Can't format CD-RW! Bad media?

OK, If I sound stupid give me a break, I just started this stuff. I recently purchased an iomega Predator CD-RW drive (external) for my IBM Thinkpad. It's write speed is limited to 4x because laptop does not have USB2.0 (yet). I also bought 5 Memorex CD-RWs. I wanted to format them and use drag and drop, but have been unable to format a single disk. I've tried 2 so far, and am afraid to try any more because they are apparently unformattable now!? Say it isn't so!

The drive came with HotBurn software which detects a new unformatted CD-RW and asks if you wish to format it. I tell it yes and it starts working. Next thing I know it's saying it's encountered a write error and cannot continue. At this point anything I try to do with the disk (format again, erase, etc) fails. What am I doing wrong?

Here's the info on the disks. I've read elsewhere on the forums that Infodisc is a notoriously bad manufacturer. Is it possible that the discs are just crap or am I doing something wrong?

Manufacturer : Infodisc
Code : 97m25s30f
Disc Type : CD-RW
Usage : General
Recording Layer : Phase Change
Recording Speed : 1 X - 4 X
Capacity : 79:59.74
703 MB
Additional Capacity : n/a
Overburn Capacity : not tested

 

You don't sound "stupid". Your post is one of the better ones I've seen.

I read a post somewhere [can't remember where] that someone couldn't get the Memorex CDRW 700mb/80min [10 times rewrite speed?] to work on their burner either.

It may not be your burner but that media.

Have you tried some other media or tried that Memorex in another burner?

 

I haven't tried any other CD-RW, but have successfully used 2 brands of CD-R in my burner. Don't know anybody personally who has a burner to try it the Memorex media in. I'll pick up a different brand CD-RW today and see if it does any better.

Is it possible that a defective drive would work fine with CD-R but not CD-RW? Seems a little odd to me, which is why I'm kinda leaning towards bad media.

 

Your media is not bad at all. It is too new for your drive.
I had a similar problem. It happen not to be able to use a brand new RW CD (4-10x high speed called PROFORMANCE), although my old 4x only RW CDs worked fine.
The issue proved to be the new type of recording method that the high speed RW CD were
using. It is called Mt. Reiner and my drive didn't support it. Unfortunately for me, the RW CDs couldn't be formatted with my drive (Sony CRX-160) even at the 4x speed. I tested onto another newer drive with support for CD MRW and they performed ok. So, I decided to buy a new CD Writer, with all those new features like Mt Reiner, etc.
For the moment, the old and simple RW CD's (not high speed or multi speed) are the only accepted by my CD Writer.
So, sometimes newer is not better. It may lack retrocompatibility.

 

No,no,no...Mt.Rainier is a disc format, a way that the data is organized. Has nothing to do with media compatibility.

Old drives can't handle the newer high speed CD-RW media.

 

Good questions deserve a good answer.
Un like you I’ve been doing this a little longer had may laptop ripped off
Last year and the insurance company slipped me a replacement drive
That is a IBM thinkpad 1200/1300 and a Hp burner to replace the one I lost

The only disk you can use are 1 to 4 speed cd-rw and 1 to 20 cd-r if you can get you hands on the Easy cd creater v5 software it will most likely be the easiest for you to use given you skill level. if not make sure that you check you max write speed set it to 4x and you should be able to use the disks but this does not mean that they will be stable I’ve lost a lot of data it’s best to just buy the 1x4 speed cdrw’s from you local dealer they are still available and I’ve even managed to return the cdrw’s I’ve bought from local retailer
Good luck.

 

These discs are 1x-4x only. The drive isn't old, just bought it. It's capable of much higher speeds, but my laptop doesn't have USB2.0, so it will only write up to 4x. I used the "high speed" CD-R discs with no problems whatsoever. Only coasters I've created have been the Memorex CD-RW mentioned at the beginning of this thread. There was a message elsewhere on this forum from someone else who also had problems with the Memorex 4x CD-RW. Keep forgetting to grab a different brand CD-RW to try. Maybe next time I'm in from the road.

 

I also have had trouble with Memorex CD-RW 4X media with three different drives.

Its the media not the drive, I put other medai in the drive and it works fine. CDR recording is exellent.

Problems shows up mostly when trying to do a full erase of Memorex media.

 

Good, so I'm not the only one. I've been trying to format one to use as a drag & drop file storage. Want to be able to add photos to disk without having to write the WHOLE thing over each time.

