Buffer underruns while ripping and burning simultaneously??

[jbenj01]

I'm basically multi-tasking--ripping one DVD while burning another and surfing the net.. I used to be able to do this while maintaining stable ripping and burn speeds.. But now, for some reason, I'm not...

If I begin ripping a DVD to the hdd while burning, let's say, at 4x, I notice that the "buffer size" starts fluctuating significantly, i.e., from as little as sub-1x to ~2x... and my rip speeds take much longer.. What exactly does a 'buffer' do?

Why is it that i was able to accomplish this with reasonable success before but now am unable to so?? Is there a way to tweak my system to successfully do the above??

I realize i'm asking my system to do a lot but... I have a P4 3.0G, Asus mobo, 1G DDR400 RAM, DVD-ROM and couple of Pioneer burners.. Please advise. Thanks.

[808smokey]

My first thought is... What did you do to your computer that might have changed this? Did you update the software you use or change some windows settings maybe?

What is buffer under run?

Buffer Under Run
Occurs when the system cannot keep up a steady data stream to the CD recording software. The CD recorder itself has a buffer that is constantly filled with data in the event of a system slowdown or interruption. If the buffer is emptied before the system can recover, a buffer under-run occurs.

[BJ_M]

i'm thinking possably your hard drive has become badly frag'd ....

and also a lot more full ...

[jbenj01]

Well, that's just it.. After experiencing these problems for a couple of weeks and not being able to correct, I just did a fresh re-install of WinXP Pro over the weekend.. but still no success.. I just can't figure out what the heck I did wrong.. ???

I've got 2 hdd's--a 37G WD Dig Raptor SATA, on which I installed OS, and a 160G hdd for data only. DMA is activated.. Everything is working nicely now but this morning, I was burning at 4x to DVD-R and then started up DVDDecrypter to rip and sure enough, my burn speed immediately dropped to ~1-2x. wtf?!!!

Any tips to troubleshoot now, given a fresh re-install of XP?? Thanks again.

Edit: Oh, just read about "burn-proof".. is that do-able with Pioneers A05 and 106?

[BJ_M]

DID YOU DEFRAG YOUR DRIVES YET ?

[jbenj01]

Will defrag data drive tonite.. But do I need to defrag the Raptor since i just reformatted and did a fresh OS re-install on it??

Edit: Also, is there any benefit in partitioning the Raptor, i.e., 7G for OS and apps and the remaining for... whatever, i.e., more data.. ??

[BJ_M]

if you reformated it -- no

just installing a new os on its own does nothing ...

but reformating is fresh