Burner won't recognize blank dvd

Hi,
I have an old cd/dvd burner I bought from best buy years ago. Tried burning a dvd and it wouldn't recognize blank dvd..it keeps saying "please insert dvd" even though there's one in the drive. It burns CD just fine. Plays DVD just fine. I have tried using SEVERAL other burning programs and still doesnt work. Please help.
Also uninstalled and reinstalled the drive several times...going crazy here.

Just to make sure, are you SURE it's a cd AND dvd burner? There are drives out there(I mention this since you said years ago) that were CD burners, with the DVD ROM feather.
If you like my post, or solution to your issue/question, go ahead and click on the little star by my name and/or accept the post as the Solution. It makes me happy.
I'm NOT an employee of Best Buy, or Geek Squad, though I did work as an Agent for a year 5 years ago. None of my posts are to be taken as the official stance that Best Buy will take on your situation. My advice is just that, advice.
Unfortunately, that's the bad luck of any electronic, there's going to be bad Apples... wait that's a horrible pun.

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DVD Writer won't recognize Blank DVD (Imation)

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I have bundle blank DVD brand Imation but unfortunately my internal or external dvd writer would not recognize the disc. I have tried several times using Toast Titanium 6 and when i put the blank disc it says 'please put a blank disc. In fact, the disc i haven't use at all. Does it cause of my firmware or other related problem. Please help me. Thank you.

Hi M Faza-
Since it is two different drives the first step is to try a different brand of discs.
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Superdrive won't recognize blank DVDs

This problem sounds similar to several I've seen here, but appears to be different, hence a new topic.
My PB has been in to Apple for repairs "several" times, and has multiple logic boards replaced and the DVD drive replaced at least 2x in the past 12 months.
I have the CD and DVD prefs both set to "ask". CD media immediately pops up the "You inserted a blank CD." dialog, so I know the drive is online and working. CDs with content load and run fine.
DVDs do not. Some DVDs burned on my 15" iMac read fine, while others get ejected or have read errors. Trying to burn off my nearly full internal disk to data DVDs, I've tried Disk Utility and Toast, and it doesn't matter. I get the same result. The program asks for a writable DVD; I insert a blank DVD; The drive churns for awhile; I hear a beep every so often while it is churning; The DVD is ejected without ever being seen by the Finder, Disk Utility or Toast.
I hadn't tried to burn a DVD since it last came from the shop, so I do not know if this specific drive ever worked for burning, but previous drives all worked fine. The fact that the DVDs never register anywhere I can see before getting ejected is just weird.
Is there some software config problem here, or should I just take the PB back to Apple and say, it doesn't work. Help. This is pretty frustrating.
It's not the DVD media, because it works fine in the iMac, and my other PB.
PB Ti G4 1Ghz 10.4.7 512MB/ 15" iMac G4 800Mhz 10.3.9 256MB Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Although, since when has a DVD that was rated for a higher speed NOT been able to be burned at a slower/lower speed?
Since always, if the data layer in the disc is sufficiently different from what the drive expects. In a high-speed drive, a disc with a high speed rating can be burned at any speed within the drive's range, often including very low speeds. But in a low-speed burner, high-speed media may not be usable at any speed, because its data layer is very different from what the drive was designed to work with. You may not be able to see the difference easily, but the drive does, and rejects the disc thinking it's defective.
Back before DVD drives and media were common, this problem arose all the time with people trying to read early CD-RW discs in the CD-ROM drives of older Macs: it couldn't be done. When the speed ratings of CD-R media skyrocketed to 48x and 52x, some CD-ROM drives couldn't read the high-speed CD-R media either, though that problem was less common.
When optical drives generally cost upwards of $200-250, it was hard to tell anyone that the simplest solution was to replace the outmoded drive with something newer and more capable. Now that you can buy a slot-loading high-speed dual-layer DVD burner with all the bells and whistles for under $100, it behooves anyone who can use those capabilities to go ahead and get one. As for me, I've never tried to burn a DVD in my UJ-815, and now that slow media are almost impossible to find, I probably never will. If I decide to burn more than one or two DVDs sometime, I'll replace my drive. You might save yourself some hassle by doing the same.
As for -RW media, I never bother with it: it's way overpriced and too often has problems. I've always had good luck with the cheapest CD-R discs on sale at Costco, Staples, etc. for about 15 cents apiece in large packages. I occasionally burn an archival disc using high-priced 200-year Delkin or MAM-A media, but for the most part, cheapies serve me fine.

