How to erase some injured CD-RW's.

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Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
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This is really weird - the computer froze while writing these CD's (computer's kinda unstable, due for a format and new OS). Now, when I try to erase them, it gives a Track Following Error. Nero's Quick Erase finishes in about 2seconds then gives the error. The Full Erase takes about 16 minutes, then gives the error. CDClone takes about 20 minutes on either the Quick or Full, then gives the error. EasyCD Creator can't even detect a disc in the drive. DirectCD seems to have found the CD, and it did format it for drag-and-drop usage - I looked at the back of the disc afterwards, and it did do something. However, I still get the same errors in the other programs.
Is there any utility out there that can really FORMAT these 2 CD-RW's?
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
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No good. The program can't even see the CD. Then I tried it with a known good CD-RW - I just get "Initialization Error" then. :(

Oh yes, with one of the damaged discs in the drive, occasionally, access attempts by Windows Explorer cause the screen to blank, then it shows some error in KRNL386.EXE, then the system stops responding completely.

Another update: Did a "Quick Erase" with DirectCD. It took 45 minutes, and did nothing. It said that the CD was erased, but a quick glance at the back of the CD-RW shows that it's not blank - there's still rings of data on it. Nero still can't erase it either. DirectCD's "Scandisc" utility says "Not enough free space on disc" to perform the repairs.
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
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Tried a few more utilities from cd-rw.org - the best seems to be CD-Mate. It has an eraser with two options that looked nice: Ignore TOC (Force Erase) and Unconditional Erase (Erase without reading the CD). They go through the whole process of erasing the disc, and it does make some changes to the appearance of the back of the RW - some of the rings of data change their shading - but Nero still can't work with it. I've gotten this kind of problem before and was able to solve it, but I can't remember how anymore. It was even with older versions of the software - Easy CD Creator, in those cases.
 

GAZZA

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Oct 18, 1999
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Originally posted by: Jeff7
This is really weird - the computer froze while writing these CD's (computer's kinda unstable, due for a format and new OS). Now, when I try to erase them, it gives a Track Following Error. Nero's Quick Erase finishes in about 2seconds then gives the error. The Full Erase takes about 16 minutes, then gives the error. CDClone takes about 20 minutes on either the Quick or Full, then gives the error. EasyCD Creator can't even detect a disc in the drive. DirectCD seems to have found the CD, and it did format it for drag-and-drop usage - I looked at the back of the disc afterwards, and it did do something. However, I still get the same errors in the other programs.
Is there any utility out there that can really FORMAT these 2 CD-RW's?

I think your answer is somewhat related to the stability of your OS , for all the software burning utilities out there you would have thought that at least one of them would have done the trick .

OK let's see if this will help you out ,I dug this off the net .




Subject: [4-27] I can no longer erase a particular CD-RW disc
(2001/06/26)
It's possible that the disc has developed a region that can't be erased. More likely is that the software or firmware is acting up. If you're using Easy CD Creator, insert a good CD-RW disc, and start the Erase process. Just before you hit the final "OK" button to start the erase, swap the troubled blank disc in place of the good one.

If this succeeds, you probably ought to run it through the erase procedure one additional time before using it.

Super Blank, from http://www.ping.be/kris-schoofs/, reportedly accomplishes the same thing without requiring a disc swap.

If this doesn't work, there is an (unconfirmed) report that a UV EPROM eraser will do the trick. Experiments have shown that leaving the disc out in direct sunlight for a couple of hours may also help. The resulting disc won't be fully erased, but it may be "blank enough" that you can then use Super Blank to finish the job. (Somebody else has reported that polycarbonate is opaque to UV light, suggesting that the discs should be left label-side-up if this is to work at all.)

If nothing at all works, make a careful examination of the write surface of the disc. It's possible the disc is physically damaged and can't be used.






 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
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Tried Super Blank. It says "Blanking" and "Blanking complete," but Nero still gives that Track Following Error, and EasyCDCreator can't see the disc. This is just wierd. Wonder if it's something about the CD drive itself that's preventing it from erasing the CD correctly? It's a Yamaha 8824EZ burner with the 1.0a firmware.
 

GAZZA

Golden Member
Oct 18, 1999
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Jeff have you tried connecting the drive to the other ide channel and maybe even try changing it to a diff setting such as Cable Select ?
 

Souka

Diamond Member
Sep 25, 2000
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Just a thoguht....

I use CDRW's when I don't want a client's machine on our network, but need to send a large file to it.


Eventually I can't read the CDRW, tried many programs like you have, so just told myself to "junk it" and go on.


My $.02

 

stevewm

Senior member
Dec 6, 2001
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CD-RW have a limited number of write/erase cycles per spot on the CD.

However this is supposed to number into the thousands but I on lower quality CD-RWs it could be much less.
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
This CD has been used maybe 10 times prior to this problem; it's a Fujifilm brand, multispeed - 1x,2x,4x.

Jeff have you tried connecting the drive to the other ide channel and maybe even try changing it to a diff setting such as Cable Select ?
No, haven't done anything like that yet. How would that affect its erasing ability though?
I've got a new motherboard; once I get the OS reinstalled (it was getting junked up anyway) I'll give it a go again.

 
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