Optiarc DVD RW AD-7580S Problem

[cartledgej]

I've got a problem with my Dvd Drive, whenever i insert a Game disk into the drive, it starts humming strangely, like it fully reading the disk before powering down, along with this, the drive doesn't read the game disk while it reads all other Cd and Dvd disks normally, why is this?

[Calum]

Is it just one disk it has problems with?  Does that disk work in other drives?  If it doesn't work in any drive, it's likely the disk has a scratch or a fault somewhere.  If it works on other drives but not yours specifically, it sounds like some sort of incompatibility.  I had this problem with a Crysis disk, it would read very slowly or not at all on my DVD drive, but worked fine in another one.

[cartledgej]

no, it's all game game disks that i own once use after i've installed them, except for two recent ones i've just bought that don't run at all i've had them into cleaning and buffing with no results, only Music CD's and Movie DVD's work

[patio]

Time for a new DVD drive then...their lifespan has gone down dramatically thru the years...

[Calum]

I agree.  As far as I remember, data DVDs, like game disks, are often the first type of disk to become unreadable when the laser starts to die on the drive.  Other DVDs will become unreadable later on, and CDs sometimes remain readable for a little longer.  Fortunately DVD drives are cheap enough that replacing them isn't a great expense.

[patio]

If i get over 2 years out of the new ones i consider myself fortunate...

[Calum]

I can count on my fingers the number of times I've used an optical drive in my own machine in the last 3 years or so.  I'm only including one in my upcoming build because I don't have anywhere to easily place an external drive for the rare times I would use one, so it makes more sense to have an internal one.
Saying that, I had two Samsungs in my first self built PC that, as far as I'm aware, are still working although I don't own them any more.  My Pioneer died after a year, and I had a LiteOn for 2 years or so before I gave it to a friend and I think that too is still working fine.

[patio]

The longest lasting one i still use is a TDK lightscribe burner...probably 5 + years and going...