Just so I don't waste money I don't have unnecessarily is it likely that a drive that can read media but not burn to it, is ready to be replaced? I've a "generic" DVD RW drive that's really only about 2-3 years old, but has suddenly stopped being able to burn media. I've tried it now on 2 OS's (XP & Win 7) using Nero, AShampoo and a couple of other free programs but while the disk is recognised by the computer ok for reading, there are no burning options available on any of the programs i.e. Nero just shows up all the other tasks bar burning projects, and Ashampoo keeps telling me to insert media (which I've now done 6 times with every disk possible).

Is it likely to be a fixable fault or time for a new one??

Appreciate any input.

If you have re-installed a couple of times it does seem likely that it's faulty, but it does sound like windows isn't seeing it as a recordable device.
Have a look at at this MS link HERE see if it helps.

It looks at the problem being a cd rw, but the principle is the same.