What is the best burner?

[Mr.Gone]

I'm looking to buy a new burner as it seems that the one i have doesn't want to work..for whatever reason, it worked for burning the activate.iso, but has not worked for a game thus far. i currently have a samsung ts-h552l and am using imgburn to burn games. i've wasted at least 10 dvds trying to get my backup of espgaluda 2 to work. i can occasionally get the game to start, but it freezes once i start playing. i'm not sure what the problem is..any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. i hope i don't get banned for asking this, but this place has been the most reliable site for info.

[HaGGardSmurf]

The better of the optical drives are pinoeer's they are usually higher quality, and ive heard from lots of people that they work amazing for 360 backups.

At the end of the day it doesnt really matter what drive. When you burn a disk that puts a lot of strain on the laser, and if you burn lots of things the laser will wear out no matter what. Thats what happened to your current drive, the laser is worn out, and isnt burning nicely.

So just look for any drive capable of burning dual layer dvd's and look for warranty. I bought two $50 drives one samsung, and the other is hitachi, they both have 3 year warranty which covers the laser wearing out.

[Mr.Gone]

thank you very much for the quick reply. that definitely makes sense. this burner is about 4 years old and i've burned countless ps2 and wii backups with it. these dual layer dvds are too expensive to be coasters...i just ordered a pioneer 218lbk off ebay, so hopefully i can get this game backed up. this site is the best! you guys have the best tutorials i've found on the net and the best advice. i'm new to the xbox scene and you guys have definitely made things a whole lot easier for me. i just want to say thank you again.

[HaGGardSmurf]

Not a problem, most optical drives if you do heavy burning will only last a year or two, so yours was just basically worn out.

It probably read fine, but had trouble burning?

[Mr.Gone]

well, that's the thing, sometimes it would say it burned successfully, however, when i would try the disc in the 360 it would either say open tray or when it would say play game it would say the disc was unreadable. sometimes it would start after using the activate.iso but when attempting to install it to the hard drive, it would get to around 40% and say the disc was unreadable.. i have a samsung ms25 flashed with 1.6 fw. i've followed all tutorials here to the t, so needless to say this has been an extremely frustrating ordeal haha. i'm not sure if the burn speed has something to do with it. my ts-h552l won't let me burn at anything higher than 2x. its kinda old. and i'm also using memorex discs, so my shoddy media may have something to do with it as well. i have some verbatims coming in soon, but i figure i'll just get a new drive too.

[HaGGardSmurf]

Yea that means your drive is worn out. The burn will finish but it will be low quality.

[Mr.Gone]

Yeah I guess I was just in denial about the burner hahaha. It should be here in a few days, so I'll let you know how it works out. I may end up pestering you about how to install it to my computer though...I'm almost certain that my current drive is IDE, but this new one is sata...I'm uneducated when it comes to these types of things.

[HaGGardSmurf]

Open your PC case, and look to see if you have any extra sata ports.

Youll likely just need to open your pc case, remove a couple screws that are holding your drive in the case, unplug it, then your able to pull it right out the front of your pc.

Installing the new one is a bit tricky since your old one is IDE. You'll need to find a sata power cable comming from your PSU. Otherwise you'll need to buy an adapter.

[Mr.Gone]

