here is the setup I got:
1) NEC 3540A
2) Nero 6
3) cheap DVD+RW (Legacy)

It's been fine burning those DVD+RW. Starting yesterday, the drive didnt' like a lot of those DVD+RW (they have been burnt 1-2 times already). When I put the disc in, the drive spinned a long time. Then windows thought it was a "CD". Nero recognized it as DVD+RW. Nero Burned successfully (without verification). Then I put the disc back in, again windows thought it was a "CD", and nothing in the disc.

It was like 6 of them in a row ....

The drive was okay with DVD+R disc. Burned okay and read okay.

Now I'm confused - if it burns/reads okay with DVD+R discs, but bad on many occasions with rewriteable discs, is it media problem ? Or could that be the drive ? ANyway I can isolate the problem ?

Thanks !!

First, what is the media code. I would expect it to be a media problem as this is fairly cheap media. I would switch to Verbatim +RW. Also, your drive is not one of the best NECs but that may not be the case with RW media as most of the people who were disappointed with the 3540 were not using RW.

Different media cannot predict the results on another type.

CDSpeed will tell you the media code. Welcome to the forum

thanks for the quick replies. I'll check the code tonight after i get home.

In general, can hardware (NEC-3540A) or software (Nero 6) permanently "damage" a rewriteable disc ?

I understand they are cheap rewriteables - just that 6-7 in a row yesterday got me thinking whether my drive is going bad or not

Here is the DVD info - the status is "Closed"... does that mean it's "finalized" ??

Nero CD-DVD Speed: Disc Info
Basic Information
Disc Type: : DVD+RW
Book Type : DVD+RW
Manufacturer: : unknown
MID : INFODISC A10 (001)
Write speeds: : 2.4 X - 4 X
Blank Capacity : n/a
Extended Information
Layers : 1
Write strategies : 4 X
Disc Status : Closed
Raw Data
Physical Format Information (00h)
0000 - 92 0F 04 00 00 03 00 00 00 25 E2 1F 00 00 00 00 - .........%......
0010 - 00 00 01 49 4E 46 4F 44 49 53 43 41 31 30 01 39 - ...INFODISCA10.9
0020 - 23 00 9C 7C 5C 02 28 00 96 7E 70 02 28 00 9C 7B - #..|\.(..~p.(..{
0030 - 68 02 28 04 04 20 E0 00 F0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - h.(.............
0040 - 01 00 17 38 00 28 8B 46 02 2C 00 2F 8A 3A 02 2C - ...8.(.F.,./.:.,
0050 - 00 2E 8C 3C 02 2C 28 35 50 00 20 00 40 20 00 00 - ...<.,(5P...@...

I have an NEC 3540A and have had nothing but joy from it for almost two years.

Infodisc, not the greatest.

Closed = finalized

Once bought 25 pack of ritek dvdrw's for what I thought was a deal. I could only get the first 15 mins. of disk to play & then they froze or couldnt read. Will we ever go a day without bad media problems. Har

but is the following a typical symptom of bad media ?

The disc is fine prior to being re-written. Then I use Nero (or DVD decrypter) to burn. No error during writing. Then I take out and put back the disc to the drive, the drive is spinning forever. Doesn't say any read error or anything. Finally the drive stops - and explorer icon displays "CD Drive" and there is nothing in the folder....

Most certainly a media problem.

THanks for all the replies !

Can someone explain to me about "finalize" ?

For CD-R and DVD-R, I can understand finalize - well, since you can only write once, why not finalize it anyway...

For DVD+/-RW, if i want the media to be rewriteable, do I need to finalize it ? I read that windows has problems recognizing DVD that are using multisession and are not "finalized" properly.

What is the proper way to burn DVD+/-RW media that I want them rewriteable ?

Finally - I use nero 6 (don't have the version # with me), everytime i put in a DVD+/-RW and burn, the "finalize" checkbox is "checked" and grayed out. So i cannot uncheck it. But as I mentioned before, i was able to rewrite most of these DVD-RW even with the "Finalize" check box checked (but grayed out). Although lately I'm having a lot of problem with rewriting them.

Finalize or not finalize, that's the question

thanks !!

Many standalone players can't read data on DVDs or CDs unless the discs are finalized. Most burners and ROM drives installed in or attached to a computer can. I often store data on RW media that I use only in my computer without finalizing. But I finalize anything I want to be able to play back on a standard DVD or CD player.