In article ,
wrote:

I've considered the discs may have deteriorated because they are shrink
wrapped and both the discs and wrap might emit fumes.

That's possible, I suppose. From what I recall, the cyanine dyes have
a shorter shelf live, in general, than the phthalocyanine dyes.
Manufacturing quality and quality control also make a big difference.

In some machines that weren't mine, it helped to keep trying. Also to open
the disc in explorer like I am reading it and then go into writing.

I may just have to give up.
It just seems like a waste to write a big CD for small amounts of data.

A maxim I learned many years ago - "cheap is often very expensive".

I don't burn all that many CDs these days, but I decided quite a while
back that buying lower-tier CD-R blanks was a false economy... waste
of time, waste of discs, and the risk that I would be unable to read
the discs reliably if I needed them.

Also, I think the "mini" CD-R blanks were treated more as a novelty
than as a serious data-storage solution. I don't recall seeing any
which were made by manufacturers I was confident of.

When I was buying CD-R blanks frequently, I tried to stick with the
Taiyo Yuden discs from Japan. They sold their business and production
to JVC, who ran it for a few years. Eventually JVC decided to get out
of the business, and they sold the technology to CMC.

CMC now makes a line of "Powered by TY" CD-R blanks using the Taiyo
Yuden process. You might want to try picking up a pack (I've dealt
successfully with Media Supply) and see how their compatibility and
readability turns out to be with your equipment.