help - writing to CD-R`s

[jinky]

I`ve been lucky enough to get a few small jobs lately but have now been hit twice with the same problem when copying jpegs to a CD-r to send to clients. I had a spindle of 100 datawrite Cds which worked fine and I had them for ages. 3/4 of the way through the spindle I went to copy images onto a CD. I then found the PC could not read it - came up as empty but whe I played it back in my DVD player all the images were there!!! Tried 3 more and decided that they must be faulty with being old and wrote the images to a maxell CD-R I had - no problem, client happy.
I ordered a new spindle of CDs from a different supplier that had been recommended by others - Datasafe. Same client - 3rd job I processed images, went to copy them and same again. Shows as empty but this time won`t even play back on a DVD player. The title I gave the CD does not show up - just shows on PC as an empty drive and requests to open it are met with a "insert CD" message !!! The trusty Maxell back up has worked again so clearly not a CD problem is it.

I assume it is because the quality I have bought on a 100 spindle is not good enough - or could there be another reason? I have another small job coming up for a youth charity in a couple of weeks and am down to my last 5 maxells. Obviously I`ll do some more tests on this Datasafe pack and then request a refund but could it be PC? If not can anyone recommend good quality, reasonably priced Cds / suppliers I should be using? I won`t be doing high end jobs but want my stuff to get there safely and be usable.

I should add after discussion re: hotel / trade jobs earlier in th year these few jobs are declared / above board/ and deductable I am afraid  . Think I prefer the hotel trades for skills- got a free 3 day stay in malham next week for one I did there a couple of months back. Only problem is my marketing ploy of looking for somewhere to stay and happenign to find they have poor pictures / websites is a little hit and miss

[Oldboy]

You don't say what software your are using or whether if it's a DVD/CD writer. I've had a problem with Nero in the past but never with Roxio but do use RW disks rather than CD-r or DVD-r. 

[Hinfrance]

The thing that I have found is that the write speeds quoted on CD/DVDs is often seriously optimistic. If your software will only write the disks at 'optimum' or 'maximum' speed it is a route to coaster after coaster, especially with budget media.

I only have ImgBurn installed, so that I can set the write speed to something well below the made up number on the disk. I found the basic Nero and Roxio applications supplied with PCs to be more trouble than they are worth.

I have done a few CDs for people using Picasa on budget media, and none of those have been reported as fails. Maybe give that a try?

Hope you sort it - this is just the kind of grief no-one needs.

[jinky]

Sorry - should have said. Whilst I have nero on laptop all I use on my PC is the route from my XP My Pictures folder of selecting copy all items to cd and writing them that way. Until recently, and wit Maxell cds, that is all I have needed to do. After PC issues, still not resolved after failure to buy a new one yet, I stripped off all unused programmes so do not have another cd writing one I used to have but never used.
I suppose the laternative if it works is to copy to EHD , plug it into laprop and use Nero and see if the CDs work. I`ll try that later - thanks for all your comments

[spinner]

Oh oh get the new iPad make multiple folios....oh that was Jonathan's idea 

Seriously, I agree with Tringle, I think it's down to write speeds. I used Deepburner, have for a couple of years. It's free and I've had no issues but I burn everything at my burner's slowest speed.

[jinky]

Well I`ve tried it at slowest writing speed in my dvd/cd writer with the datasafe cds and still no good. Thanks for the suggestions.

[Hinfrance]

All I can think of then is that there is something awry with the drive. They're dead cheap, have you thought about trying a new one?

[Oldboy]

Well I`ve tried it at slowest writing speed in my dvd/cd writer with the datasafe cds and still no good. Thanks for the suggestions.

I assume the new CD's are the same speed as your older CD's and not ones that have a range of speeds? I have read articles that suggest not all CD's will work in all drives, regardless of what the makers claim. Try putting the images on your external hard drive, then connect that to your laptop and use it to write the CD's as that might work. As Tringle WP suggests, it might be your DVD/CD drive can't handle the new CD's because of the way the tracks are impressed on the new CD's. It's easy to fit a new DVD/CD drive in your PC as they only cost about £15 -£30. 

[jinky]

Thanks again - I fear you might be right about the drive but am not going to change it as I need a better, faster PC anyway. I tried writing the same images from a flash drive on my laptop and no problem with either CD. I`d looked up the suppliers website re: failed CD writing and they stated it was often a firmwar update that was needed so I went onto the Sony website (it`s a Vaio) and did that with trepidation. Funny thing is afterwards it wrote to one of the CDs at 4x speed but again not to the new ones. They all boast up to 52x speed that I am using but I took the speed right down to 1x on the new Cds and still no joy. So I`ll just edit on the PC and copy to CD using EHD and laptop as you suggest. Thanks for the suggestions.

[Oldboy]

No problem and glad it worked. 

[bones615]

I would suspect the drive, sometimes the laser gets weak or dirty. I remember having the laser replaced in an old playstation very cheaply but as you say drives are dirt cheap these days. Have you tried a cleaner disc to knock the dust & dirt off? or a cotton bud with alchohol on the end.

Simon

[jinky]

Not tried a cleaner yet Simon but will give it a go. Thanks.

Later edit - cheers Simon for making me do the obvious. Having spent ages updating the firmware, getting in there with a little vac and generally ruining around a dozen blank cds I spend 99p on a cd/dvd cleaner this morning and it immediatelt printed to the first one I tried - what a numpty I am