Trouble writing/deleting files on DVDs

I have Windows 10 Build 19042.867. Dell desktop - about 3 months old with internal Optical Disk Drive (ODD) and external ODD.

My backup routine is to backup files to the external USB DVD-RW and, on a weekly basis, pull DVD media and insert media from 10 cycles ago t. I then select all files (using Windows Explorer) and delete them. Been doing it for 20 years like this with few problems.

I did this today and when I try to delete the files I find the delete command is grayed out. I then tried to just format the disk from Windows Explorer and that option is not on my right-click menu. When I tried to format it from the Disk Management mcc I get an error message that says

"An unexpected error has occurred. Check the System Event Log for more information..."

I cannot find any listing in the System Event Log that seems to bear on this issue.

Expanding my test I find that I cannot delete files when the disk is in the Internal ODD as well. Also, when I tried a different disk I get the same problems (tried both DVD-RW and DVD+R.)

That said, the computer sees the drives and the files on the drive. I can play movies from the drives and I can copy files from them as well. I just cannot copy files to the ODD or delete files.

I would guess it was just bad media if it only happened on the one disk but that fact that I cannot format a blank DVD-RW or DVD+R has me concerned.

Suggestions?

Isobuster is an excellent programme for checking and finding DVD problems.

I appreciate the input. I only use Verbatim media.

I don't think the problem is with the ODD drives or the media. What are the odds that only some functionality would die on two different drives at the same time. This is a Windows 10 switch that got set wrong.

As a new test I tried burning a .mp4 file to a DVD. (I use ConvertX ver 7.0). It worked fine. So, I can write to a DVD if I don't use Windows Explorer and still read from drives. Still can't delete files or format new media.

What else should I look at?

To cleanup any Win10 file corruption,run:
sfc /scannow followed by:
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth.
If the problem persists,try using---imgburn---available from---videohelp.com---a completely trustworthy site and one dedicated to all things video.Highly specialised.

RW media is known to lose data and/or format. It sounds like a great way to use Optical media like an old floppy but it "aint". RW problems used to be a hot problem topic on Dell forums. It seems to be a dead issue now as most have moved on from optical media to either flash drives or to hard drives or SSD's.

Thank you to everybody who helped out. My problem really isn't with using ODD and DVD-RW as backup - I know about the problems and it still works for me. This is a windows problem as I no longer have the option to format a disk in File Explorer. Joeandmarg0's input on March 20 was probably the closest to fixing my issue. I still don't have the ability to format from File Explorer but I can do it from the Disk management applet so I can get by. Thanks again to everybody.