Testing DVD writing drive

[Matthew Gillen]

Laura Conrad wrote:
> I got my new computer, and the first thing I tried to do was to make a
> set of recovery disks.  It keeps failing; it writes the first disk and
> then tries to verify it and says it doesn't verify.  I've made 3
> coasters this way.
> 
> I'd like to figure out whether this is a hardware problem, in which case
> I should deal with it while it's under warranty, or a software problem
> with the writing and/or verification of recovery disks.  Does anyone have a
> good method for testing a DVD writing drive? 
> 
> I'd like to get the recovery disks made before installing Linux, so the
> ideal answer to this question wouldn't involve Linux at all, but I can
> probably install Linux without clobbering Windows, or use a Live CD for
> Linux.
> 
> It's an HP Pavilion Elite m9517c 2.2GHz Quad-Core Desktop PC w/ Blu-ray,
> running Vista Home Premium.

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I wouldn't be above blaming SecuROM or
similar products that intentionally interfere with optical-drives.  If you
have any commercial games or such, you've probably got SecuROM.

There are two ways to test that:
 1) use a linux liveCD with burning software on it
 2) use the SecuROM removal tool (which will make the software that installed
it unusable): https://support.securom.com/removaltool/

HTH,
Matt