What kind of blanks 2 use?

[jcz65]

I am about half way through a 50 cake of Comp usa disks and they all suck after about 10 plays. I am looking for a good brand of blank cd's, any info appreciated. Had good results with memorex in the pas.t

 

[btvillarin]

I get mine in bulk from PC Club. Recently, there was a deal for a spindle of 100pk 32x for $14 w/coupon. They were all blank, so I have no idea what manufacturer they were from.

Using <A HREF="http://www.gum.de/cdrid/" target="_new">CDR Identifier 1.63</A>, it came up with the following information:
<font color=red>ATIP - 97m 15s 12f
Disc Manufacturer - Ritek Co.
Recording Layer - Dye (Long strategy; e.g. Cyanine, Azo etc.)
Media Type - CD-Recordable
nominal Capacity - 702.83MB (79m 59s 74f / LBA: 359849)
Recording Speeds - min. unknown - max. unknown</font color=red>

I have no idea what this means, by the way. :lol:

<A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com" target="_new">btvillarin.com</A> - Host fixed network problems; I'm back up

 

[lakedude]

Wow that is cheap!

I've been using 16x verbatims from Sam's club with cases for about $.50 each and been having really good luck with them. They have 32x's with cases cheaper but I've had such good luck I'm scared to change.

Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire.

 

[AMD_Man]

I have a 40X/12X/48X burner. I use 32X Sony CD-Rs which run perfectly at 40X and 10X Verbatim CD-RWs which run perfectly at 12X. My Lite-On automatically scan the surface of the CD after I put in the CD, so I know the maximum the CD can handle even before I start burning.

<b><i>"A penny saved is a penny earned!"</i></b>

 

[ejsmith2]

I buy "Durabrand" 100's down at Wally World. They run about $.32/cdr, have a 'gold' bottom, and crank at 24x.

Memorex 32x are the exact same, except they are rated at 32x and run $.51/cdr (i think).

 

[phsstpok]

Picked up a 50-pc spindle of Khypermedia 32X Multi-Speeds, Silver/Silver for $10, regularly $17 at Office Max. Been burning fine at 36x (the max of my Cyberdrive). They also read at max speed (48x for my burner), near the end of the disc of course.

I have not had good luck with any blue-dye discs on any of my burners over the years. I avoid them like the plague.

Gold bottom discs are the best but usually expensive.

Silver bottoms might be the second best but I'm not sure.

If you find a brand/model that works for you stick with it. Don't forget to check the read performance. This is more important than write performance (at least to me). (What good is disc that will write fast but reads back as slow as 2X or 4X near the end of the disc?).

<b>I have so many cookies I now have a FAT problem!</b>

 

[btvillarin]

Okay, I'm not familiar in the area of CDRs. But, then again, I know why I get the cheaper CDRs. I read this article <A HREF="http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20010719S0003" target="_new">"Is Your Data Disappearing?"</A> by Fred Langa at InformationWeek. IMO, this gives more than enough information for you to make a good decision.

For my CDs, they've lasted just fine. I make quite a few audio CDs with these and daily/weekly backups.

Lastly, how can you benchmark the read performance of the CDR media?

Thanks!
Bryan

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[phsstpok]

Hmmmm, that article seems to indicate the "blue" discs have a long storage life. However, I used to get about 80% coasters with blue discs before buffer underrun protection. With my new burner I can burn those same discs but they read back very slowly 4x-8x on my writer and only read back on half of my CDROM drives at all. This is why I say no more blue discs for me.

That article is a year old now. I think most discs are currently manufactured with silver colored reflective material instead of gold, which was real gold. Gold was more common when CDRs were $1/pc but now that they are closer to $0.20/pc it's not cost effective. (I read that somewhere but I can't remember where).

Assuming what I have just said is true I'd have to guess that the Silver/Silver discs that I prefer use the Phthalocyanine dye but with a silver reflective layer.

Whatever, the Silvers work for me.

No matter what the storage life of discs or the discs' theoretical quality you should always use the discs that work best with your burner. Sometimes the manufacturer has suggestions for the best media but often you'll just have to do your own testing. If you're using CD-R for backups make sure they work on more drives than just the writer. Sometime when you need the backups you might not have that writer.

Testing CD-R read speed is easy if you have Nero. Supplied with this burner software is a utility called Nero CD Speed. You can use it to test the read speeds of pressed CDROMs, Audio CDs, CD-Rs and CD-RWs, just use a nearly full CD for your tests. For pressed CDROMs you should use a data disc but watch out for some game discs. These aren't always a good choice because they might contain copy protection or might use the mixed audio & data modes. Both these affect the results of testing. Nero CD Speed produces a graph of read perform from the inner portion of a disc to the outer portion. If the read speed dropssuddenly near the end of the disc try a different brand.

If you don't have Nero I think there is a shareware test program that is commonly used called CD Speed 99. Look for it at <A HREF="http://www.CDMediaWorld.com" target="_new">http://www.CDMediaWorld.com</A>.

<b>I have so many cookies I now have a FAT problem!</b>

 

[Clarentavious]

Try Imation. They were recommended to me by a tech. I've always had good use with them.

I was also able to write their 16x at 32x with my Cyberdrive.


-----

Benchmarks don't lie

 

[ejsmith2]

I agree.

Phthalocyanine or Adv. Phthalocyanine is the way to go. Always.

Gold or Silver, doesn't really matter all that much. I've never seen silver in the stores where I live, so I buy gold. If the silver was there, and they tested out (by me) to be just as good but cheaper, I'd buy those instead.

