Lenovo ThinkPad L R/SL :: L520 CD / DVD Drive Does Not Recognize Or Write To Disks

I've had my L520 for over a year now and have not previously needed to burn stuff to disk, so I do not know if my problem is new or old.
 
Essentially the drive recognises disks when they are inserted and accurately displays files already on the disk, but it gives available space as nil regardless of disk or existing file size. Additionally if a blank disk is inserted it will say that the disk cannot be read and to try formatting. These are standard preformatted disks I'm using.