) but not finialize the disc that it would only be playable and readable by the machine that formatted the disc and none other. But finializing the disc makes it available (or usable) on other equipment. Now if this is so, then it stands to reason that all the discs that I formatted on the Panasonic would be unusable by any other DVD recorder except the Panasonic. Maybe this isn't necessarly so however. It appear from what you just said that if you formatted only a disc on your ES10 and placed it in your GX315 you would get that error message but still be able to format it but not if it was formatted only on your PC. The discs that I formatted on my ES25SV however were not formattable on the GX315 and that is why I thought I could fix that problem on the PC using some piece of software but thus far I have not been able to do so. It may have something to do with that protection thing which I have no idea how they got that way. To the best of my rememberance I did not intentionally do anything to make them protected and I am not 100% sure that they are, it's just that is what the GX315 is telling me but no other program on the PC is making such a statement.

[trhouse]

Just for fun, I did the following experiment which involves formatting alone. I think you are correct that formatted only disks can only be read by the brand that created them. I suspect the reason is related to menu information that may be written at the time of the format, but I am not certain of this.

Format on Panasonic then test the dvd-rw on a Pioneer 531H and a computer with PowerDVD. Both the Pioneer and PowerDVD do not recognize the format. PowerDVD says it is an unsupported format. Both the Pioneer and computer can reformat this disk so that it will work.

Format on the Pioneer and then test with the Panasonic and PowerDVD. Same result.

Format on the computer with Sonic DLA in UDF2.0 format and test on Pioneer and Panasonic. Neither recognizes the disk but the Panasonic will still reformat it. The Pioneer surprised me by doing the same as the GX315. It says "load" for a bit and then summarily ejects the disk.

I seem to encounter more problems with computer formatted disks than recorder formatted ones. Is it possible that those 18 were not formatted on the ES25 but by computer?

[jmsrickland]

Is it possible that those 18 were not formatted on the ES25 but by computer?

No. The Panasonic used to be in the living room (my PC is in the den) and I had all the DVD discs in the living room sitting on top of the Panasonic. I went in there one day I formatted all the disc at one time and left them on top of the recorder. I never got around to using them on the Panasonic and then a week later I returned the Panasonic to the store and brought back a Sony GX-315.

Actually, I need to get the ES25 back anyway because I really don't care for the GX-315 and that ES25 was so much better.

[handyguy]

Its taking a lot of time to save a few disks. Might be easier to just get new disks? On the top of the disks is there any info on what kind they are? On its inner ring is there media info?

[jmsrickland]

The disc says maxell DVD-RW 4.7GB | 2Hrs sp mode

The inner ring reads Y50013803BE022X CPRM.

And you are right, It is way too much time and energy being spent on these few discs. I'll probably just put them aside and not worry about them and go get some new ones.

But I am still going to get that Panasonic back or one similar because I really liked it alot better than this Sony GX-315 model.

[trhouse]

It is an interesting problem however. The GX315 is an older generation Sony. The GX330 which replaced the GX315 and ES25 are current models for both these companies.