Burner id string (and S/N) written on DVD-R/DVD-RW discs...

[ItalianJob]

Found this on a DVDInfoPro thread, seems to work only on some burners and with DVD-R/DVD-RW discs only.

I think it's an interesting info and not a good one for privacy... if the burner id and S/N is burned on the disc

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DVDInfoPro V3.41+ add a new function which can detect the burner use to create the DVD-R(RW) media. Just select ADVANCED COMMANDS -> Read burn info from media DVD-R/RW , it can show the burner information. It means that when you write the DVD-R media, it also records your burner's information into the disc!

[ItalianJob]

It works on NEC drives too... The second column is the serial number...

Nero was used for me, I don't know if other burning software writes this info on -R/-RW discs ? DVDDecrypter ? VSO CopyToDVD ?

[code65536]

Is that really the serial number... the one in the screenshot above doesn't look very legit? The "serial number" stored by LiteOn drives are nothing close to the drive's real serial number.

I don't really see how it's a breach of privacy... If nobody has a tool to view this info in the first place, then how could anyone use this information? And being able to see what burner wrote the disc isn't much of a privacy breach, either.

[ItalianJob]

My NEC 2510 show the S/N you can get with Nero InfoTool, but I don't know if it's the real S/N ? Real S/N or not, it's an unique id...

If nobody has a tool to view this info in the first place, then how could anyone use this information?

DVDInfoPro is a tool to view this info, that can be downloaded free by anybody...

[code65536]

My NEC 2510 show the S/N you can get with Nero InfoTool, but I don't know if it's the real S/N ? Real S/N or not, it's an unique id...

If nobody has a tool to view this info in the first place, then how could anyone use this information?

DVDInfoPro is a tool to view this info, that can be downloaded free by anybody...

Well, my point is that it *used to be* that there was no such tool.

I think that this new DCB (Disc Control Block is what this thing is technically known as) viewing tool a fun toy to play with. A novelty for the optical-drive hardcore fans. But I don't think it has any practical/useful value.

Here's a unique ID: 74798D34S2... just me randomly hitting on the keyboard. As long as people don't have access to what the unique ID means, it doesn't mean anything. And I think that, *IF* NEC or LiteOn even keeps a collection of such unique IDs, they probably have better things to do than to try to get discs that people have burned and see which of their burners burned it (how'd they get a hold of your personal discs anyway?).

[$0.02]
It seems to me that this was probably something put in for internal diagnostic-type purposes. And that authors who create tools to read the DCB and then slap on the hot-button word "privacy" into their promotion of such a tool is unfairly taking advantage of a latent fear on the Internet. Kinda like the quacks at Gibson Research Corporation who grossly overhype the need for security for profit.
[/$0.02]