Media Speed Naming Conventions

[kwebster]

I notice that in many instances, some blank media will be labled "1x-4x" while other media will be labled simply "4x". Is this just a naming nuance or does it really mean something? Is it that the media labled "1x-4x" means that it can be burned at those various speeds, while those labled "4x" can only be burned at the 4x speed?

I tested DVD archiving on 4x Prodiscs which did not pan out. All five of the discs that I tested failed. The data could not be read from the disc following burning. I next attempted a burn at 2x -- suspecting that perhaps a 4x burn was too much for the disc to handle for DVD backup. The 2x burn produced pretty much the same result. I ran a diag on the failed disc and found in upwards of 321 errors on it. There were more errors I'm sure, but I aborted my diag program before it could complete. This may explain why my 2x burn attempt with the 4x Prodisc failed. I've stated more than once that the Verbatim Datalife discs that I've purchased from Sam's Club work perfectly. But what I forgot to mention was that these discs are 2x -- not 4x. I picked up another 50-pak this weekend and was elated to see that Sam's had begun selling them again. Unfortunately though, the cost comes to about $1.20 a disc -- pretty steep for 2x.

Any thoughts?

[aggies11]

DVDr (like CDrs) as a general rule, are backwards speed compatible.

The speed rating is indeed a MAX speed rating. Where speeds under that are perfectly acceptable (and on ocassion produce better results!).

There are of course a few exceptions, namely using new Highspeed (4x, and now 8x) discs on older burners with lower Max Speeds. This isn't actually a defect of the discs, but the firmware/drive logic of the drives that don't know how to correctly handle the new discs. However, once the appropriate firmware is updated, everything works fine (eg, burning a 4x media on a 2x drive).

So the difference in package labelling is simply a matter of choice. (Or often a matter of cost, as 4x alone uses less ink )

Hope that helps,

Aggies