CD-R exploded while burning in DVD+RW drive. Was NOT cracked before hand. What can I do to prevent this?

[CZroe]

The DVD+RW came from inside my bro's PC which he got from a local shop called PCUSA. This company is anal about the waranty sticker on the back. He only bought the whole PC because it was a good deal with all the components, and never intended to use it for anything but the parts so he "voided" the sticker immediately. It was a SHOCK when this happened because he had only burned 2 DVDs and gotten nowhere near his money's worth out of the drive.

After getting the fragments out, it seems to work for burning CD-Rs and reading discs, but he doesn't want to waste an expensive DVD-R disc to test that functionality

What can I do to prevent this? I know this happens often with high-speed drives... I THINK I once heard of a utility for certain CD drives to lock the read and write speeds to keep discs from exploding. Can anyone help?

 

[imported_Phil]

I would say that he could argue the drive was faulty on purchase, and is therefore entitled to a refund or replacement even if the warranty sticker is removed. As long as the drive hasn't been messed around with (scratches, labels removed etc), I would go back there and argue until you're blue in the face.

At the end of the day, it wasn't anything you did by opening the PC that make the disc explode, it was (probably) a fault with the drive, so the warranty sticker thing is kinda voided. If they try and argue otherwise, explain retail law to them.

Dopefiend

 

[MDE]

Happens often? Never happened to me, although I have heard of this happening. It's better to waste the DVD-R disc now, than to find out that it won't burn a DVD when you really need it to. Nero has a utility called Nero CD-Speed or something like that, sounds like what you're after.

 

[AmdEmAll]

The cd could have been cracked, but it may have been so small that you cannot see it.

 

[0roo0roo]

never had a cd explode. little crack will do it though.

 

[ChefJoe]

I thought the exploding disc was usu. due to cheap media and not due to the drive itself.

 

[Tab]

What media was he using? What speeds was he burning at? Most Manufactures dont like burning over 48x

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: Tabb
What media was he using? What speeds was he burning at? Most Manufactures dont like burning over 48x

I second this, were you burning too fast? There are tales on here (if you look) of people who blowup discs by burning them above their rating.

-Por

 

[CZroe]

Imation. Imation = 3M

Changed their "3M Imation" name around '98...

I consider 3M to be some high quality stuff, but most who have "forgotten" who they really are just consider them cheap

Anyway, it's an older NEC ND-1100A DVD+RW drive, so I'm pretty sure the CD-R burn speed is moderately slow (I think 16x). The CD-Rs were 48x rated.

I think the fact that it happened while burning instead of reading is key... Wouldn't the higher read speeds be more likely to shatter it? Could the laser have gone off on it's own and heated it unevenly or something? Hmm...

 

[ChefJoe]

Imation has been farming out their CD-R production to cheaper and cheaper companies. I've heard of imation discs that are CMC ? disks.

 

[CZroe]

Perhaps that why they disassociated with 3M

 

[cliftonite]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
never had a cd explode. little crack will do it though.

 

[CZroe]

I'm not saying that it's so common I'd have expected it to happen to you

 

[aka1nas]

I have had bad experiences with Imation's CD-RWs. We bought a spindle for the lab I tech at and about half of them developed cracks sitting in the spindle. they were kind of radiating out from the center and they had been sitting in a cupboard for a month or so, so it was kind of weird.