I was wondering if anyone here would know of a utility for checking the integrity of my Lite-On burner drive? I went to the Lite-On website, but I couldn't locate anything there.

Here's the issue: I insert a DVD-RW that has some Illustrator files on it, but when I go to open the folder on the disc I get a Windows error screen that tells me it has to close the operation and to send a report to Microsoft. This is not the first time this has happened. I use the drive a lot and never have any issues except for occasionally with these Illustrator files.

I scan for viruses and malware on a daily basis so that's not a problem. The Lite-On is SOHW-1673S with the latest firmware update (JSOD). My PC is running Windows XP (SP2) Home.

Thanks.

In Nero there is a utility called cd/dvd speed that can check if the burned discs are bad. Don't know if it will check the drive but it will tell you if it's a bad burn. For reference a dvd can't have more than 4 failures or 260 errors per block.

utaka, thanks for the excellent tip. Fortunately I have Nero 6 Ultra Edition so I ran that CD/DVD speed check and the disc (that I was having problems with) passed. In another forum someone suggested I scan the drive with Sisoftware Sandra. I downloaded the Lite version and ran a couple tests and the drive passed also.

I thought it may be the discs I am using, but now I'm at a loss as to what is causing this problem. Just in case can you recommend some good DVD burning media? I have used Memorex, Fujifilm, and Verbatim and I have had this same issue with all three of those.

Thanks

If you can find it Taiyo Yuden is the best. Next I use TDK or other Taiwanese media, except for Memorex. Memorex is consistently the worst name brand media from what I've seen. Look for made in Japan above the UPC code.

Edit: run cd/dvd speed at 4x, gives the most accurate results at that speed.

And that model of burner was one of the best I ever owned (SOHW-1673) and the new Lite-on's have been absolute garbage, so take care of it.

Thanks. I'll go to Newegg and check those discs out. I'm now running a disc quality check to see what happens.

Really? Well I did a lot of research before I finally settled on this drive. The reviews I read were all positive. I use this drive on a daily basis for backups, music, and burning of my artwork for clients. It has never caused me any problems, except for the ones I mentioned here, but I believe that is a fault of the discs. I don't think it could be anything other than the discs I'm using.

I checked on those Taiyo Yuden discs, but they don't appear to make DVD-RWs.

Thanks again.

Ok, here are the results of my disc quality scan using Nero...

General Information
Drive: LITE-ON DVDRW SOHW-1673S
Firmware: JS0D
Disc: DVD+RW (RICOHJPN W11)
Selected speed: 8 X
PI errors
Maximum: 168
Average: 6.52
Total: 76635
PI failures
Maximum: 17
Average: 0.83
Total: 19783
PO failures: n/a
Jitter: n/a
Scanning Statistics
Elapsed time: 9:36
Number of samples: 119016
Average scanning interval: 1.15 ECC
Glitches removed: 1

I've only had one lite-on and it was a good drive but didn't live long.
Now, the only drive I use is LG and I've built 100+ systems with LG drives and they never fail ! (touch wood....lol)
My first dvd drive is sitting in my server and it's probably 3 years old and has lots of mileage on it.

Your problem might be software based due to the fact that it's a particular file type that errors.
Are these adobe files from an old version of illustrator?
Were they burnt with an older version of nero?
Asside from all that, when was the last time you cleaned the laser in your drive?

I have version 11 (CS) of Illustrator and I burned them using Nero 6 Ultra Edition. I haven't cleaned the laser on my DVD drive since last summer so I should probably do that - I use a Memorex CD/DVD lens cleaner disc.

I've been checking out different burning media and I think I'll be going with these RiDATA DVD+RW discs.

that sounds like the right thing to do..because the laser prduces such a small beem of light (not visible by the eye!) that if not pure and clean will cause read/write errors.

All your other formats work fine, right?
Movies, mp3's, cd roms, etc....

Yes, I've never had any issues with other file formats. I've had my share of bad discs (too many actually), but mostly it's just the Illustrator files. After this incident I'm seriously considering getting an external hard drive for storing my artwork files.

He he, my answer to this whole problem; build a new computer.