Won't recognize blank DVD

I have a Powerbook with the new dual-layer Superdrive (Matshita DVD-R UJ-846). Blank DVDs are not recorgnized. I am inserting single-layer, 4.7 Gb discs; they don't show up on the desktop, in Finder window sidebars, etc. The lower area of Disk Utility shows this when a blank disc is in the drive:
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     Connection Bus :     ATA     Write Ability :     Read Only (DVD-R)
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     Connection ID :     Device 1
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I am using Office depot 8x DVD-R media. http://www.apple.com/powerbook/superdrive.html claims this speed is supported.
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I had this problem as well; it really confused me until I figured out how to change the default behavior as I had found documentation online suggesting that it would default to prompting me what to do (mine would open iDVD by default but wouldn't mount the disk).
If I open in finder the disk is mounted (of course) but I get similar behavior in Disk Utility. I can drag files to the disk to burn but Disk Utility still sees it as read-only. I'm curious if this behavior changed for you or if you're just able to use other products and thus haven't checked Disk Utility?
I'm using DVD+R media, other than that this is the same issue.

My DVD drive won't recognize blank DVDs! Hayilp!

Hi, My 17" G4 Powerbook recently stopped recognizing blank media when I insert them, there's some whirring noises for about a minute and then it spits them back with no dialogue whatsoever. Please help.
Many thanks in advance,
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I'm having the same problem and am really trying to burn some large .iso files. ***?

My uMBP won't recognize recordable DVDs, can't burn

I have a early 2009 uMBP that won't recognize burnable DVDs. I originally had heard that it might have been a problem with cheap media disks, so I purchased another brand and have not had any success. My computer won't even recognize them when I insert them into the drive. I am getting errors from Toast as well as iDVD. The finder window also doesn't open asking me what I want to do when I stick the burnable DVD into the drive like it normally does. But I am able to play CDs and DVDs without any problems. Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks for the help so far guys. Here are answers to the questions that have been asked so far:
I have tried using Sony DVD+R, Windata DVD+R and TDK DVD+R.
I looked in Sys Prefs and they weren't set to ignore.
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MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-868:
Firmware Revision: KB19
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 0 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO
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1book 12" with dvd/cdRW won't recognize blank cds or dvds,

The model number is A1054, machine model powerbook 6.5. 12 inch G4 30 gig 1,2 GHZ 512 MB with DVD/CD-RW drive. This wil not recognize blank DVDs or CDs. It reads awhile and ther rejects them.The preferences are set up to ask what I want done to the disk. It will read and mount recorded CDs.
I just got this computer,
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Welcome to the discussions.
Go up to your Apple upper left and click it and when the box opens Choose System Preferences, and when that opens choose CD-DVD and when it opens, take your time and go through here and choose the options you want for CD and DVD's WHat do you want to happen for both Blank media as well as media with copy on them and what you want to open to read them,
Generally with DVD Movies you want your Player to open.
Blank DVD's you will want any combination of programs to open depending on what you want to do, from iDVD or Disk Utility to make copies.
The same steps must be done with CD's as well.
Cheers Don

URGENT: MBPro Superdrive can't recognize blank DVDs

Hi I have this MacBook Pro (Model version 3,1) purchased last August and I am covered by AppleCare since this July. I currently wanted to burn some data into blank DVD+/-RWs through Toast Titanium, but failed. Sometimes Finder recognizes the existence of a blank DVD inside the drive, but most of the time it just doesn't at all and ejects my blank DVD. In Toast, whenever I tried to burn the data, which is like 4.3GB worth, it "completes" the process at the blink of an eye, which means it didn't burn anything at all.
I've tried multiple DVDs and brands and it just won't work. I have also tried resetting PRAM but to no avail.
This is very annoying since I have to burn the data and mail the DVD out within these 3 days, so it's quite urgent and I didn't expect this to happen since I seldom use the Superdrive and I've been very tender with the slot-loading.
If anyone could help or refer me to a previously-dealt similar case, I would be very glad. Thanks.

Woops! I just realised that my 1st post to this topic didn't get posted so my subsequent one (which is the one listed) doesn't really make sense.....
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DVD RW drive can't recognize blank DVDs

I'm having some difficulties getting my PowerMac Tower DVD RW drive to recognize blank DVDs. I'm able to burn and read CDs with no problems, and I can read DVD movies as well. However, when I insert a blank DVD+R (Memorex DVD+R 8x 4.7GB), the drive spins on and off and after 30s or so, it spits the DVD out with no error. Any idea what the problem is?
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SONY DVD RW DW-Q28A:
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Burn Underrun Protection DVD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: No
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I agree that another media brand is in order. Memorex does not make quality media and this may be the problem.
TDK and Maxell make highly regarded media. Princo is labeled as "3rd class" by the DVD Media FAQ at digitalFAQ.com.
I use TDK almost exclusively and have yet to have a bad burn.

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https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4050516?start=0&tstart=0 <<< click here.

Super drive doesnt recognize BLANK DVD-R

I can watch dvd movies but cannot burn anything on a blank dvd-r because the driver do not recognize blank dvd-r. what can it be?

