CD Burner Problem

[gamehead200]

Guys, about 2 months ago, I installed XP on my crappy computer (fresh install) and my burner was set to write at only 4x (cheap burner)...This burner is supposed to burn at 8x and now only burns at 4x...What can I do to fix this?

[FthrJACK]

go to the makers website and look for a firmware update. also get updates for your burning software, and lastly make sure the latest version of ASPI is installed

ASPI pages: Here

Also check out LITE ON burners, they are very very cheap, you can pick up a 48X burner for about £36 (i dunno what that is in Canadian dollars but.. u work it out, its cheap anyway! 2 DVDs worth or so)

[gamehead200]

I'm thinking of getting a 44x24x44x CD-RW External USB Burner...I don't want to get an internal 'cause I thought that maybe with this one, I can use it w/ multiple computers without unscrewing anything ! I can't believe this burner is gonna cost me $299.99 Canadian!!!

BTW, FthrJACK, I have Nero, latest version, and a Mats***a burner (I think that is Japanese for Panasonic, not sure )...Anywayz, I'll try that later on, thanx!

[Crispy]

Gamehead ... try using other kinds of burning software. They drop in speed might just be a bug in whatever software you're using.

[gamehead200]

NERO! I don't use EZ CD Creator!

[Aaron]

Its not just Nero and EZ CD Creator on the cd burning software market, theres loads of em.

[zivan56]

Yea, I use Roxio's WinonCD, all the other burning programs generate a power calibration error when the cd is 50% done.

[FthrJACK]

Winon sux !

anyway....

Gamehead, please dont buy an External Cd burner, heres why:

1) They are slow as hell compared to internal drives

2) they cost a fortune

3) ones that are fast cost even more of a fortune!

for the price of 2 DVDs you can have a nice fast 48X cd burner from LITE ON, whats the big deal? your 8x burner has one use... the dustbin! (aka -- ebay)

or keep it as a spare, 8x burn is painfully slow. what.. 20 minutes to burn a CD? what a waste of time!

[gamehead200]

Fthr, it burns at 4x right now which takes 20 minutes for a full 650MB CD...At 8xm it would be 10 minutes...Why shouldn't I get an external CD burner?

Here are my reasons why I think I should get it:

1) I want it for X-MAS

2) I want to burn on several computers, not just one

3) Its faster than an 8x

Here is why I don't want an internal burner:

1) I don't want a good burner on a crappy computer

2) There are no more slots in my Dell for a CD burner

3) I don't want to screw and unscrew the burner to stick it in another computer

BTW, Fthr, how are external drives slower than internal ones?

[FthrJACK]

they arent slower really... but comparing price for speed.. at a guess a 48X EXTERNAL burner will cost more than 10X the amount of an internal.

in other words.. cheaper to buy THREE internal ones and throw the slow old burner in your spare parts box (then there will be room for a new drive)

OR put the slow drive in your crap pc and put the new fast drive in the other crap pc (lol ok i had to have a joke at your expense)

if you have a burner in one of your network pc's you dont need a burner in another networked machine as you can burn across the network. we do it at college.. i have a movie or something on my drive.. another user wants it .. they just burn it at their machine.. no need to copy it to their own Hard drive at all.

[gamehead200]

You have a good point...But, should I or shouldn't I buy an external burner? BTW, I only have one crappy computer...And, if I'm not satisfied w/ the burner, I can keep it for 30 days, bring it back, buy another one, bring it back 30 days after, do this for as much time as I want and burn as much as I want ! One more thing, I already have a removable drive in both my computers, thats why I can't add an internal one to my Dell...I swap the drives every once and a while...

[MSNwar]

All good advice from FthrJack. The network concept works.

The tray concept works to. Install some cheap hard drive trays in the open bays. Instead of a hard drive use the burner. Real easy. Lots of options.

Are you going to be using the burner outside your home? Maybe you need a notebook. Remember that burners will not last forever. Even in a notebook make sure the burner is user replaceable.

Maybe a stand-alone burner with a PC interface. I like the stand-alone burners, but expensive! The ones with two CD drives, one drive for reading and the other for burning. Just pop in a CD and press one button. Done Deal! The ones with the PC interface allow you to burn from the PC to the unit. Some even come with hard drives! The better ones are PnP by the way. Connect it to a PC or notebook and WinXP automatically recognizes it. About the size of a shoe box and completely mobile.

I have had external burners for my personal use and they are slow like FthrJack said. Remember that all that back and forth data involves a cable which is just one more bottleneck in the path. Yes, they are mobile and the good ones are expensive. Most require proprietary software to be installed on the source PC to work at all. That means that everytime you want to burn something from a friend/business associates notebook or PC you have to install the software. Do you and your friends really want to do that?

[gamehead200]

MSNwar, here is the burner that I want: http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetai...id=&newdeptid=1

How can it be that slow if it connects to my computer with a USB cable?

Yes, I will be using it outside of my home...I already have 2 notebooks (one is my dad's) and the one that I have doesn't have a burner, only a DVD drive...

What does it take to install software, 5 minutes? And all my friends have burners, so I don't have to bring one along to their houses...

[zivan56]

Make sure you have a usb 2.0 port or otherwise it can't transfer more than 11mb/s. The main part of the price tag is the Yamaha label, they make the most expensive cd writers.

[gamehead200]

I have Dell that I got last year, would it work properly?

But wouldn't a 44x CD-RW burn at only 6.6MB/sec?