MBP not reading DVD+R DL??

[stulaw]

I have an 18 month old MacBook Pro and I'm trying to reinstall Leopard because it's having tons of other problems. The most RECENT problem is that it doesn't seem to be wanting to read the dual layer DVD+R discs that I'm burning from my roommates laptop (mine only successfully burns about 5% of CDs or DVDs of any type).

The Tiger install disc that came with the computer works fine but none of the copies of the Leopard dual layer disks that I've burned work. Should I drop another $20 on a different brand DVD+R DL or try DVD-R DL? (the About This Mac info shows that it is supposed to be able to read and write both of these types). Or is my drive just screwed up?

Stuart

 

[sickmacdoc]

First off, you won't find a lot of DVD-R DL disks around- the vast majority are DVD+R DLs just for trivia.

While laptop drives (particularly Matshita drives in many Apples) seem to be far more prone to failure than full height drives based on anecdotal evidence, so if another brand of DL disks does not make a difference you might want to try a DVD laser lens cleaner disk to see if it makes any difference. I always try it on non-cooperative drives and certainly doesn't always make a change, but it has on occasion helped. Based on your note that only about 5% of any type burning successfully, I would feel fairly certain that the next section would apply (though I would still want to try a lens cleaner as above since it is able to burn some correctly).

Failing both of those things, then you can probably be comfortable in saying that the drive is, ummm shall we say, less than 100% functional. If you have AppleCare on the machine, Apple will replace the drive with little question (though it never hurts to take a blank disk to a Genius Bar to demo the problem), but if you don't have it then you will need to determine if you feel comfortable with swapping it out yourself, having it done by a service provider or if you could live with using an external burner instead.

 

[dukebound85]

my mb with super drive can not read dvd+r DL whearas my brother's bought august 07 can

i think its the drive to be honest as my dads mbp from the same time as my mb cant read them either

 

[stulaw]

I thought maybe a dirty lens was the problem, so I bought a memorex lens cleaning disc from Fry's, but OSX doesn't even recognize the CD so I can't launch the cleaning program.