If I format a CD-RW and put JPEG files on it, can a regular CDROM drive read it, or will it have to be another CD-RW drive? My mother-in-law has an old computer right now that won't read the CD-Rs but she's getting a new one at the first of the year. I think I've talked her into getting a Dell (dude!) and they're running that free CDburner upgrade deal now, so she'll probably end up with a CDRW drive anyway... but just in case she doesn't get one, would a new CDROM be able to access files on a 'formatted' CD-RW?

 

I hava a toshiba laptop with a dvd-rom/cd-rw combo modular drive. The write speed is 4x max. I was having similar trouble formatting cd-r for use with direct cd. IT tech at work told me that it is my cd-r media, so I dug up some really old 2x cd-r and viola, I can format them. So I am afraid if you want to use direct-cd, you have to either find old cd-r(w) or just format them in another burner and then you should be able to use them on your 4x burner. But there is no problem with ezcd creater using higher speed cd-r(w) since it doesn't need to format the disc first.

 

have any got a solution this problem. I also have the Memorex 4x 700MB CD-RW, and I am not able to erase any of them. I have tried this on 3 separate drives on 3 separate machines. One of the drive was even a memorex 48x CDRW drive. I am able to burn CDR on all 3 machines fine even with media speed up to 48x. However, when I try to do with the Memorex, I am able to burn it, but when I tried to erase it afterward, it will either ruin the disc or just not able to, but the content remains intact.

 

I've read on another forum that the Memorex 80min/700mb CDRW are bad quality. They give a lot of errors.

If you are interested in other similar media, try this thread : http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/15755

You'll notice that I had to reformat the CDRW in some cases in order to get "error free" quality. Maybe that is something to consider.

 

A_Klingon, you are correct about Memorex CD/RW's. I just returned a package of 25 of them to WalMart and got FujiFilms to replace them. The Fujis work like a charm. Not an error to be found. The Memorexes had errors on three diffrent burners.

 

I've had problems with trying to fully erase Memorex CD-RW 700 MB. Don't think I'll be buying Memorex anymore.

 

Memorex CD's are terrible. So are FujiFilm and other cheap CD's. I bought a 50 pack of Memorex 700MB CD's only to find out that they are terrible for Audio CD's(a.k.a. they have awful sound quality and the discs burn up/fall apart in car CD players). I bought a 50 pack of Sony 700MB CD-R's and I re-burned all of the Audio CD's that I originally burned on the Memorex CD's after I tried 1 of the Sony's only to find out that they have EXCELLENT audio quality.

CD Media World did some tests on a bunch of differnt CD-R's and have written up a list of which CD brands are good, medium and bad. According to the review Memorex and FujiFilm aren't even really suitable for Audio CD's because thier quality is so poor(I wish I would've read this before I bought the Memorex CD's ;P). I swear by TDK, Pioneer and Sony media now(they are my favorites obviously). I found out that Sony, TDK and Pioneer were excellent way before I ever read those test results.

CD Media World's CD review/test results.

http://www.cdmediaworld.com/hardware/cdrom/cd_quality.shtml


Do yourself a favor and ditch the junk media. Go buy TDK, Pioneer or Sony CD-R's. BTW, the Sony media isn't very expensive either.

 

So glad I found this thread

I have just WASTED 8 hours trying to use Memorex CR-RW 700 1x-4x

out of a new box of 10 -

5 would not work at all - one even hung my Win-XP system trying to load

5 allowed me to write on them but then I had problems reading them back and could not re-format and try again

TOTAL RUBBISH

I was using a new AOPEN 5224 drive and Nero 5.5.10 - also tried Musicmatch and VCDEasy to write - no joy

Now I know its not just me - the discs have problems

Back to the store

 

Sorry - forgot to say that I have used 10 Traxdata CD-RW 700 1x-4x - NO PROBLEMS

and AOPEN 8x-24x NO PROBLEMS

and of course stacks of CD-R 40x - NO PROBLEMS

 

TO ALL:

I have ecdc, and have been using this for about two years. I, too, have had enormous problems with "Memorex CD-RW", when trying to drag mp3 files, for storage and space saving functions. I have called the tech people, and they couldn't tell me. They told me to download this,from the website, and start the computer over and all this unnecessary nonsense. I read the "message board", which I just stumbled across while I was looking for a "free mp3 player", which would have the capability of "formatting" RW CDs.

I am still looking for "these type of players", but I will also begin looking for other "brands" of RWs. My old RWs won't play now, for the most part, and I can't re-format most of them either. These files had videos of "Tera Patrick, Jasmine St. Claire, Alexis Amore, Lacey Duvall, Tia Bella, Heather Lee, and others.

In addition, I am a "dj", and I have plenty of music mp3 files that I can access, anymore, because of the "Memorex RW" files.