Warning about Memorex UltraSpeed RW media

[rdgrimes]

I don't see any threads on this here, so I thought I'd post this. Appologies if it's been covered. This media is pure crap, not worth 5 cents, much less $2 per disc. Stick with Verbatim 24x RW media. A full test of the Memorex crap is HERE

[dodecahedron]

very good work!
thanks.

[cfitz]

We've roundly condemned the Memorex 4x and 12x CD-RW's around here, and based on that recommended against the 24x as well:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic. ... 2374#52374
http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic. ... 9476#49476
http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic. ... 5698#45698

I guess it's no surprise that the 24x stuff is junk as well. Thanks for the test results that confirm it.

cfitz

[cfitz]

There you go, dodecahedron, you beat me on this one (but not by much ).

cfitz

[dodecahedron]

that's OK.
the previous time you beat me but by 1 minute only

[tlotz]

I don't see any threads on this here, so I thought I'd post this. Appologies if it's been covered. This media is pure crap, not worth 5 cents, much less $2 per disc. Stick with Verbatim 24x RW media. A full test of the Memorex crap is HERE

I agree! Results with the Memorex media on my Plextor 48/24/48A are worse. Ironically, I only tried the Memorex Ultra Speed media because I was having problems with the name brand Verbatim Ultra Speed 16X-24X media. I never tried to write to the Memorex 24X CD-RW media; my drive could not erase any of the 5 Memorex discs--I never made it to testing write performance! My Plextor 48X drive would just fail to erase each Memorex disc after about 37 seconds of trying. I tried the Memorex discs many times, so I know they were completely incompatible with my Plextor drive--Plextor drives are much more picky about media, so this is not surprising.

Anyway, I would have never tried the crap Memorex media if it wasn't for my problem with the Verbatim name brand 24X CD-RW media. I purchased a 10-pack of the Verbatim DataLifePlus Ultra-Speed 16X-24X 650 MB 74 min CD-RW media--the Verbatim part # is 94457. Well, this media worked fine at first. Then disc erasures starting failing--some of these failures were on discs I hadn't used yet, and some of the failures were on discs that I already used. My Plextor 48X drive would fail the erasure process after 40 seconds of trying to erase the disc--the drive would report to the software that the erasure was successful. But, of course, an ultra-speed erase takes much longer than 40 seconds (typically, it takes about 3:50 seconds on the Plextor 48/24/48A). The data that was being erased was not gone, of course! Also, writes to discs sometimes failed to. All of the failures of the Verbatim media were intermittent; sometimes the media would fail, sometimes it wouldn't--however, the more often a given disc was used, the more likely it seemed a failure would be. The Memorex 24X CD-RW failure was very different--the Memorex media *never* worked, the Verbatim media worked intermittently.

According to a conversation at the URL:

http://www.cdrinfo.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7868

the problem I had with the Verbatim media is caused by defective batches of Verbatim media! In other words, Verbatim has a quality control problem. I guess since the media is so new, they haven't perfected their manufacturing process. Any comments on the Verbatim defect problem? I will send back my defective 10-pack of media. Has anyone else had this problem with Verbatim media, or do I just have lousy luck?

[Ian]

Who makes Memorex's 24x RW media?

[cfitz]

Infodisc, according to Nero and CDRIdentifier as reported by rdgrimes, just like the 12x junk for which I posted test results.

cfitz

[Ian]

lol.. yeah thats crap. Thats worse than Plasmon's 24x RW media.

[NeilPeart]

I was one of the uninformed saps who bought some "12x" Memorex High-Speed media. Unfortunately, burning anything @ 12x resulted in semi-readable discs that often could not be erased. After setting Nero to auto-detect media speed, it maxed out @ 10x. Thankfully it was only a 5-pack. So Verbatim Ultra-Speed for CDRWs is the equivalent of Fuji 48x for CDRs? What is the general consensus?

[Spazmogen]

So Verbatim Ultra-Speed for CDRWs is the equivalent of Fuji 48x for CDRs? What is the general consensus?

I'd agree with that. I use both (Fuji & Verbatim's) you mention and I'm happy with both. You can't go wrong spending a little bit more for quality.

