I have this Optical Storage - Type: DVD±RW (+R DL) - IDE Read Speed: 40x (CD) / 16x (DVD) Write Speed: 40x (CD) / 16x (DVD±R) / 4x (DVD+R DL) And I have an old computer with a 16x max CDROM drive. The CDROM drive can't read the CDs made with my DVD±RW. Just in case someone asks me if I'm sure they are CDs and not DVDs, yes I'm very sure. I'd just like to know why it won't read the CDs and what I can do to make it read them. And yes it can read CDs made from an old CD buner that was in a computer I no longer have acess to, but why not from this one?

My guess is that the CDROM is failing. 16X was state of the art for CDROMs a long time ago so I bet this CDROM is at least 7 years old. They don't last forever. A new one would be cheap and, usually, is easy to install.

It's not failing, it can read other disks.

Try burning at a lower speed. For reliability I usually burn at 4X, or at most 16X. Do yourself a favor BACKUP!

It won't let me, I can only burn as low as 16x.

"It's not failing, it can read other disks." That's not necessarily the truth. Have you tried these burned CDs in other CDROMs?

Old CD drives may not be able to read CD-RW disks because they were not designed to, but will read CD-R disks fine. Really old CD drives may not be able to read CD-R disks either, but that's probably not your case. On top of that....... - some CD drives are fussy about which particular burnable media you are using - the brand and product type - and will not reliably read some media. - some CD drives will read a CD-R made in a CD burner fine, but may not reliably read a CD-R made in a combo DVD/CD burner if it was made in another drive. - some more recent CD burner or combo DVD/CD burners can burn more onto a CD than older standard maximums, and older CD drives may not be able to read the more densely burned CD.