Why do I get bad TFT results with Verbatim DVD+R DL discs?
 

So lately, some of burns have not been quite successful as you can see from the TFT result. What are some potential reason as to why this would happen? Could it be possible because of burning from an external hard drive to an external optical drive? I would appreciate your input.

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I was using a Vantec external enclosure with a Samsung TSST optical drive. When I test the same dvd with my internal Matshita, I always yield a successful TFT test. So what is wrong? I don't understand.

Hello, lordsmurf

Seems like I have some problems with my Samsung SH-222BB TSST internal with the Vantec Enclosure. Some burns are perfect and others are not. For example, when I do a TFT with my Samsung, results look like this: http://i.imgur.com/guGPM.png

And when I test it with a laptop Matshita drive, the results are perfect: http://i.imgur.com/GaUal.png

Is there a problem with the Samsung?

Discs burned with my Liteon havent had any dips in TFT. This only happens occasionally with the Samsung.

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Layer break issues are the most common kind of issues with dual-layer (double-layer) media.
Burning too fast is a common reason that even good discs will sometimes turn into coasters or semi-coasters.

So that begs the question... What speed were these burned at?

Generally speaking, it's best to burn at 4x, and no more than 6x. Being over an external drive, I'd suggest no more than 4x.

It would also be important to watch the buffers when your discs are burning. Were there any buffer underrun errors, where the drive had to halt and allow buffer refill before resuming the burn? That could cause several errors, including a bad layer break. (I don't think that's what happened here, but it's possible, hence why I'm mentioning it.)

If the drive is only failing on TFT burns, it could be a problem with the I/O (bandwidth, data throughput) at the higher speeds over the connection. Is this USB2? If so, remember that USB is a "burst" rated transfer, not a sustained connection. Therefore you'll have dips in the read speed.

I think I have isolated the problem to the drive itself. I replaced the Samsung with another one and I get perfect results now.

The discs are Verbatim DL 2.4x. They can't be burned beyond that speed. The buffer was always on 100%.

The drive only fails on some TFT burns. Not all of them. And yes the connection is USB2.