How do I find out if my DVD drive supports DVD-R or DVD+R media (or both) ? (Short of actually buying both types)
I googled on this topic, and could not find a definitive answer. The DVD writer manufacturers' web sites are of no help either.
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1p.s sometimes the formats supported are labeled in front of the drive, looked there yet?– calibanSep 9, 2009 at 18:35
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7 Answers
(if using Windows)
Go in to Device Manager and expand optical drives.
Find out the model number and search Google for it!
You say the manufacturer's web site is no help, but hopefully there will be another website some where that has a review or specification list of that drive.
If you purchased it any time within the past few years, there are high chances it would be dual format.
answered Sep 9, 2009 at 18:28
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Tried google with the drive details from device manager, but the drive did not turn up :( It is a samsung drive, and there are many variations I found - but not the exact one. Too many series, variants with different characteristics.– AbhinavSep 9, 2009 at 18:31
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> If you purchased it any time within the past few years, there are high chances it would be dual format. That's what I keep hearing, from all sites apart from the manufacturers ;)– AbhinavSep 9, 2009 at 18:32
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Can you paste the device details? I am sure I can find it out for you. Sep 9, 2009 at 18:33
Yes I'll probably get accused of necromancy stumbling across this in a search; but given you have not accepted an answer yet I figure its fair game.
Nero has a tool designed for determining a drives capabilities. Not that I'm a fan of them but the tool is fairly light and non-invasive.
Nero InfoTool provides information about the most important features of installed drives, inserted discs, installed software, and much more. -Nero
Use DVDInfoPro, just use the trial version, find out, and uninstall. Or pay if you like it alot.
Most burning software should tell you you could also post the model you have. Anything in the last few years should be able to burn both.
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On a Mac, this information is available in the Apple System Profiler app. Pull down the Apple menu and choose "About This Mac," then click the "More Info" button. In the window that appears, click on "Disc Burning." You will see a list of all DVD writers attached to your system. Clicking on one (if you have more than one installed) will display more information, including the type(s) of media it supports writing to.
Here is an example from my Mac Pro, which has a aftermarket Blu-ray burner installed (which also burns all flavors of writable and rewritable CDs and DVDs):
HL-DT-ST BD-RE GGW-H20L:
- Firmware Revision: YL05
- Interconnect: ATAPI
- Burn Support: Yes (Generic Drive Support)
- Profile Path: None
- Cache: 2048 KB
- Reads DVD: Yes
- CD-Write: -R, -RW
- DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RAM, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
- BD-Write: -R, -RE
- Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
- Media: To show the available burn speeds, insert a disc and choose View > Refresh
answered Sep 14, 2009 at 11:13
Microsoft has a tool I just discovered (kb305184). It seems to only show if it burns CD & DVD's (not really specific disc types); basically the stuff that would be on the front of the drive. If you in a strict environment this might be the best compared to nothing
+1 for the Nero InfoTool, the was what I did years ago. Sucky you have to install it now :(
opello mentioned ImgBurn, I can't rave enough about it (although recently its bundled crapware, but a guys got to make a living). To get the info in that you go to Discovery, Tools, Drive, Capabilities
Use the software BurnAware Free. It is one of the best CD, DVD, Blu-ray burning applications out there. To find out every detail about your disks and/or your CD/DVD/BD drive just use Disk Info feature in Utilities section of the program.
