iMac – SuperDrive dying?

[BlueRevolution]

For the last couple of days, I've been getting these errors in Toast whenever I try to burn disks, each one in a series a few seconds apart. The last appears twice, then I'm told simply that Toast failed to burn. I can try a burn in Disk Utility if necessary, but I've already wasted about $8 of disks, so I'm kinda loathe to destroy any more.

What do you think? I'm pretty sure it's a hardware problem, but if I don't have to take it into the shop, I'd rather not.

[charlesbronsen]

i would definatly try burning from disk utility or another piece of software other than what you are currently using.

[yellow]

Is it crappy cheap media?

[BlueRevolution]

No. I've tried burning on Memorex DL-DVDs, Philips DVD+Rs, and Philips CD-Rs. All of them are from half-finished spindles, and I've never burned a coaster with either brand before. Now I have five coasters in a row.

Toast has never given me much grief either, except the one time I did try using cheap media. I still have that nearly-unused spindle sitting around here somewhere.

[BlueRevolution]

Okay, I decided to save some steps and go to a fresh install (on an external drive), burning to a DL-DVD with Disk Utility. The burn process went without error, but as soon as it switched to verifying I got this error. I've never had trouble reading from disks, even since the burning problem cropped up. I flipped through the video (ripped HD movie) and everything seemed to be in order.

Next up, I'll install Toast on the fresh partition and see if it has the same issue here.

[BlueRevolution]

I burned another disk with Disk Utility from my normal system install, and I got this error halfway through watching one of the movies. So... hardware issue, or am I missing something?

[redgaz26]

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My super drive no longer works at all. Stopped burning DVDs first then CDs. Luckily I now have ATV so I'm in no rush to get it fixed!!!!

[Nermal]

I've had the same symptoms. A few discs failed to burn, progressed to most discs failing… and then eventually to not even reading anything at all. Replace the drive.

By the way, what type of drive is it? UJ-857 in my case.

[BlueRevolution]

Nope, mine shows

PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-K06A:

Firmware Revision: Q631
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2000 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: Insert media and refresh to show available burn speeds

Still giving me errors. I think I'm just going to try my luck with the folks in the shop.

[Thomasthetug]

I was talking to a person at my apple shop, the otherday and i was telling him how my combo drive in my imac g5 was stop reading burnt media all around, but worked in other computers. Has yours stopped reading aswell cause mine will not read but burn.

[BlueRevolution]

No, mine reads without a problem, it just has burning issues.

[fohawk17]

sounds like the drive is gone. you will need a new drive. sorry to say it. apple shop time!!!!

[BlueRevolution]

I just got the computer back, and it seems that the problem is with the disks I was burning. I'm not sure how two separate half-used spindles of different types of disks from different manufacturers would go bad at the same time, but apparently so. I just got it back and am in the process of cloning my files and partitions back to the internal drive so I haven't tested the burner yet, but I'll try with a new spindle and hope it works this time.

That's $45 I didn't need to spend.