DRU500A suddenly has many "disc write errors" in R

[Justin42]

My DRU500A (in a firewire case, firmware 2.0e & 2.0f) has suddenly had a rash of "Disc Write Errors" in Recordnow DX (and RecordNow MAX). I have been using DVD+R's (Fuji 2.4X, TDK 4X, Verbatim 2.4X), trying to burn archives of TV shows I've been capturing. The discs tend to have 2 files of just over 2.0GB each (for 2 hours). (say, like 2.04GB and 2.1 GB)

The exact error is "Disc Write Error -10 at Sector [# varies]. Command 2A, Sense 03, ASC 0C, ASCQ 08". (sometimes the ASCQ varies) The sector number varies, but usually comes within the first 1/2 of the disc (Although not always).

It doesn't happen every burn, but is happening more and more recently. To try to fix it, I upgraded the firmware from 2.0E to 2.0F, and downloaded RecordNow DX 4.6 (figuring since it was a "Sony" version, it might work better).

I've been leery to try too much different media as to not waste a lot of money, but I did get a successful burn on a 2X TDK DVD-R (not +R).

I have tried burning these same DVDs in Nero but I get errors about the size of the files, telling me UDF has a max of 2.0gb. So I'm not entirely sure about using Nero as a "test case" since I don't know about the ISO/UDF differences, although it seems like the error being returned probably doesn't have anything to do with the format, but the disc itself.

Has anyone seen this? Is there something that could cause the DRU500 to not like DVD+R's but seem to be fine (knock on wood!) with DVD-R's and DVD+RW's? Is there more troubleshooting I could try? What are the odds I have a LOT of bad media, from 3 different "Good" manufacturers? (TDK, Verbatim, Fuji)

If I contact Sony, would they freak out that I've mounted my DRU500A in a firewire case? (I have nowhere in my case I could easily put the DRU500A) Should I try a different firewire case?

Thanks for any tips.

[Dartman]

Well they have the drive test utilitie that is sposed to test the drive for any problems and give you a complete rundown and a pass or fail. If the drive needs to go back they'll probably want you to run it first anyways.
Is the DMA enabled still and all the usual things like ASPI installed still?
Maybe the firewire cable has gone bad also.
Just throwing out some ideas, last time I had any problems with mine I think it was becuase I installed Instant cd/dvd creater and I think it doesn't play well with others I uninstalled it and it seems to work OK again. It is possible that you could have a bad batch of nedia also, Spose you could try slowing it down and try a different bunch or brand, others have had funky media before.

[Justin42]

Thanks for the tips. I did run the drive checker before (it had the problem really bad a few days ago) and it passed with flying colours. Guess I should try it again just in case it's on some weird threshold.

I am in the process of using ForceASPI to go back to 4.6; I had been running 4.7 for ages but you never know what could start out of nowhere...

I'm kinda thinking it's not media since I've tried 3 different brands...

I'll definitely try to dig up a new firewire cable.

Thanks!

[Justin42]

Well, things have seemed a lot better since Saturday, although I've been a bit scared of DVD+R media. I've burned some DVD+RW discs and quite a few DVD-R's, so it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the drive itself. Maybe the older ASPI layer fixed it, or maybe I just have a bunch of very borderline media (for this drive) from different manufacturers....

weird.

[Dartman]

I do believe some folks have said they had problems with the newest ASPI, maybe your one of them. I just used Force ASPI and everything that needed the layer has worked well since.