Hi, I have 2 DVD-RW drives, a Pioneer DVR-111 and a Plextor PX-755A. They are both on my primary IDE channel, both using UDMA2. Recently, both the drives have been functioning slowly. When I write 16x-rated Verbatim DVD+R discs with EITHER, the writing starts at around 3.0x and slowly increases to maybe 7-8x by the time the disc is written. When reading, they stay at 3.5x ALL the way through (Verbatim DVD+R again). This did not used to happen, with either drive. I have also noticed that the speeds of the 2 drives are "connected" - if I start reading discs in both drives at once, the speeds are exactly the same, increasing and decreasing - one had a read error, and the other one slowed down to the same speed - and if I pause one, the other drops to 0.0x. This seems like quite a strange problem. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling both drives, and the IDE channel - to no effect. Both devices are working properly according to Device Manager, and are using UDMA2, not PIO. Any suggestions? Many thanks
Have you tried doing a search for updated firmware? If you've had the drives for a while it is likely the firmware is outdated. Do a search for the drive model's firmware at CDRinfo.com. You should be able to locate the newest versions of your firmware and flash the drive and update the firmware. Hope this helps.
Hi, thanks for your reply - I already have the most recent firmware for both drives :S. Do you think formatting/reinstalling Windows would fix the problem?
I wouldn't go about unistalling windows or w/e lol. Go to hardware manager and unistall both your drives. Then when you reboot your Pc (after unistall) windows finds them as "new hardware" and auot installs them for ya. Give that a try Edit: Just to make sure; the pioneer drives latest f/w is 1.29 and the plextor is 1.05. You have these ye?
Yep I've got those firmwares. And thanks for the suggestion but: "I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling both drives, and the IDE channel - to no effect" By "uninstalling and reinstalling", I mean uninstalling in Device Manager and letting Windows re-detect them on reboot. Just for the record, I have no problems burning Verbatim DVD+R DLs, even at 4x with 2.4x rated! Oh, and here's a bit more information - extracting audio CDs used to be pretty quick with EAC & secure mode, but now it takes ages! I never checked my read speeds before, because there wasn't a problem, but now, they don't go above 3x for retail pressed discs. Thanks
So you can burn Verbs DL at 4x but nowt else will go quickly...Is that right? lol Btw don't burn your DL's at 4x! Keep it to 2.4x Ok...Cos you don't want coasters from Verb Dl's do ya
Yeh I only did it once by accident - ImgBurn was set to "max" from the last single layer DVD+R, and to my surprise it was 4x all the way through. All my other DL burns (at 2.4x) have been fine (I mean the speed has been OK). Something I forgot to mention is that I have tried having only one drive connected, but the speeds do not improve with either drive on its own. And I have replaced the IDE cable with a brand new one, without success.
According to the Plextor website, the 755A can read DVD+Rs at 16x. However, in PlexTools Professional, the highest available option is "5-10x CAV". With this option selected, a Read Transfer Rate test starts at 4x, very slowly speeds up and just about reaches 10x by the time the whole disc is read (see attached image).
You need to upload it first to a site like http://photobucket.com first - the copy and paste the URL of the image in you post like so
