Unmountable DVDs

[O. Sinclair]

On 10/31/2013 09:30 AM, Phil wrote:
> On 10/31/2013 05:00 PM, O. Sinclair wrote:
>> On 10/31/2013 08:46 AM, Basil Chupin wrote:
>>> On 31/10/13 15:13, Phil wrote:
>>>> On 10/31/2013 01:08 PM, Basil Chupin wrote:
>>>>> On 31/10/13 00:48, Phil wrote:
>>>>>> Thank you for reading this.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I had encouraged an acquaintance to install Kubuntu and somehow he
>>>>>> managed to wipe Windows Vista during the process. Not a major
>>>>>> disaster
>>>>>> so far but still it's an annoyance all round. The current problem for
>>>>>> me is that I have to provide a solution for several rewritable DVDs
>>>>>> that are now unmountable.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> A batch of DVDs were formatted using K3B so that they could be
>>>>>> reused.
>>>>>> Unfortunately, they are now unmountable. I know this to be the case
>>>>>> from my own past experience with K3B, no mater if "format" or "quick
>>>>>> format" is selected the result is the same, a disc that is
>>>>>> unmountable.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> While delving into another laptop I've discovered that Windows 7 is
>>>>>> able to mount the previously unmountable discs and format all but one
>>>>>> of them as UDF discs.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Apparently buying a copy of Windows 7 or 8 is not an option. So is
>>>>>> there an easy GUI for formatting or erasing discs that won't leave
>>>>>> them unmountable? I've looked at "udftools" but it's use is rather
>>>>>> complex.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> What do you really mean by "unmountable"?
>>>>>
>>>>> Do you mean that once they are mounted they cannot be unmounted (ie,
>>>>> cannot use 'umount /dev/sdX)? Or do you mean that you cannot MOUNT the
>>>>> discs?
>>>>>
>>>>> And if it is the latter case (cannot mount them), what setting do you
>>>>> have in System Settings>Removable Devices? (And if you start Dolphin
>>>>> does the DVD disc show up in the left-hand window?)
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for replying Basil.
>>>>
>>>> By "unmountable" I mean that the discs are not visible to the system.
>>>>
>>>> If a DVD is placed into it's drive then the various options are
>>>> displayed, such as open with Dolphin.
>>>
>>> Which means that the disc is recognised  - and you can open it with
>>> Dolphin. And unless you open it with Dolphin  you won't be able to read
>>> its contents.
>>>
>>>> After the disc is formatted with K3b then nothing happens, apart from
>>>> the disc spinning for a few moments.
>>>
>>> Now this is where I should have read your original post more closely.
>>>
>>> You are talking about REWRITABLE discs, right?
>>>
>>> Well once they are formatted k3b will not format them again - because
>>> there is no need to format them again. Any data on a rewritable disc
>>> will simply be overwritten.
>>>
>>> Bottom line therefore is - you format a NEW clean RW disc once and
>>> that's it.
>>>
>>>> The same "unmountable" disk, once reformatted under Windows, is
>>>> accessible under Linux and can be written to under K3b.
>>>
>>> The reason for this I suspect is that Windows uses totally different
>>> mumbo-jumbo in almost all of the things it does.  I suspect that
>>> Windows, being the brain dead system that it is, doesn't recognise the
>>> disc and so reformats it as a new disc and Linux, of course, will see
>>> this disc because it recognises Windows formats.
>>>
>>>> Automatic mounting of all removable devices is enabled under Kubuntu.
>>>>
>>>> K3b, has over the years, produced several formatted discs that are not
>>>> mountable under Linux or Windows.
>>>
>>> I have some RW discs which I formatted with k3b. I checked them all a
>>> few minutes ago and all work fine so the problem is not with k3b.
>>>
>>>> I have Xubuntu on another laptop and the faulty discs will not mount
>>>> on that system either so it's not a mechanical problem or a problem
>>>> peculiar to KDE.
>>>>
>>>> I'm attempting to help two people. One is trying to delete the
>>>> contents of his DVD collection so that they can be reused in his
>>>> laptop. The other person records late night TV shows and would like to
>>>> use his computer to erase the contents of the DVD ready for another
>>>> recording session. The TV viewer has Windows so I can probably sort
>>>> him out.
>>>
>>> Taking into account what I said above, what happens when you place one
>>> of these "unmountable" discs in the drive and the menu comes up asking
>>> you if you want to open the disc using Dolphin and you do just that? If
>>> the disc is empty then you will see no contents. But what then happens
>>> if you try to copy a file to this disc?
>> I think you misunderstood him - as I read his post he states that once
>> the RW disc is reformatted using K3B nothing happens. No actions options
>> etc, but the disc just spins in the reader a few times
>>
>
> That's exactly what happens.
>
I am afraid I am not of much help with the issue itself as I don't have 
any DVD RW lying around.