IT/Tech/Computer Geeks, lend me your ears!

[MagickalMemories]

Okay, guys.
I have a puzzle for the brain trust.

A buddy of mine has some DVD's with pdf files on them. His computer has a DVD player but not burner, and he'd like some archive copies of them, so he doesn't lose all the work, time and money he's got invested in them if something should happen. Especially now that WotC has changed their pdf licensing agreement.
Being the wonderful friend that I am, I offered to copy them for him. See, I'm cool like that.

Here's where it gets weird...

I was looking over the dvd's, and my computer wouldn't read one. Right clicking on it and checking properties, it shows that the thing's FULL, but won't show the contents of the CD. When I asked him about it, he said the dvd works fine on his computer.
On a lark, I brought it to work, where I can see it just fine.
I took it home and checked my wife's laptop... I can't see it there, either.

Home PC is Windows XP, SP3
Laptop is Vista
Work PC is Windows XP, SP2.
All computers are running Adobe Acrobat reader 7 or higher (not that this should matter).

If it matters, the DVD burner at work is a lightscribe. I know it SHOULDN'T matter, but I still wanted to include it because it's different.

Thoughts?
Suggestions?

Thanks!

Eric

[montaa]

Step 1: Reboot
Step 2: Use the one that works

You have just be privy to the first two immutable laws of IT.

Honestly just use the one that works. Its probably some random combination of windows version + acrobat reader + star alignment that is causing it to fail on that one particular disk.

[MagickalMemories]

1) Are you freaking kidding me? You think I didn't try that? Geez.
My intelligence is now, officially, insulted.

2) Can't. The software on my PC at work is specialized. I can't just copy or burn any old disk. I have to go through a program that will only burn certain things. Either I get it to work on one of MY computers, or I'm hosed. : )

Thanks for the input, so far.

Eric

[govannon]

Have you checked for driver updates for your DVD burner?

[montaa]

1) Are you freaking kidding me? You think I didn't try that? Geez.
My intelligence is now, officially, insulted.

Eric

My day is complete

[govannon]

Since it works on his computer, just have your friend copy everything on that disk to a flash drive and then you can use that to burn it to a DVD.
I had that problem with a few burned CDs before. Sometimes you just can't get them to work on some computers.

[wookieegunner]

I have seen this before. The three most common reasons:

1) You have an old reader that has a low powerred laser. Burned media has less reflectivity than normal media (and rewriteable has even less) so it could be not enough light is hitting the sensor.
2) The drive doesn't handle the format of the DVD. There are several formats out there (especially for DVD's) so you might not have the right one. The most common one for this is if you use Roxio (or Windows) to burn something in their "storage" mode. You know you did this if you formatted the disk first. If you don't have the same format (I forget what it is but Roxio used to have a reader for it on their website) then you can't read the disk.
3) I can't remember the third (I think initial I had #2 as two pieces in my brain).\

I agree with the Flash Drive Sneaker Net.

[MagickalMemories]

First off, I TOTALLY appreciate the info so far.

Flash drive won't work, unfortunately.
He's (a) in a different state and (b) doesn't own one.

Other options....

My PC is only about 2 years old. I've never had a problem with reading burned media before on it, and I doubt that's the issue.
My wife's laptop is brand new, as of this year. So, I'm thinking that's not it for her, either.

I'll look into updated drivers, though. I don't think I've updated *MY* drivers in a while. The wife's laptop SHOULDN'T need it, but I'll look there, too.

The fact that the one computer can see it is making me think it's, in some way, a software issue.
I'll see if he knows what program was used to burn the CD's. MY only bit of interest, though, is that it's one of a number that area all the same CD type and all "look" the same (style of writing on the top, etc), so I'm thinking that they were probably created by the same person. that they were done with the same software and PC seems likely.

I'll have to look into the formatting, too.

Thanks for the leads, guys. Keep it coming!

Eric

[wookieegunner]

Honestly, don't assume your wife's laptop doesn't need updating. Those things are done via an image and by the time the company has created the image, validated it, installed it on the laptop, shipped the laptop to a distributor, the distributor sends it to the reseller, you buy it and take it home, the image could be 6 months out of date even if it was the first one with that image. Now include any extra time (they don't refresh the image all that often) between when the image first started being used and when your wife's laptop was made, and you could have a bunch of out of date drivers.

Oh, and the formatting I was talking about is called UDF. Here is the Roxio reader: http://www.roxio.com/enu/support/udf/so ... dates.html

[Ironhide]

What region code is being used? Different region codes could cause this problem.

[mrrshann618]

I don't think this should be an issue, but make sure you have the right dvd style.
For example there are DVD-r, DVD+r, DVD-rw, DVD+rw, and so forth.
Your burner may have a problem with a particular disk (For example one of my burners just doesn't touch DVD+r for some reason)

There are also double layer formats and such. Not that your work computer should have the latest and greatest, but you never now.