An 80-wire IDE cable is required for 16X DVD writing speed

[Skith]

The DVD burners have always been UDMA 4

Not all dvd burners are udma4,most are udma2.

105 amd 109 are UDMA 4 ....
I'll go doublecheck the 103 when I find time.

Aside from the drive it self, the controller (chipset) used *may* affect how this appears. I know both my Nec 3500A and Plextor 712A show as UDMA 2. Newer drives may report a higher "mode" but for all practicality, nothing more than UDMA 2 is needed (33MB/sec). If I remember right, 16x DVD is just over 22MB/sec, and that is only reached on the outer edge of the disc.

Also, last I checked the Pioneer 108 @16x is slower than most other drives @12x (Z-CLV vs. CAV/P-CAV). That aside, I have heard many good things about pioneer drives.

[lordsmurf]

I just stuffed drives back in.
Pioneer 103 = UDMA 2
Pioneer 105 = UDMA 2
Pioneer 109 = UDMA 4

So there you go.

[mikesbytes]

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/confCable80-c.html

[from link above] the new cable has 80 conductors (wires)--it does not have 80 pins on each connector, though, just 40. This means that the new cable is pin-compatible with the old drive.

So no probs replacing 40 with 80.

[Skith]

there are no 80 "pin" IDE cables (it is a common typo). All IDE cables have 40 pins. The newer cables add a grounding "wire" for each "data" wire. So 80-wire cable is 40 wires for grounding and 40 for the data signals.

[junkmalle]

there are no 80 "pin" IDE cables (it is a common typo). All IDE cables have 40 pins. The newer cables add a grounding "wire" for each "data" wire. So 80-wire cable is 40 wires for grounding and 40 for the data signals.

To beat a dead horse a bit more... Several of the 40 "signal" wires are grounds too.

[chas0039]

I just stuffed drives back in.
Pioneer 103 = UDMA 2
Pioneer 105 = UDMA 2
Pioneer 109 = UDMA 4

So there you go.

You Sneak! When did you get a 109 and why didn't you undate your Profile? So....is it better than your fantastic 105? Throw us some scans of some of those S03s.