Fireware 5.25' case with Burner: Can't do max 52x

Question

I've got an Inspiron 8200, using XP, 30 GB HD, 256 Ram.

I have an external 5.25" USB2 Fireware combo. External case, which houses a Lite-on 52x32x52 CD-burner. When I burn stuff I have to use 32x because that's how fast the Nero "Determine Maximum Speed" found and it was the same result after multiple tests.

That doesn't really sound right because all the components are easily fast enough. Also don't forget that most CD-R's are 48x:

CD-R at 52x: 7800 kb/s
Hard Disk: average 13,000 kb/s
FireWire max: 400Mbit -> 51,200 kb/s
External Case: same as the transfer medium (400Mbits and 480Mbits)

Even if the firewire was using a 1/5th the speed, it would still be fast enough.

What's going on? What is the weak link here? Does 4-pin go slower than 6-pin?

jk79 · Answer

Have you tried different brands of media, it seems that the faster drives are more fickle about the brands of media they like to work with. You can take a look at www.cdfreaks.com , they have quite a few in depth drive reviews including results with various brands of media.

JK

bacillus · Answer

if you google smartburn then you should find the liteon tool for determining the max write speed of your cdrs.

Dufflover · Answer

Right now I'm using Sony Supremas or something like that. The Lite-On tool says it will support up to 52x, the label on the spindle says 48x. But again, I can only get it up an average of 32x.

patzke · Answer

Your limiting factor may very well be the limited amoun ot RAM that you have in your 8200. System throughput may be reducing the maximum burn speed that you are seeing. Running Windows XP and having only 256MB of RAM could be your problem.

jk79 · Answer

Dufflover said: ' I can only get it up an average of 32x. '  The key word here is average.  52x is the max speed of the drive.  The drive will only reach 52x towards the end of a burn that takes up the majority of the disc as that is when the drive is writing to the outer tracks of the disc.  The drive will be significantly slower when writing to the inner tracks of the disc.  On my 24x burner, inner track burning is around 11x.  The average speed is around 16-18x.  So your figures seem very reasonable for this drive, I simply assumed that the drive was not reaching 52x at any point in the burn.   JK

Dufflover · Answer

This is the speed test, not a simulation. Basically it's testing how fast data can be sent to the burner, not a burner simulation where the disc is spinning and all but not writing

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Fireware 5.25" case with Burner: Can't do max 52x

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