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April 27th, 2017 06:00
Disk Drive Backup/Read Problem
My Inspiron 530s desktop has performed wonderfully well for 8 years. But a backup problem has developed in my CD/DVD Drive. When I back up digital camera images onto DVDs (as I've done for years), at first the images appear OK on the disks. But after inserting and extracting the DVDs several times, the DVD images disappear as if they no longer are read or recognized. Each time i successfully burn the images onto a DVD, the images eventually no longer appear. Although the disk properties pie chart still seems to indicate the presence of a used percentage on the disk, I am unable to recover the images themselves. I've tried two brands of DVD blanks; images disappear from both. Normally, after about six months, I reformat/erase my camera's memory card, but afterward I permanently lost my backup images on the disks. So this time I'm delaying erasing until this issue can be resolved. I hope someone can explain the cause of the problem and then recommend a solution! Otherwise, my Dell computer works just fine and i would like to keep using it.
WNW
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May 5th, 2017 12:00
Thanks to both of you! With the help and support you both have provided, I plan to have my disk drive replaced by one of my area computer services.
DELL-Brad L
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April 28th, 2017 14:00
Do the disks read fine on another system? I would start there, but it could also be an issue with the drive, but do the old disks read fine still?
Best regards,
Brad
ejn63
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87.5K Posts
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April 28th, 2017 17:00
It's very likely the write laser is failing - the drive should be replaced.
WNW
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April 29th, 2017 09:00
Brad, I appreciated your quick response! Good questions. Although my home desktop is the only computer I own, I will try the wiped disks in a friend's PC to see if the problem still exists or not. My old DVDs display all images OK. I'll get back to you.
WNW
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May 1st, 2017 08:00
As with my own computer, my wiped disks also did NOT display images in my friend's laptop. Since my earlier backup DVDs still show/recognize all backup images and the latest ones do not in any computer, what is my next step? Isn't the optical laser required to read ALL of the disks? If the laser might not be the issue, then what is causing this problem? I am grateful for any advice you can offer!!!
ejn63
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87.5K Posts
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May 1st, 2017 10:00
There are multiple lasers -- the write laser is not the read laser, and there are different lasers depending on whether it's CD, DVD, or blue-ray.
From the sound of it the disc wasn't correctly written - meaning the write laser is the most likely suspect to have failed. Fortunately, a replacement drive is very inexpensive -- and that's the next step -- replace the drive.
WNW
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May 1st, 2017 18:00
Thanks very much for your laser clarification! My final question & please excuse my ignorance: Do I ask to have the entire disk drive replaced, or is there a separate drive for the write laser? In any case, I like "very inexpensive"! Really appreciate your answer as well as Brad L's!
ejn63
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87.5K Posts
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May 2nd, 2017 05:00
The drive must be replaced -- it looks like this model uses a standard SATA 5.25" drive. If you just need a CD/DVD writer, something like this will drop in easily:
www.newegg.com/.../Product.aspx
Even if you want a blue-ray writer, they're generally under $75.
DELL-Brad L
Community Manager
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May 2nd, 2017 17:00
Hi there, it looks like ejn63 has this all cleared up, and I would also definitely recommend replacing the drive as the first step. It really sounds like it is failing to write/finalize the disk just like ejn63 mentions.
Here is a link to the manual that details the steps on this (within this link click on the Owner's Manual pdf, and the steps will start on page 137). There's also other steps within the manual on how to remove the cover etc. but fortunately this shouldn't be too bad of an install and can be a very quick fix. If for some reason this doesn't work it could then be some software issue, but I am leaning more towards the drive itself with what you have told us.
Also, sorry on the delay, and thank you for all the updates! I hope you're able to get this fixed quickly! One last thing/side note is that you might want to backup the pictures at a 2nd spot like a portable hard drive. The only reason I say this is I have had some older disks get scratched easily/fail etc over the years, obviously it might not ever happen, but 2 spots (on different media) is always better than one. That's just my suggestion on backups, but there is a lot of other methods out there.
Best regards,
Brad