CDRW questions

[LiamC]

OK, I've had a CDRW for a while and use CDRW to backup my data. Last night while copying stuff across, I started getting errors saying that the source was unreadable. To cut a long story short, it turns out that the CDRW disk had turned to crap and I'd lost everything on it.

Luckily, I always make two copies

Now this isn't the first time that a CDRW disk has stuffed up on me. I reformatted (long) the disk and it's fine. So here's the question, why do CDRW disks stuff up so often? I'm not writing to them a lot - maybe half a dozen to a dozen times - but they don't seem to last very long.

Am I doing something wrong? Is it the media brand (Laser)? Are some media better than others?

BTW

Recorder is a Ricoh 7060A with 1.8 firmware (latest)

Anybody got a clue (because I sure don't)

 

[CougTek]

CR-RW don't like sunlight. If you keep your CD-RW medias in a place exposed to direct sunlight, your chances to screw them increase a lot.

 

[LiamC]

Thanks for the reply CougTek. I don't expose the media to sunlight though.

 

[timwhit]

I have never used CD-RW's before, But I burn hundreds of CD-R's and have never had one break on me unless it was subjected to hell...and these can usually be fixed with with a CD buffer.

So if I were you I would forget using CD-RW's and stick to CD-R's as they seem to be much more reliable as far as I'm concerned.

It probably has something to do with the phase change that is going on with the metal in the CD. It is somehow changing back to the original state. You could try a different brand (professional quality discs). But if you have had problems with them in the past then I would tend to stay away from them.

 

[Prof.Wizard]

Definitely it's not the RICOH. It's the whole CD-RW burning that's sometimes (not always!) unreliable...

I use a Plextor 16x10x40x, one of the best in its class, and sometimes InCD (and Windows) don't recognize my archive CD-RWs. For no apparent reason. Well, I eject the CD and place it again. The second (or the third time) it is being recognized...

Can you explain that? :-? I guess not, but I'm pretty sure it's not your RICOH burner that creates the problems.
(I used to have a RICOH and burned like hell, now I gave it to a friend of mine and he still burns lots of CDs... works impeccably!)