I got a problem with an older plextor dvd rw drive i bought from a third party.

[nickharde7]

My System: Dell dimension 2400 desktop. everything stock, except a plextor dvd rw drive. this system is about 1 and a half years old. and its running windows xp- home edition. The drive i bought off of craigslist.

So i got home and installed the plextor drive about 2 weeks ago. it plays dvd's without any problems. But it wont back-up any dvd's because it says they are copyright protected. I just want to back up my movies, because i am hard on them. The only software for burning them i have is roxio/sonic program that came stock on my system. Is it possible to back them up?

Ok the main problem now. Like i said, it plays dvd's and data discs fine. But when i put an audio disc in, nothing happens. So i went into my computer and right-click open. it says the drive is unaccesible due to an I/O error. this just stopped working about 2 days ago when i defragged and disk clean-up'ed my computer.

It doesnt make sense that audios arent working but dvd's and data discs are. And i checked the plugs on it and they are all firmly in place, and no bent prongs or whatnot. physically, it seems to be in good shape.

 

[raybay]

Plextors are better than most, but they still burn out like a light bulb. There are three lasers, and a belt drive, and sometimes a drive wheel.
As for the copyright protection, that is likely due to the burning software you are using, and that feature can usually be changed in the setup.

 

[tonylukac]

DVDs

Goto www.majorgeeks.com and look for the software that removes DVD copy protection, about 3 screens down. Good luck!

 

[nickharde7]

raybay, so you think it burned out? That really sucks, cuz i have no money, and my stock dell drive went out. is their a way to tell exactly how old the plextor drive is without taking it out of the slot?

 

[raybay]

you can get a pretty good drive from Liteon or LG or Samsung at Wal-Mart, BestBuy, or online for under $26
Just go without clothes for a few weeks while you spend your clothing budget on computer gear.

 

[nickharde7]

That cheap? wow i thought they were quite a bit more exspensive than that. So is that just a basic cd-rw drive, or a dvd rw drive too?

thanks for the quick responses.

-Nick-

 

[tonylukac]

Make sure that when you get the copy removal protection software from majorgeeks.com you scroll down and get the freeware version. If my psychiatrist can cheat medicare for $50 a patient per month--potentially $35,000 a month--(and they all do) then you can copy a $20 DVD for free.

 

[raybay]

The removal or correction software you need is also available at the www.plextor.com support site. Though I doubt that is the problem.

 

[SNGX1275]

You need dvdshrink or dvddecrypter or any of the commercially available softwares designed exclusively for backing up dvds. Copy protection prevents you from copying them like an audio cd.

Likely your cd laser is toast, no reason to go replacing the drive if you don't need to read cds since that has no impact on dvd reading/writing.