Sony usb2.0 dvd writer drx-500ulx writing time

[agprabhakar]

First time i tried dvd writing, tried 2x speed (sony Dvd+rw) for copying 3.7GB data, it took 2 hours time....

Will that really takes this much time??? Or do i have problem with my drive??

[Chriz]

You have something wrong... 2x=30min
You run at 0.5x !

[jeg_jason]

I have this drive and it works fine. I personally have both usb 2.0 and firewire, but I always use firewire with this drive. USB 2.0 can be buggy at times for a lot of people. I got rid of a USB 2.0 hard drive that would crash my system when moving very large video files. It sounds like your drive is only working at USB 1.1 speed. I am also curious on how you wrote the data to the disk. Did you format the disk to use like a large floppy and then add the data or did you burn it as a track with a burning program like Nero or RecordNow Max? Using the disk as a floppy usually takes longer than burning multisession disks. Make sure that your drivers for USB 2.0 are working properly or save yourself some trouble and use firewire which is more reliable and mature than USB 2.0 IMHO.

[agprabhakar]

I use this drive in my laptop with windows 2000 professional and use the software that came along with the Sony drive, for copying the data. Laptop is new Intel CEntrino with USB 2.0 ports.... So if the drive is working at 1.1 speed, how do I check that??? Is that any driver i have to update to have the usb 2.0 speed working?

[jeg_jason]

I suggest that you try the drive on another computer that has USB 2.0 or firewire to test the drive before assuming that it is defective. I would also make sure that I checked the device manager to make sure that there is not an unknown device present and that the enhanced USB host controller is present. Windows 2000 has updates available for USB 2.0 drivers on Microsoft's website. As a last resort you could buy a firewire PCMCIA card to test the drive that way. You could buy one from an electronics store like Bestbuy or Circuit City or online from somewhere like http://shop.store.yahoo.com/dealsonic/sy2pofica2re.html

You could also try the demo version of Nero available for download to see if the burning software is the problem. Beyond this I can't help you.

[agprabhakar]

Thanks Jeg_jason, I tested the writer in my desktop (having IOgear usb2.0 adapter) and it worked fine. it took only 29 minutes.

I guess my problem is in the laptop only, So I checked my laptop USB2 EHCI (IBM Thinkpad T40) and found no driver required for the USB2. I still tried updating the driver, it is not updating it. Can anyone help me, how to find out if my laptop usb2, is working at real usb2 speed (480 mbps)!!!!

Any other clues are highly appreciated





Thanks,

agprabhakar

[jeg_jason]

One last thing is to make sure that you have service pack 4 or higher installed in your Windows 2000 operating system. You can also try contacting technical support for both the laptop manufacturer first and then Sony to see if they can help. With the headache that you are dealing with I would go ahead and get a firewire card for the laptop. If you cannot get USB 2.0 to work properly you may even decided to get a combo firewire/USB 2.0 PCMCIA card like this one

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/dealsonic/kokwfihiusb2.html

You can also take a full CD and use the sony to copy all the information to both your laptop and desktop and see if there is a huge difference between the two. The desktop should be a little faster, but not by a huge amount. If the difference is huge then you are only going at USB 1.1 speed. If the difference is small then It also may be worth reinstalling the Sony software package or trying some different burning applications. I did not even think of installing the packet writing software when I first got my drive.

Firewire is a nice addition to a laptop. I have used it while traveling to capture DV from my camcorder from both MiniDV tapes and analog pass-through sources. I have made SVCDs and DVDs this way using the drx-500ulx. I also clone my laptop's hard drive this way and hook up to an external firewire hard drive.

USB 2.0 problems gave me a fit while running Windows ME, but has been okay on Windows XP SP1. However, I would not dare use it over firewire unless absolutely necessary. I hope you find a solution that works for you.