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Topic: How to fix a DVD-RAM disc? (Read 2879 times) previous topic - next topic
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How to fix a DVD-RAM disc?

By mistake I started to format with verification a DVD-RAM disc in InCD. It was going to take so long that I interrupted the process by logging off (I wanted to reformat it without verification). Now the disc seems to be unuseable - I can't format nor erase it anymore - InCD, Nero, and PowerProducer spit it out with error messages. Is there any way to fix the disc so I can use it again? Some low-level erase or something?

How to fix a DVD-RAM disc?

Reply #1 –
AFAIK, there is no way to "fix" it.

How to fix a DVD-RAM disc?

Reply #2 –
There are plenty of ways to fix it.  You just need a tool that gives you real control over the DVD-RAM drive (just the opposite of what you get in windows) 

I recommend you grab a livecd of Knoppix or Gentoo Linux (so you don't need to install anything on your hard drive) and run a command such as:

cat /dev/zero > /dev/hdc  (if your DVD-RAM drive is IDE secondary-master)

or:

cat /dev/zero > /dev/sda  (if your DVD-RAM is the first SCSI or USB device)

This will fill the whole DVD-RAM surface with zeroes.

WARNING WARNING -- Before doing this, you must be *very* careful and check which device name you put on the right side of '>'. If you type the wrong device name, you can easily overwrite your hard disk (instead of DVD-RAM) without confirmation !!

How to fix a DVD-RAM disc?

Reply #3 –
I just fixed it by doing full erase in Nero (took a couple of hours )