Two Questions From A Newbie.. :O

[Ender160]

First off, I have a 12x CDRW drive. Had it for about a year and a half. HP Cd-writer 9500 series. I can only seem to burn at 4x (despite it being a 12x drive), and it's really quite frustrating. I don't think my other hardware is holding me back.. 512 megs DDR ram, 1700+ XP CPU, and the data was being written from an otherwise idle hard drive. I've tried different burning programs, even burning under different OSes. Is there anything else I should try? If I buy another CDRW, can I actually expect it to get the advertised speeds?

Also, I have some questions about DVD burning.. from what I understand, the blank media out there is 4.7ish gigs, but DVDs are commonly 9ish, and some are as large as 18-19ish... This kinda seems like it'd be quite frustrating, if I'm trying to 'back up' DVDs... When the larger media comes out, will the same burners work? Or will you need new hardware?

[kitty]

Have you visited HP tech support? Is the latest firmware installed? Is DMA enabled?

If you want to "backup" larger discs, for now you will have to cut out the fluff (trailers, etc) and possibly encode at a lower bit rate. There is a guide on this site for DVD->DVD-R.

[Eug]

First off, I have a 12x CDRW drive. Had it for about a year and a half. HP Cd-writer 9500 series. I can only seem to burn at 4x (despite it being a 12x drive), and it's really quite frustrating. I don't think my other hardware is holding me back.. 512 megs DDR ram, 1700+ XP CPU, and the data was being written from an otherwise idle hard drive. I've tried different burning programs, even burning under different OSes. Is there anything else I should try? If I buy another CDRW, can I actually expect it to get the advertised speeds?

Also, I have some questions about DVD burning.. from what I understand, the blank media out there is 4.7ish gigs, but DVDs are commonly 9ish, and some are as large as 18-19ish... This kinda seems like it'd be quite frustrating, if I'm trying to 'back up' DVDs... When the larger media comes out, will the same burners work? Or will you need new hardware?

Don't expect DVD-9 recordable discs to appear any time soon, if ever. Remember that DVD-9 discs aren't burned that way. They are two discs glued together and are pressed separately.

If you want another copy of the disc, then buy one.

[Nelson37]

To answer the burn speed question, no. Max burn speed is like max PPM on a printer, they test 10 copies of a page AFTER the original has printed, ie., perfect-world performance. Buffer-underrun protection will enable you to get closer to max speed, but rarely achieve it without error. With an older drive and no underrun prevention, good luck. How big of a hurry are you in, anyway?

[Ender160]

Enough of a hurry than 4x doesn't cut it.

Okay, if I shouldn't expect to be able to get the full speed, what SHOULD I expect from a 12x drive, assuming all my other HD can keep up?

"Is the latest firmware installed? Is DMA enabled? "

Lost and more lost. I'll look into it. Thanks.

[Nelson37]

DMA setting found under properties for CD in Control Panel, System, Device MAnager. Firmware refers to a Flash Bios update from HP, be VERY CAREFUL installing or using.

Typically speed will be set one or two notches below max for error-free copies, depends on many variables. Some PC's will attain max speed, but then some DVD players won't accept them. Disk Quality becomes more important as speed goes up. Do NOT buy a drive withour buffer-underrun protection.

[Dave B]

If the drive is sold as a 12x drive then it should be able to burn at 12x.

Make sure that you apply the latest firmware patch to the drive, check there are no hardware conflicts/issues through the Device Manager and ensure that DMA is turned on for the drive.

Failing that, temporarily change your burning software as see if the new program picks up the faster speeds.

[Nelson37]

Sorry, just noticed what may be the problem. The max drive speed is different for CDR and CDRW, MUCH slower for CDRW. Just checked HP web site, 9500 IDE drive indicates max rewrite speed 8x (says 2x 8x 32x 8x, actually). Try a CDR. Your machine has good chance attaining max speed with good blanks, but if you get errors back speed down a notch.

Edit - that must be 2x rewrite, 8x read CDRW, 32x read, 8x write? they usually only give 3 numbers (write, rewrite, read)

and I didn't check the SCSI models, if you can afford those I hate you and don't want to help.

There is apparently some debate over whether burn speed affects quality, consensus seems to be slower is better, definitely made a difference with cheap disks for me.