As this image shows:



Ubuntu is saying that the cd-r has no capacity which I know not to be true. In fact I have tried with two discs and had the same result each time. I am trying to burn an iso to disc, so I write click the iso and click write to disc and this is what it says:



Is this a hardware or software issue? Is there another program that does this same thing that I could try? Thanks :)

Make sure your CD drive is plugged in all the way, try using the CD in another computer, and try using another CD.

Standard troubleshooting advice joseph.

Ive tried two discs, and I cant try another computer. I will check the drive though. The optical drive is from 02 and I have never seen it work before. this is the free computer I got off of craigslist.

Can optical drives just fail like that?

yes.

dang.

You can use the Baobab Disk Usage Analyzer - it can do almost anything can be done from console in Linux, but Gnome was lacking such a tool.