BleepingComputer.com: Dvd-r Don't Work In Dvd +/-writer

Hi

I have an old Compaq Presario with a DVD+/-Writer as shown on the specification at the link and printed on the pc case cover over the drive. Nevertheless it doesn't work with DVD-R media and on closer inspection the drive has DVD+R printed on it only.

I bought it under the impression it was compatible with both - does this mean it was advertised wrongly? Is there any way to verify this?

From what I see on that spec sheet, there should be a DVD-writer. Even if it was only a DVD drive, it should still play DVD-R.

This Compaq actually has 2 drives and the DVD drive I've never know to have any issues with playback. My issue is just with the DVD Writer drive.

I have had this problem before when trying to write to DVD-R media staright out of Windows but at the moment I'm trying to burn an ISO using ISO Recorder and it just tells me the media is unusable.

This post has been edited by benny269: 09 July 2007 - 07:56 AM

This could be a couple of things, it could simply be the quality of the media or it could be that the drive just doesn't like DVD-R. It's usually the other way around, DVD-R was the first media to hit the market so most early machines were geared toward it, the DVD+R is the one that will usually have a problem being read. What media are you using? Is this a data DVD or are you backing up home video files?

Your link is not working for me so I couldn't find the information regarding you DVD drive, perhaps someone reading this can post whether this is working for them or not.

This post has been edited by dc3: 09 July 2007 - 10:02 AM

I don't think the link is broken as previous poster did look at the specs but perhaps it is because it is a pdf file? Anyhow the link to the spec sheet can be found here.

As I said previously, I was actually trying to burn an ISO file. As it happens it was just the ISO Recorder program that was giving me difficulties as it was a version that didn't write to DVDs. I have now resolved this using a different program and successfully wrote to DVD-R media.

It seems the drive does work with both media but I'm still wondering why on the drive itself the printed symbol shows DVD+R only. Should I still be a little concerned? Is there any way of definitively checking exactly what this drive supports?