I wish Verbatim would make a 700mb ultra speed disc!

[cfitz]

I wish Verbatim would make a 700mb ultra speed disc!

I wonder if the 50 extra MBytes pushes a CD-RW disc too far, and limiting their media to 650 MBytes is what allows Verbatim to produce good quality discs. I'm sure it can't be the only reason, but I wouldn't be surprised if it played a part.

cfitz

[Spazmogen]

is what they look like

[bobmitchell]

I picked up a 5 piece box before I read this post. Funny...I can get the Samsung SM-348B to recognize the discs. Nero InfoTool says they are 24X CD-RW...but Nero and InCD will only format and burn to them at 16X. Samsung says that there is a chip in the drive, that if it deems danger burning at full speed will throttle down to a safe speed. So for the Memorex...I get 16X all the time. I have formatted two of them sucessfully. After all these years, I can't believe I tried these disks. I only tried Memorex one other time...and that kept me from purchasing Memorex, ever again...Stupid on my part....Live and learn. Guess I'll use them for non important data backups for the time being....hopefully more 24X CD-RW will become available soon.

Bob

[Spazmogen]

These Memorex discs are the 1st to market with Ultra Speed in an 80-minute capacity, to my knowledge anyway.


Too bad they suck.

[rdgrimes]

I wonder if the 50 extra MBytes pushes a CD-RW disc too far,

Could be, but something tells me that 650MB discs with the Memorex name on them would also suck.
Unless Fuji/TY start making 24x RW, I see no reason to wander from the Mitsubishi, they're just too good.

[RM115]

Last summer I purchased 125 Memorex CD-RW 700 Mb disks. The first 25 or so burned okay. But then the problems
started with about every second or third causing machine lock ups, partial burns, rejects as bad media, etc. Some would
record once then not erase for subsequent recording. I tried the duds on four different computers, using different
software, each machine had a different brand of burner and every one freaked. Without doubt, the medium was bad.
33% of the disks were defective straightaway. Memtek offers a one year warranty. Silly me I thought this company
cared about the quality of its product and spent the money and time to ship them all defective medium with a detailed
letter explaining everything. 10 weeks passed with no answer. I sent a follow up letter to customer service at
corporate. It's been eight weeks with neither a reply nor replacement medium. After checking the web I found this site,
among many others, posting what I already know. Also, The BBB rating of this company is unsatisfactory. It does not
respond to customer complaints, stiffs people on rebates and a whole lot of other things one can read about on the
BBB website in the Memtec area: the Better Business Bureau serving zip code 90670 is:
BBB of the Southland
WWW: http://www.labbb.org
Email: info@labbb.org
Phone: (909)825-7280
Fax: (909)825-6246
315 North La Cadena Drive, Colton, CA 92324

In sum, this company sells defective products, does not honor the warranty and is unresponsive to customer concerns.
Use its goods at risk. I'm filing a complaint with the BBB if for no other reason but to add another complaint to the list of
other people who were ripped off and to pass the word so others are not screwed using Memorex products. There are
too many really good brands of media to waste money, time and resources on garbage.

[javier]

i think i just had a "deja vu"

[pow216]

I totally agree with this post. I was looking forward to some 700Mb 24x CD-RW. These memorex either won't succesfully verify data in nero, won't erase. The 1 in 3 that does work has over 100 times more error rate than my trusty TDK 12x 700Mb.

I returned them for credit but had to pay shippng costs which cost more than the discs! After hassling memorex through their web site I ended up having my shipping charges reimbursed with 10 4x DVD+R. They were prompt in answering emails but would not admit there was a problem with their discs. Apparently the problem was with my burner. I then pionted out I had not told them what burner it was! I tried LITE ON LTR-52246S, SONY CRX-220 E1, LG GSA-4040B (DVD, but with ultra speed logo).

They said numerous times that the wrong laser power and write strategy was used.

I wish I had read this post first, from now on only TDK or verbatim!

Eventually though I was satisfied wiht the outcome.

[dolphinius_rex]

I can guarentee that any drive that they claim those discs can burn on, we can find proof to the otherwise!