2x DVD-R on a 4x Writer

[bcelmins]

I have a question about speed differences. I am running a Mac with the Pioneer 106 Superdrive. If I toss in the Apple 4x, it works like a charm, but I tried using some TDK DVD-R 2x and it made a coaster. The Pioneer couldn't even read the disc it burned. Is that because I burned the 2x DVD-R at 4x and it screwed up? Or is it just because the TDK's aren't compatible?

If I did burn the 2x's too fast, how do I slow the drive down to 2x. I'm burning an .img file using the Disk Copy utility that comes with the Mac.

Thanks

[Jayhawk]

I'm not a MAC person but if the drive did burn the 2X TDK disc at 4X then it probably couldn't take it so you wind up with a coaster. I just tested a 2X and told Nero to burn at 4X. Not a good result so I suspect that's the issue. No being familiar with the Mac, what software are you using. Is there anyway for you to dictate the speed. I know Nero usually defaults to MAX which in my opinion isn't safe. Is that MAX speed of the burner, or MAX speed of the media ?. I suspect it's MAX speed of the burner.

My suggestion would be to use sofware that lets you dictate the speed. The only other alternative would be to use only 4X media. Possibly another brand of media might work better (Verbatim seems to let you burn at higher speeds that it's rated). Still, it's risky.

Hope this helps a little.

[tompika]

Interesting

I didn't know that the Pioneer106 firmware had a writing strategy to burn 2x medias at 4x.

[galactica]

from my experience you have to physically tell toast to choose 2x instead of BEST or 4x when using TDK's. For some reason it should only burn at 2x speed but your count down timer will display time in 15min. Obviously wrong and it will take a full 25 min to burn.

i get coasters sometimes when this happens on my pioneer drive. So i manually choose 2x and it doesnt happen