Can't Write to New DVD Drive

[fatwarry]

I'm using DVD Movie factory 5 with Service Pack 2 installed. I'm using XP SP3 on a reasonably powerful quad core desktop PC.

I started getting Buffer Underrun failures and as my drive was quite old I decided to get a new one - it's a Samsung SH-224 SATA drive. DMF recognises the drive and is able to read from it (I use it to extract TV programs from discs recorded on a hardware DVD recorder). However, if I try to produce a DVD from video files on my hard drive I get a failure :
"A generic error has occurred. Make sure the burner is ready and try again".

If I try to erase a disc I get a failure with the message
"Failed to burn data onto the disc".

In both cases DMF becomes unresponsive and has to be killed via Task Manager and the disc cannot be ejected via software or the eject button - the disc is still spinning and the light is flashing - the only way to eject the disc is to shut down the computer and use the "emergency eject" hole.

Various audio applications that I use are able to write to the drive, so I assume it's basically OK. Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

[Ken Berry]

Instead of putting a disc in the drive, leave it empty. Then, on the last page where you would normally Burn to disc, instead choose either Create ISO or DVD Folders. If this works, then it is definitely something to do with the interaction between drive and MF 5 which is the problem. However, if it cannot produce either an ISO or DVD Folder, then it has nothing to do with the drive, but is more likely something to do with the project you are trying to burn.

[fatwarry]

Ken,
Many thanks. I was able to produce an ISO without any problem. I'm pretty sure the drive itself is at fault. However, as it's the first SATA drive I've ever had I have a nagging doubt that maybe I need to install some additional infrastructure software to get it to work. Do you have any knowledge in that area?

thanks

[Ken Berry]

Sorry -- I have no expertise when it comes to drives. But hopefully someone else will be able to offer advice.

As a workaround in the meantime, now that you have an ISO, do you have a program like the Nero or Roxio suites which can burn an ISO to disc? If not, google for a freeware program called ImgBurn which can also do it. That will then test whether the burning program has trouble using the drive -- as well as giving you an actual DVD if it works!!

[gavind]

Not sure though but cases like this would not involve hardware like SATA drives. My guess is more like a software glitch where the work around was able to fix it, luckily.