the typical buffer problem... help?

[prl]

hey,

i recently bought the LG GSA-4163B dvd-writer. i connect it to my laptop (Compaq Presario 920EA with 512MB RAM) through an enclosure box. the connection between the burner and the laptop is through USB 2.0 (D-Link PCMCIA Card in the laptop).

i have the typical problem of unstable buffers. when the burning reaches a certain point, the read buffer goes crazy and starts to fluctuate between 0% and 100%, and it doesn't stop until it reaches the end of the burning. this way, it takes 25 (+/-) to burn a dvd in 4x or even 8x.

i checked the BIOS on my laptop and the hard drive is in Ultra DMA Mode 5 (i can't change it). research on the web allowed me to know that Ultra DMA Mode 5 has the fastest transfer rates, so this shouldn't be the problem. when i burn a dvd i close all other applications and all the power managment options on the laptop and screensaver are disabled. i usually have 2, 3 GB free on my hard drive when burning.

i tested the burner in a PC and it didn't have any of these problems, so i suspect the problem resides on the USB connection, but there are many other people with these problems and they have IDE connections.

thanks in advance, take care,

paulo

[prl]

anyone?

[ricky1756]

it could be hard drive space, when hard drives have less than 10% of their space left, they can act very erractically. you could shut off system restore which would open up space