Ok...system built for burning....a few questions...

[oceanview]

System:
Iwill KA266-R; AMD 1.2g; 256mb DDR ram; WD 120G 8mb cache (C: 40mb /D: 80mb); std CD-R; PlexWriter CD-RW12/10/32; Sony DRU500A; WinXP w/SP1; all IDE based;

Issues:
DMA...ON or OFF (and for which drives)
ASPICHK says NO ASPI layer installed; which version to use?

Anything else I need to ensure about hardware?

Software:
Will be installing the following;
nero 6 ultra; alcohol 120; CloneCD; ClonyXXL; DVD2ONE; dvdshrink; recordnowmax; dvdidentifier; and other tools /utils that this site (or others0) may recommend.

Any comments/suggestions regarding software?

Thanks much...

[spummerr]

I would increase your ram to a MIN of 512 megs

System:
Iwill KA266-R; AMD 1.2g; 256mb DDR ram; WD 120G 8mb cache (C: 40mb /D: 80mb); std CD-R; PlexWriter CD-RW12/10/32; Sony DRU500A; WinXP w/SP1; all IDE based;

Issues:
DMA...ON or OFF (and for which drives)
ASPICHK says NO ASPI layer installed; which version to use?

Anything else I need to ensure about hardware?

Software:
Will be installing the following;
nero 6 ultra; alcohol 120; CloneCD; ClonyXXL; DVD2ONE; dvdshrink; recordnowmax; dvdidentifier; and other tools /utils that this site (or others0) may recommend.

Any comments/suggestions regarding software?

Thanks much...

[jeex]

i dunno why you need all that software..

nero for basic cd burning

recordnow max for dvd burning

alcohol 120% for those difficult to copy cd's..

dvd decypter for dvd ripping

cdrwin to make nice pretty cue/bin's of cd's.

(not gonna mention dvd encoding/transcoding utils)

look around for forceaspi. i use it to install the aspi layer on all xp systems i work with..

and you really do need more ram, its cheap enough, i'd get two 512mb sticks.

[budz]

Your cd and dvd burner should be DMA enabled. You may download the ASPI from this site:

http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/support/drivers_by_product.html?sess=no&language=Engl...dkey=ASPI-4.70

Good Luck!

[Flukesy]

use DMA wherever possible

[oceanview]

Thank you everyone....I appreciate the replies.

Ok...I'll enable DMA for CD, CD-RW & DRU; I've got ASPI layers...thanks for advising which version.....and for programs...they were selected after reading user comments....but I am open to suggestions...for example...I have DVDXCOPY...but the general comment is lower video quality.

I've got CDClone, Alcohol 120 and Nero....all of which have received good feedback....and as I'm a "noobie" to this....I guess I'm after programs that can produce good video and audio quality DVD's & CD's. Yes, I will be reading the tutorials for the programs I end up using.

So whatever the voices of experience offers advice wise, it is appreciate and will be reviewed.

On the memory thing...I'll have to get this one by "she who must be obeyed"; not to fond of all this computer thingey stuff....what can I say.....

Thanks again for the input....it's greatly appreciated...and keep the advice comming.

Regards....