When we first encountered the problem, I made sure we had the latest firmware for the drive (1.006), updated Java, double-checked to make sure we had all the latest Windows updates....then I called our computer tech guy. A couple hours and $100.00 later (ouch!
), he couldn't find the source of the problem in any software, so he decided it must be the physical drive.
Well, I had a second techie check it out yesterday. We went through a dozen disks, trying different settings, write speeds, every variable we could come up with. He couldn't understand why it was burning in "hit or miss" mode and he concluded that it must be the drive - maybe the eye was just slightly out of alignment, or some such defect. I went to a local retailer and got an external drive off the shelf, and it works perfectly! So I submitted a request for an RMA and refund on the Optiarc.
I'm sure that almost all optiarc drives are perfect out-of-the-box, otherwise MTU would not recommend it so highly. I just got that rare "oops". It happens - no big deal.