I am trying to back up my files, and also to do the recovery back up that is suggested anyway. I have an HP Slimline with VISTA os. It keeps telling me the DVD-RW discs that I bought NEW are not blank... OR are rewritable, which to me makes no sense. It seems that I went through a similar thing with an older computer, and it kept telling me that disc after disc was not blank. I finally found a couple out of the bunch that it would read the files to. Is this the same issue, I wonder? Is this COMMON??

What model dvd?

Here is a dvdinfo tool which is free for 14 days and really don't need after one run unless going to keep and use on other computers. It will analyze your dvd player and let you know all of the compatible formats that should work with the player
dvdinfopro.com - Home Page

Also would try another brand, as using for backup purposes would suggest to spend for the higher priced DVD's and possible use a non RW

It could be it does not like the discs you have even though PC may be HP