DVD+R and DVD+RW
DVD+R and DVD+RW formats are supported by Philips, Sony, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Ricoh, Yamaha and others.

DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM
These formats are supported by Panasonic, Toshiba, Apple Computer, Hitachi, NEC, Pioneer, Samsung and Sharp.

Unfortunatley there is not much you can do to change this, however it's no problem to simply use supported format removable media!

As for the drive being unable to read disks, this is one of those 'many possibilities' situations for which i would carry out the following diagnosis steps ( in this order ) before coming to any conclusions!
Inspect the Disc

http://support.microsoft.com/library.../downarrow.gifClean the Disc

http://support.microsoft.com/library.../downarrow.gifTest the Disk in another Drive

http://support.microsoft.com/library.../downarrow.gifClean the Drive

http://support.microsoft.com/library.../downarrow.gifQuit Unnecessary Software

http://support.microsoft.com/library.../downarrow.gifLook for Known Issues with the Drive or Recording Software

http://support.microsoft.com/library.../downarrow.gifCheck for Drive Firmware Updates

http://support.microsoft.com/library.../downarrow.gifMake Sure You Are Using Protected Mode Drivers

http://support.microsoft.com/library.../downarrow.gifEnable/Disable UDF Support

http://support.microsoft.com/library.../downarrow.gifDisable DMA for the Drive

http://support.microsoft.com/library.../downarrow.gifReduce Drive Caching

http://support.microsoft.com/library.../downarrow.gifDisable Auto-Insert Notification

http://support.microsoft.com/library.../downarrow.gifRemove Duplicate Drives http://support.microsoft.com/library.../downarrow.gifWindows 95

http://support.microsoft.com/library.../downarrow.gifWindows 98 and Windows Millennium Edition



http://support.microsoft.com/library.../downarrow.gifObtaining a Replacement Disc

Hope this helps to resolve the issue.....