Re: disk write errors in DVDA

the_director wrote on 7/16/2009, 1:57 PM
I am new to the forums, but have used Vegas movie studio and DVDA now for a few months. I recently completed my latest movie project with Vegas, and rendered it to my hard drive. I then opened DVDA to create the menu, backgrounds, set up media, and such. When everything was done, I hit the "make dvd" button. Initially, my project was too large for the disk, so I compressed it. Then, after going through the steps, I clicked "finish" to start the preparing process. After about 15 to 20 minutes into the prep, I got an error message stating some kind of disk write error, and it's cause was unknown. Since this happened over a week ago, this error has persisted, and I can't get my project done.

I have the very latest firmware for my dvd burner, and the software is current. My OS is windows XP pro. Since I don't have much space on my hard drive, I am trying to prepare and burn my dvd on my external hard drive. I need to know how to solve this dam disk write error I keep getting while preping or even trying to burn my project to disk. Any help is most appreciated!

Randy

Comments

Steve Grisetti wrote on 7/16/2009, 7:18 PM
See if you can write the DVD files to your hard drive. (Select Prepare instead of Burn DVD.) This will tell you if the problem is with the project or if it's with the burner/disc.

Meantime, ensure that you're using quality media. Verbatim makes excellent DVDs for a good price. Cheaper brands, like Memorex, are so buggy that the end up coasters as often as they do DVDs.
the_director wrote on 7/16/2009, 7:34 PM
Hi Steve...

I'm using Maxell dvd rw to test everything, before burning them to dvd r- disks. I have earlier this evening tryed the prepare function, but the same error occurs. I don't have much room on my internal hard drive anyway, so I usually throw everything to my extenal hard drive. My dvd burner works fine when I used it for burning projects made using Nero software a few months back, so it can't be the blame. I just can't believe this!

R
Steve Mann wrote on 7/16/2009, 9:23 PM
He isn't writing to disc yet, he is only making the DVD fileset, all to hard disk. Assume the worst - your hard disk may be near failure. (Or it's so full that it can't hold any more data.)
bStro wrote on 7/17/2009, 7:56 AM
It might help if we had more info about the external drive.

What's brand and model?

How is it connected -- USB? Firewire? SATA?

What's the capacity of the drive and how much space is available? (For that matter, what is the "estimated" size of your project according to the numbers in the bottom right corner of DVDA?)

Can you confirm that you don't have any trouble copying files to that drive just in general? Have you tried, recently, copying a large file to it through Windows Explorer?

Rob
the_director wrote on 7/17/2009, 12:11 PM
Western Digital brand. My book series. 300 gigs.
It is connected via USB I believe.
294 gigs available, DVDA shows 3.8 gigs.
Yes, large files are copied to the external drive without failures.
musicvid10 wrote on 7/17/2009, 1:34 PM
Western Digital brand. My book series. 300 gigs. It is connected via USB I believe.

That was the cause of all of my write / read errors trying to use Vegas and DVDA to an external drive. I am now using My Book for storage of old files only.

Some further testing on the drive revealed the reason -- it is simply too slow for NLE. Only about 15% the write speed hooked up to USB2 that I would normally expect compared to either 1394 or EIDE, as I recall. Switched to a Seagate on FW400 and all is good now.
the_director wrote on 7/17/2009, 3:10 PM
Okay, so what are you telling me? I can't use my external hard drive to save my files to? The drive is too slow, what?

What do you suggest I do? Go back to Nero, and stop use Sony altogether, what? I've heard a lot of things said about Sony, most of which are negative, so I can always return to Nero if need be.

R
musicvid10 wrote on 7/17/2009, 8:39 PM
I am telling you my experience writing Vegas and DVDA files to the drive brand you referenced, and the results of my follow-up test, nothing more. Yours and others' mileage may vary.

My clear and only suggestion was that you try a different external drive, preferably firewire. I did not suggest that you choose one brand of software over another.

My twelve years of experience with Sony products, going all the way back to the Sonic Foundry days, has been quite satisfactory. In fact, I've made some money for our nonprofit using the software.

However, if you want to "return" to Nero, it's certainly your option, no skin off my back. I don't work here. Personally, I dumped Nero a long time ago because of all the bloatware and stability problems on XP Pro.

But don't take my advice on it. Not even what I've already found out from experience and wanted to share with you. It's obviously not worth the time I took to write it. Sony Technical Support may be your best option.
the_director wrote on 7/18/2009, 9:32 AM
Well, I was not trying to sound snotty about this, it's just that the error is driving me nuts because I can't solve it, and I have a project that needs completion....

Having said that, I'd like to point out that I do not have another external hard drive. There certainly must be a workaround or something I can do. Yeah, I did'nt really care that much for Nero either, which is why I'm here. I've already sent in two emails to tech support regarding this, and have not heard back.

Any thoughts? Suggestions? Ideas? Anything?

R