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[gogo]

Since i've built my first CD7 in 2003 , i've burned only one cd with more or less a hundred roms on it.

Some days ago i decided to burn a full cd , i've spend a lot of time for converting roms to gamedoctor format , splitting HiRoms and renaming according to the HK's old standard .
i finally done the job for 426 roms (645 mo) .

The files are always burned in the naming order so the biggest roms are at the end of the cd :

I realise the gamedoctor read fine the small and average files right up the first 280 mo on the cd ,
between 280 and 340 mo , the reading speed decrease a lot and after 340mo, i get a "disk format error".

Unfortunately , i sold a long time ago my second cd7 so i can't try with another cd drive.

i don't really know if the problem is with my cr-563b or if it's a software/hardware limitation
between the GDsf7 (with the last bios 7.11) and the cd7

I try with four kind of cd-r (taiyo yuden , verbatim ...) burnt in mode 1, level 1 , no joliet , always the same problem ....

So i hope someone here can tell me if he has the same problem with a filled cd-r.

gamedoctor's roms are long to perform so i suppose few people have a full cd , if asked , i can upload on RS my files for a test .

[MottZilla]

It sounds more likely to be a drive issue if it's always around that point of the disc that it has reading trouble. You might want to track down another drive to try.

I think normally the CD7 shouldn't have a problem reading the whole disc. By the way, are these 74 minutes or 80 minute CD-Rs? If possible, try a 74 minute CD-R. You can still get them if you get the expensive Gold Archive CD-Rs like Mitsumi makes.

[hamburglar]

Those drives are old, you're lucky it even plays CDR discs...

One thing you can try is insert a pressed audio disc that has music all the way to the end of the disc, and play the thing all the way to the end, if it has trouble reading the disc then you know your drive has issues, I had the same problem with all the drives I've had with CDR discs, some disc brands are better than others, when I had the official pressed discs years ago I didn't have that problem. It's just the drive having trouble with CDR media.

[gogo]

i use only 80 min cd-r , I haven't seen for a while 74 min cd-r , I still have some old cd-rw 650mo but I doubt they work on a cr-563b...
however, i don't think that's the problem , 80 min cd-r are just written a little further than 74 so it shouldn't do a reading problem at least until 650 mo ...
I will try gold cd-r maybe i will get better results ...

hamburglar , you said you have problems with CDR , but is it exactly the same problem ? : you can read the first part of the cd and not the end ?


PS To Motzilla : I recently downloaded your bs zelda remix rom for real hardware ... it's a pleasure , you've done a pretty good job !

[MottZilla]

Thanks gogo. The BS-Zelda patch was alot of work.

About the CD-Rs, 74 minutes aren't written further actually. Instead the distance between the tracks is lessened to pack more data into the same space as the actual size of the data layer is the same. Given the age of the drive, 80 minute CDs probably were not in use yet. It's worth a shot if you can get quality 74 minute discs like the gold archiving type. Just don't buy alot of them incase it turns out not to work any better.

[gogo]

After some research , you should be right , and i finally found and ordered cd-r 74min TDK , i hope this brand will work, because it became very hard to find , almost as a cr-563B

As soon as I've tested , i'll post the result ....

[gogo]

i received my cd-r today and the 74 min doesn't solve the problem , i also tried with gold cd-r , still the same problem .

I can't try hamburglar's tips because the drive doesn't read cds automatically : it need a play command and i don't have mke interface to connect the drive to a pc .
The best result was with taiyo yuden cd-r , they are read a little further than the others .

it seems that it remains to me is to split my collection on 3 cds ....unless someone has another solution

[MottZilla]

I would guess your drive needs repair. For now splitting your collection on more discs is the easiest fix. Otherwise you'd need to get a new drive or refurbish the drive you have. But I have no advice on how to improve its condition and performance but it should be similar to other optical drives.

[gogo]

i finally found the problem !
You were right on that point MottZilla : the problem is with the drive

I opened the drive and cleaned the lens with alcohol .
(i didn't think at this solution before , because the drive worked partially)

Now , i can read the entire cd , but not all media brand are working perfectly fine at the end tracks ( it seems that the cr-563-b is more sensible at this point , that's a thing to know ! ).The perfect result is with Taiyo Yuden's cd-r (my favorites )