Ok I got my pioneer in and successfully installed it. However, it won't burn any slower than 4x. Coastered my first verbatim disc. here's the log...
I 17:09:06 Source File Sectors: 3,825,924 (MODE1/2048)
I 17:09:06 Source File Size: 7,835,492,352 bytes
I 17:09:06 Source File Volume Identifier: XGD2DVD_NTSC
I 17:09:06 Source File Volume Set Identifier: 34672923
I 17:09:06 Source File Implementation Identifier: Sonic Scenarist 3.1
I 17:09:06 Source File File System(s): ISO9660, UDF (1.02)
I 17:09:06 Destination Device: [4:0:0] PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-218L 1.02 (F:) (RAID)
I 17:09:06 Destination Media Type: DVD+R DL (Disc ID: RITEK-S04-66) (Speeds: 4x, 6x, 8x)
I 17:09:06 Destination Media Sectors: 4,173,824
I 17:09:06 Write Mode: DVD
I 17:09:06 Write Type: DAO
I 17:09:06 Write Speed: 2.4x
I 17:09:06 Link Size: Auto
I 17:09:06 Lock Volume: Yes
I 17:09:06 Test Mode: No
I 17:09:06 OPC: No
I 17:09:06 BURN-Proof: Enabled
W 17:09:07 Write Speed Miscompare! - Wanted: 3,324 KB/s (2.4x), Got: 5,540 KB/s (4x)
I 17:09:07 Advanced Settings - Optimal Writing Speed: No
I 17:09:07 User Specified L0 Data Zone Capacity: 1,913,760
I 17:09:07 Set L0 Data Zone Capacity Succeeded!
I 17:09:09 Filling Buffer... (20 MB)
I 17:09:09 Writing LeadIn...
W 17:09:33 Failed to Write Sectors 96 - 127 - Reason: Logical Unit Communication CRC Error (ULTRA-DMA/32)
W 17:09:33 Retrying (1 of 20)...
W 17:09:36 Retry Failed - Reason: Invalid Address For Write
W 17:09:36 Potential Bogus Driver Error Detected!
W 17:09:36 Retrying (2 of 20)...
I 17:09:36 Writing LeadIn...
W 17:09:36 Failed to Write Sectors 256 - 287 - Reason: Logical Unit Communication CRC Error (ULTRA-DMA/32)
W 17:09:36 Retrying (1 of 20)...
W 17:09:38 Retry Failed - Reason: Invalid Address For Write
W 17:09:38 Retrying (2 of 20)...
W 17:09:38 Retry Failed - Reason: Invalid Address For Write
W 17:09:38 Retrying (3 of 20)...
W 17:09:38 Retry Failed - Reason: Invalid Address For Write
W 17:09:38 Retrying (4 of 20)...
W 17:09:38 Retry Failed - Reason: Invalid Address For Write
W 17:09:38 Retrying (5 of 20)...
W 17:09:38 Retry Failed - Reason: Invalid Address For Write
W 17:09:38 Retrying (6 of 20)...
W 17:09:38 Retry Failed - Reason: Invalid Address For Write
W 17:09:38 Retrying (7 of 20)...
W 17:09:38 Retry Failed - Reason: Invalid Address For Write
W 17:09:38 Retrying (8 of 20)...
W 17:09:38 Retry Failed - Reason: Invalid Address For Write
W 17:09:38 Retrying (9 of 20)...
W 17:09:38 Retry Failed - Reason: Invalid Address For Write
W 17:09:38 Retrying (10 of 20)...
W 17:09:38 Retry Failed - Reason: Invalid Address For Write
W 17:09:38 Retrying (11 of 20)...
W 17:09:38 Retry Failed - Reason: Invalid Address For Write
W 17:09:38 Retrying (12 of 20)...
W 17:09:38 Retry Failed - Reason: Invalid Address For Write
W 17:09:38 Retrying (13 of 20)...
W 17:09:38 Retry Failed - Reason: Invalid Address For Write
W 17:09:38 Retrying (14 of 20)...
W 17:09:38 Retry Failed - Reason: Invalid Address For Write
W 17:09:38 Retrying (15 of 20)...
W 17:09:38 Retry Failed - Reason: Invalid Address For Write
W 17:09:38 Retrying (16 of 20)...
W 17:09:38 Retry Failed - Reason: Invalid Address For Write
W 17:09:38 Retrying (17 of 20)...
W 17:09:38 Retry Failed - Reason: Invalid Address For Write
W 17:09:38 Retrying (18 of 20)...
W 17:09:38 Retry Failed - Reason: Invalid Address For Write
W 17:09:38 Retrying (19 of 20)...
W 17:09:38 Retry Failed - Reason: Invalid Address For Write
W 17:09:38 Retrying (20 of 20)...
W 17:09:38 Retry Failed - Reason: Invalid Address For Write
E 17:09:44 Failed to Write Sectors 256 - 287 - Reason: Logical Unit Communication CRC Error (ULTRA-DMA/32)
E 17:09:44 Next Writable Address: 272
I 17:09:44 Synchronising Cache...
W 17:09:49 User opted to skip the 'Close Track/Session/Disc' functions.
E 17:09:49 Failed to Write Image!
E 17:09:54 Operation Failed! - Duration: 00:00:43
I 17:09:54 Average Write Rate: 0 KB/s (0.0x) - Maximum Write Rate: 0 KB/s (0.0x)

I don't know what I did wrong..Any ideas?

[Mr.Gone]

that's actually the log from the memorex i tried next but the errors are the same.

[nufcmickey]

that's actually the log from the memorex i tried next but the errors are the same.

I notice the " Potential Bogus drivers " in that log somewhere so it could be that you have the wrong drivers for your drive, You also need to either run it through abgx to validate the DVD file and if you dont have a DVD file it will create one, This way you dont need to change or mess about with the layer break Just right click the DVD file and burn with Image Burn, But you wanna be making sure of them drivers first.

Other than that try Cookies Game Burner and if its the same its gotta be something with the drivers of your drive.

Good Luck !

[HaGGardSmurf]

I googled it, and it seems like you might have a bad driver, or it needs to be updated or something like nufcmickey said.

[Mr.Gone]

Thanks guys. I just sorta killed my computer though...gotta take it to the doctor tomorrow to fix what I messed up...yeah yeah, I'm retarded..

[Mr.Gone]

I got my computer back today. Burned a copy of espgaluda 2..worked beautifully! I don't really know what I did differently, but it worked! Thank you guys very much for your help!