Golds and silvers (you won't see the gold/silver bottom with anything other than Phthalocyanine or Adv. P.) get higher reflectivities, are readable under worse conditions (dust, scratches, old players), and will always get higher read speeds. That's why mastered disks get such good read speeds.

Crank hard. Crank fast. Crank with precious metals.

 

[btvillarin]

Dude, I had that utility right under my nose! :lol: I did two tests: one for a blank CD and one for a almost full data CD. <A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com/assets/cdspeed1.gif" target="_new">Picture 1</A> and <A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com/assets/cdspeed2.gif" target="_new">picture 2</A>, respectively. So, does this mean that the CDs I have can get high read speeds just fine?

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[phsstpok]

Yup, you're looking good. I'm impressed how that Liteon hits max write speed at only 16 mins into the disk

My Cyberdrive only hits 24X at the 22 minute mark and max speed (36x) at 66 mins. (Sorry no server so no pics). This only gives my burner an average write speed of 27X while your 24X burner averages just a little less than 23X.

As for read speed there are no problems with what I can see in your pic. However, to really test you need a nearly full 80 min disc or even an overburned disc.

I usually see problems near the 66-70 min mark. I thought it was because I burned some 16X discs at 24X but even burned at 16X they did not read at max speed. Instead they dropped to 16X at the end of the disc. Not as bad as the blue discs I mentioned earlier.

When I burn the Silvers (32X) at 36X they read back nicely and reached max speed. (Actually I've reached 49X plus change at the end of the disc even though my burner is spec'd at 48X reads).


<b>I have so many cookies I now have a FAT problem!</b>

 

[phsstpok]

As I said I avoid any discs that are blue. I never thought about it but the article mentioned that the blue dye with gold reflective material might make the bottoms look green or aqua in color.

Since the manufacturer doesn't list the dye chemical or the reflective surface. I just look for the absense of color on the bottom. Seeing gold or silver is all I need to know. If this means the discs use Phthalocyanine, well I didn't even know about this before reading the article. I just knew the silvers and golds worked better.

<b>I have so many cookies I now have a FAT problem!</b>

 

[btvillarin]

Alright, I'll scrounge up a full overburned CD and post back. Thanks for your input. I love my Lite-On...

Bryan

<A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com" target="_new">btvillarin.com</A> - Host fixed network problems; I'm back up

 

[tomvista]

Does anyone know hwo to find cd-r9o or 99s?
or wich 80 min variety will actualy work for high capacity overburn. All the overburn article talk about cdr90 and 99 but I can't seem to find any.
tia

 

[lakedude]

I'm sure you guys know what you are talking about....but...

I have had 100% perfect good luck with the Verbatim disks at Sam's club and they have a blue look to them. I have had trouble with cheep no name no label solid silver disks. I was useing Memorex disks in paper sleaves that worked great so I bought a spindle of Memorex disks and had nothing but trouble with the same exact disks.

It may be pure luck but I have had better luck with blue disks then silver and better luck with disks that come in some sort of package then on a spindle. I will never buy spindle disks again.

Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire.

 

[lakedude]

Ah HA!!!

From the makers of my favorite disks (so far, I am open to new ideas):

The characteristics of a recordable CD were specified in the Orange Book II standard in 1990. The technology involves changing the reflectivity of the organic dye layer shown in Figure A. This is typically either cyanine (cyan blue in color), phthalocyanine (more or less colorless) or azo (deep blue in color). These dyes are photosensitive organic compounds, similar to those used in photography. A microscopic reflective layer--either a proprietary silvery alloy or 24-carat gold--is coated over the dye. Tests show a silver reflective layer provides improved reflectivity and maximizes read/write performance. The silver/blue CD-Rs, which are manufactured with a process patented by Verbatim, combine the benefits of silver reflectivity with the increased data reliability and long archival life offered with metal azo dye (Figure B). The metalized azo layer also gives Verbatim CD-R media its unique deep blue appearance, which can be easily distinguished from the green of Cyan and gold of Phthalocyanine dyes.



If you are real anal (like me) and want to know more <A HREF="http://www.verbatim.com/products/products.cfm?sub_id=25&sub_lnk_id=27" target="_new">http://www.verbatim.com/products/products.cfm?sub_id=25&sub_lnk_id=27</A>


Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire.

 

[lakedude]

Me again!

I've got 4 burners. The first is a 4x SCSI that has made a few costers in its day but works with most disks. It is showing some age and does not get much use anymore.

Number 2 is an 8x Phillips IDE that sucks! It is my second (took first one back cause it sucked) and it will only run decent at 4x. This pig has made many coasters and is very picky about media. It has has never made a coaster out of a Verbatim disk.

I've also got a 40x with underrun and an 8x laptop with underun that have never had problems BUT by the time I got these I had settled on the Verbatims so they have never been fed anything else.


Looks like there are 2 types of "blue" disks and one type is bad but the other is good.

Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by lakedude on 06/14/02 09:41 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[phsstpok]

Hmmm, blue is unique to Verbatim? My bad luck seems have a history. I always had trouble with Verbatim floppy disks (not that this is relevant).

What brand is your writer. My writers that have had trouble with blue discs include and old HP, and old OEM Compaq (I think the drive is a Sony), and my current writer is a Cyberdrive. The Cyberdrive can write the blue discs and read them, but very slowly. Half my CD-ROMS don't seem to read blue discs reliably.

I only buy spindle disks but don't pay attention to brands only color and price. No doubt that quality could be an issue. It's just that silver discs have given me 100% success and blue discs about 80% failure (prior to my current writer). I have a few blues left so I will use them for non-critical stuff.


<b>I have so many cookies I now have a FAT problem!</b>