If you've tried different DVD discs from different DVD packs, and all discs will not allow you to burn, then it's most likely a faulty drive. Hopefully you still have a warranty.??
Gramps.

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Welcome to Apple Discussions!
The first question is, how was the DVD-RW formatted? Was it formatted on a Mac? If on a PC, was it formatted ISO-9660, or UDF?
If the latter, you may need to get http://www.softarch.com/us/products/rdvd.html
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Based on this website, it looks like they are 5 years behind the time and haven't heard of Mac OS X yet:
http://www.plextor.com/english/products/716uf.htm
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DVD Burner won't recognize discs

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Oh really? Now that is interesting, because in fact I also have a Western Digital MyBook Pro external HD. Actually 2. They worked fine until the last month or so, and one of them had a bad disc so I had to have it replaced on warranty. Now the other one is acting strange -- won't mount. WD had me upgrade the firmware and reinstall the latest drivers. But it's still not acting right.
And you are also correct about the disc playing. Normal DVD's, CD's and CD-ROMs play fine. It's just blank CD-R's etc that come up as "unreadable."
I bought these two WD MyBook Pro 1 TB drives on 10/20/2007 however, and I don't recall that I had a disc burning problem that long ago. Maybe it's been that long since I burned a disc? I'm not sure...
Incidentally I've had another problem for a really long time, which is a very long Mac OS startup. I am not sure when it started but it might have been about the time I bought these drives and installed the software. See threads:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1765645&tstart=0
and
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1880557&tstart=0
Yesterday two things happened. One, Apple sent through another automatic update requiring a reboot, but I didn't catch what it was. Two, WD had me upgrade the drive firmware and software drivers. Suddenly my bootup problem has gone away. So the question is, was it Apple's update or WD's firmware upgrade?
And lo and behold, I just entered one of the same blank Fujifilm CD-R discs and it mounts without a problem. I can now burn discs again. I have a feeling the WD firmware upgrade fixed a lot.
Yeesh! I think I shall be buying drives from someone else in the future.
Thanks for this very insightful tip.

IMac G5 won't recognize firewire DVD burner

Hello, all! I just purchased a LaCie+/-RW DVD drive (FA Porsche design) with firewire. From my first attempt to hook it up, my computer won't recognize the device. System profiler shows the firewire ports listed (400 speed) but the DVD drive doesn't show up either in profiler or on the desktop. I have tried: 1.) Resetting PRAM. 2.) Resetting SMU. 3.) "Resetting" the firewire ports in the same way that others have been advised to do in this discussion thread. 4.) Switching the firewire cable to the other firewire port. Yesterday I took the DVD drive to another Mac (G4 Tower) and it worked beautifully, so I'm certain that the cable, brick, and the drive itself are fine. Any ideas? What would be my next step to take so that I can burn on DVDs?
Also, if I picked up a firewire to USB cable/adapter, would that do an adequate job of transferring the data or would I be wasting my money?
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Good morning, DP! I've never hooked up any firewire devices to this machine before, so I can't be sure that the ports have ever worked! If by "optical drive" you mean the mac's CD drive, it's built in. I have three external USB ports, two of which are taken up by the keyboard and mouse. The other USB port has worked fine for swapping in the occasional camera or iPod.
Thanks for the interest, I'll wait awhile before I take it in to a service desk!
Boring teacher

IDVD won't recognize second DVD drive.

The DVD drive in my G5 stopped functioning, so I plugged in a FireWire external DVD drive. The OS recognizes the DVD disk and the external drive, but iDVD does not. When I click the "Burn" button, it opens the drawer of the built-in (non-functional) DVD drive and tells me to insert a blank DVD.
There seems to be no facility for telling iDVD which DVD drive to use. Am I missing something?
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Hi John:
You might want to try what Len Goff always recommends:
Create a disc image and then burn the DVD. File/Save As Disc Image...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=164927
This will isolate any encoding/burning issues you may encounter. Once the disc image is created, double-click the .img and burn the virtual disc that should appear on your desktop, using Toast to burn the DVD. Disk Utility to burn the .img file. Usually, you can select a burning speed in Disk Utility.
There are variations to this process based on which OS X you are using...
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-->If the virtual disk selection won't allow you to click the Burn icon, use the .img file instead. This may have changed in 10.3.9 and did change in Tiger.
Also, you can use DVD Player to play the virtual disk to check your iDVD project before burning to DVD. Launch DVD Player. File/Open VIDEO_TS (Open DVD Media... in Player 4.6). Find the VIDEO_TS folder and open that. (The audio folder is for DVD-Audio disks.)
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93006
Alternatively, you may want to get PatchBurn.
http://www.patchburn.de/index.html
Sue

Burner won't recognize blank dvd

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