How reliable is it to burn a DVD or BD higher than the rated speed?

Happy Hopping

Happy Hopping

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I notice w/ Nero 7.59, my DVD+R are rated at 16X, and yet, it's been burning those DVD+R at 20X (might have been 18X, can't remember), then the verify function of nero double check to make sure it burns correctly.

But I'm moving to BD-R, if Nero is doing the above, (for e.g., burn a 4X at 8X speed) can I trust the process?

Further, if the media really can do it at 18X or 20X, why not say so?
 
As the media only remains viable for a number of years, making copies at higher speed will likely result in a higher error rate and a disk that will fail to be read earlier.
Your risk if it matters.

I always burn at a slower speed.
 
I rarely if ever burn at rated speeds, and I've never seen any specific evidence as proof that burning at the rated speeds are any more or any less reliable. So, for years now I've been burning most everything at 8 or 12x (for DVD+R media) even on my 18x Plextor without issues. For CDs I pretty much stick with 24x solid.

And I always verify, too. Takes longer, of course, but I simply won't tolerate a bad burn... :)
 
Nenu said:
As the media only remains viable for a number of years, making copies at higher speed will likely result in a higher error rate and a disk that will fail to be read earlier.
Your risk if it matters.
Click to expand...

But it's a DVD+R, I only burn it once. If it fails to read, it would fail at the beginning.
 
Joe Average said:
And I always verify, too. Takes longer, of course, but I simply won't tolerate a bad burn... :)
Click to expand...

that's what I did. The Nero Verify match bit by bit. So is it safe to say that once the verify checks out, then it is okay to burn at max. speed?
 
If you do a burn at max speed and the verify pass says it's ok, that's about the best you can hope for in terms of a solid burn, yep. It either passes or it doesn't.
 
Happy Hopping said:
But it's a DVD+R, I only burn it once. If it fails to read, it would fail at the beginning.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. It depends on the data/kind of burn. I let everything that's not critical go full blast. Archival/backups get slowed way down and verified.
 
Some faster rated media burn slowly if you burn too slow. If you really want to make sure it's a high quality burn, use nero cd/dvdspeed to check pif scores, data transfer smoothnes and jitter. Be aware, data testing and tests features plus accuracy also varies depending on the drive you're using.
 
I like to burn under the rated disc speed. just to ensure a solid burn, and less wear on the dvd drive itself..

Just something i've always done
 
I use TY rated at 16X. But the Nero software allows 20X, so I let the software burn it at 20X
 
Happy Hopping said:
I read it several times. And I came to the same question I ask earlier.
Click to expand...

Disks do not stay in the same state as they are when written.
They change through time and the data can become misrepresented causing errors or becoming unreadable.

A binary 1 is written to a disk by burning a hole in the media with a laser.
This hole needs to be big enough to be read without error.
Also the timing of when the burn occurs is crucial as even a small error can cause the burn to skip half a bit and affect neighboring data.

Each disk is rated to account for the power of the writing laser and the speed a good write can be made.
It takes a small amount of time for the laser to burn through the media so its critical that the laser is applied long enough to burn through the media.
Spinning the disk faster while writing means that the laser cannot be on for as long and subsequently there is a chance that a write will burn a smaller hole and perhaps not even register as a binary 1.

A certain number of errors can be tolerated before a disk becomes unreadable.
As disks age, they get scratched and the media also degrades such that some more data becomes unreadable.
Once past a threshold of errors the disk will become unreadable, so the less errors you introduce, the longer the disk will last.

Therefore its a good idea to burn at a speed the disks are rated at or slower.
 
Wow...sure learn something new everyday. Thanks for the info. I have a few questions:

1) So for most of us who have memorable family digital photos, how do we preserve them in long run, on top of burning the DVD at the rated speed?

Say, I would like to view the family photos in a few decades?

2) Further, when you said "as disks age", are we talking about 5 year, 10 years or whatever before the DVD actually degrades?

3) Lastly, even when Nero said "Disk Verified Okay", I assume the above problem you describe in regards to "the size of the hole is actually burn thru" can still happens?
 
For memorable family photos I'd say - HDD with a backup on optical media. Or preferably pair of HDDs ( one internal, one external) + optical.

I recently tried some DVDs I burned 3-4 years ago at maximum speeds and some (few %) of the data was lost and i was using medium quality DVDs (not best but not cheapest crap) also they were lying safely protected from sun.
 
Michaelius said:
I recently tried some DVDs I burned 3-4 years ago at maximum speeds and some (few %) of the data was lost and i was using medium quality DVDs (not best but not cheapest crap) also they were lying safely protected from sun.
Click to expand...

back 3 to 4 yr. ago, did you verify all those burn DVD by the Verify button of software such as Nero?
 
I don't remember but i usually verify everything i burn.

Also i tested some free burning software at that time and failure ratio among those is much higher than in dvd burned with nero.
 
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