How fast must be the HD to allow a 16x burn? (4 simple questions)

[Sir Joe]

Hi!
I still haven´t got the devices, but now I know a lot more than before...
For who does not know what am I talking about, I am choosing an external dvd writer and Hard disk (or internal ones on external enclosures), and a pc-card adpter, and find out the best devices and connection to allow 16x dvd burn.
Lately, in addition to the firewire vs. usb stuff, I was occupied in a SATA vs. firewire stuff.
I felt quite tired and confused, and scared about prices more and more high!
Then I felt that maybe I was falling into the trick of "wow, it is faster, buy it!", while I had to understand what I really needed .
So, I understood what I had to ask in the forum
1) which is the sustained data transfer that the HD must provide to allow a 16x burn or near it? The same of the burner? The double or triple of it?
2) which kind of HD rpm (5400, 7200, 10000) provides such speed?
3) Which kind of connection (Usb2, firewire, firewire2, SATA, SATA2) must have the writer and/or the HD to REALLY allow the needed data transfer, considering my system (see computer details), and that I will connect both devices at same time on the pc-card adapter?
4) just to close the theme opened in the other thread: practically, concretely, which would be for my system the problems using two devices at same time in Usb2 instead of firewire or SATA? No one? Just few minutes more in burning? Not being able to do anything else when burning? Or something more serious?
I am happy, i feel that now I will have the right elements to choose well.
Thank You!

[Nelson37]

It is not the drive speed that is your issue, any HD will exceed the burner speed.

The issue you will be dealing with is the USB or Firewire interface, this is the limiting factor. In particular whether it will allow two, simultaneous data transfers without causing errors. This is not really an issue of quality per se, a well-made hi-speed interface card may cause momentary pauses in the data transfer. These may cause bad burns.

You may need to create the image to burn on the external HD, transfer to internal HD, then burn from there to the external writer. Or using both external drives may work just fine, the problem is that this is not a scenario that is typically tested thoroughly, you will be the one who determines whether your particular card will work well with your particular drives on your particular PC.

Good Luck!

[Sir Joe]

a well-made hi-speed interface card may cause momentary pauses in the data transfer. These may cause bad burns.

a well made?

You may need to create the image to burn on the external HD, transfer to internal HD, then burn from there to the external writer.

Wow, it sounds a bit complicated... Why all this ? Let me exlain a moment: I will buy an external HDD and an external dvd writer. These will be the only external devices. I have an internal HDD of course, but no enough space for a dvd image. And I have a dvd-rom... No idea if able to provide enough speed for on the fly copy, which, anyway, for a protected dvd is useless for the few I understood here...
So, Why do you suggest to pass image from external to internal HDD? I can understand if You think that from internal HDD to external dvd it is better than form ext HDD, but, why to not create image directly to internal HDD (well, in my case, anyway, i will have no space.

Good Luck!

[classfour]

I've burned from an external WD without issues at 8X. I never burn at 16X, ever - results in crappy burns, wasted media, etc.. I have burned three at a time from the same external HDD at 4X (slowest burner on my machine is an 8X Plextor) with good results. You will want to check the capabilities of your motherboard before going to any external drive: If your USB ports are 1.1 and not 2.0 - you will not have the speed to burn much of anything, and will likely have nothing but bad burns.

I'd do my homework on the motherboard first, determine if I need an upgrade, before I'd spend any money on external drives.

Also: Your profile says your 20GB HDD is nearly full - if this is the case, you certainly need to address that. If you buy an external burner, you'll need to have a "burn off" and get as many files off that drive as possible. You really need 9GB free space on a drive to safely burn a standard DVDr disc, and a 20GB HDD that's nearly full is going to slow your machine down = way too much baggage.

If the power supply can handle it, as a cheaper way to go; and if you have the technical savvy: Install a second HDD. You can buy 160GB drives all day long for $60 to $70 or even less, just make certain you find one that is 7200 rpm. You won't find many external drives of any size for that.