I am making a copy of 60+ data DVDs. I have a Lite-On SHW-1635SX and I am using a 8X DVD media. My source is the built in DVD-ROM on my laptop. It is a 2.2 Ghz celeron with 512MB of RAM. I am using the version of Nero that came with the Lite-On. I picked the Copy DVD option with the 'quick copy' mode where it does not use any hard disk space. These are just Data DVDs ( they contain mp3s, word docs and a pot pourri of such stuff ) and I am just interested in a bit for bit copy of it and so there is no conversion, coding etc. involved. With these setting it is taking 2 hours per DVD. Is this normal? If not, what are the ways to speed this up? Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere but my search did not yield a topic specific to my issue. Thanks very much. Your help is much appreciated.
Hi ssinger 2 hours is yes a bit too long to do a copy to copy. My quess would be about 15 - 20 mins burning at 8x for 4 gig. So let's check on the transer mode - make sure you are in DMA mode not the sloow PIO mode: http://home.comcast.net/~bbmayo/checking DMA.pdf No multi tasking while burning - may also slow things up some. I wouldn't use the 'quick copy' option. My experience just saves a few mins. Better to save it even temporarily to the hd. This gives your drive a better chance to read the disc. With quick copy any little glitch and bam burn failed. Which version of Nero are you using also? Like 6.6.0.18 or 7.0.8.2. Is this an external burner?
ssinger, Welcome to the forum. Is the burner connected to a USB 2.0 port or to a 1.1 or 1.0 port?. The easiest way to find out if you have 2.0 port is to go into Device Manager> Universal Serial Bus Controllers> Now see if you have this: USB2 Enhanced Host Controller. If so you Have USB and the times Binkie listed are about right. W/ 1.1 it will be real slow but if you have 1.0 -2 hours might be right
Binkie7, yes it is an external DVD recorder ( Lite-On SHW-1635SX ). The Nero version is: "6.6.0.13 bundled" I tried the procedure in that PDF document. "Advanced Settings" does not show up.. I am a bit nervous about uninstalling the IDE controller...I will try that on another machine. Before using quick copy, I was copying the whole thing to hard drive and then burning it. That took a lot longer.. almost 3 hours per disk. 15-20 minutes end-to-end would be great given number of disks I need to copy. I tried this on another laptop with a Pentium III 656 Mhz and 256 meg of RAM instead of the Pentium Celeron 2.2 GhZ and it is doing a bit better. I think it will finish a disk with quick copy in 1.5 hours. Without DMA, is this the best I can get?
I would check the DMA settings - if your dvd rom or hard drive is in PIO mode than yes things will be much slower. What kind of controller are you using? You can also check this (or in device manager) and the transfer mode in Nero toolKit>Info Tool>Configuration tab. As Car.Mike pointed to - is this drive connected thru a USB 2.0 hub? Both laptops? The 2nd is much slower specs so no quess there. Nero will only temporarily save the files - then delete them when done.
Car.Mike, Thanks for the welcome... I checked the USB Controller thingy... it does not show a USB2 enhanced host controller. I only see 1) ALi PCI to USB Open Host Controller 2) USB Mass Storage Device 3) USB Root hub. So it looks like I have 1.1.
Oh.. I executed the Nero Info tool and it does say that for both Primary and Secondary IDE channel "DMA on". And it says "Ali PCI to USB Open Host Controller"... So, my problem seems to be not having USB 2.0. Right?
ssinger, You either have 1.1 or 1.0 so that is why it is so slow. You can buy a 2.0 USB PCI card to add to the computer and they are cheap. Suggest you look into that at the local Mom and Pop Computer store for one that will meet your needs. A USB 2.0 is approx 40X faster than a 1.1 USB port so your times should now be faster w/ the 2.0 port
Thanks Car.Mike. I will for sure look into it. I am doing this on my IBM laptops. Is it easy to add a USB 2.0 PCI port to a laptop? I have a desktop which I am not using for this copyathon.. but let me see if I can upgrade the USB on that to 2.0. Are the USB cables the same between 1.x and 2.0? Or I need to pick up a bunch of new ones? Thanks... this has been educational so far... (I am contemplating another activity related to DVD burning of a live internet video stream but I will ask that in another thread but this USB 2.0 thing might help there also).
ssinger , Did a little more research and that ALI card you have might be a USB 2.0 although you will need to d/l the usb 2.0 drivers if that card really is a 2.0 version. How old is the computer and did you buy the computer locally or is it from a Big Box store. You might try and D/l Everest Home Edition ( you can google for it) and install the progam and it will tell everything you want to ever know about that computer. It will also tell you what the driver is and if there is a update for it. Everest is free so lets try that first. I really do not think DMA Mode has anything to do w/ USB but I might be wrong.
ssinger , I'll do Towers and anything else but a laptop. You might have to call Lenovo as they bought out the IBM small computer division if you can not find the driver The cables you have are fine
Hey car.mike I just wanted to check the hard drive and dvd rom transfer mode also. If they were in PIO mode then maybe even slower. Thanks for the other useful info posted too! Like the Everest tool.
I love that Everest tool. This is what it tells me for my USB controller. Field Value USB1 Controller ULi/ALi M5237 USB Open Host Controller Device Description ULi/ALi M5237 USB Open Host Controller Field Value Device Properties Device Description ULi/ALi M5237 USB Open Host Controller Bus Type PCI Bus / Device / Function 0 / 2 / 0 Device ID 10B9-5237 Subsystem ID 1014-0540 Device Class 0C03 (USB Controller) Revision 03 Fast Back-to-Back Transactions Supported, Disabled Device Features 66 MHz Operation Not Supported Bus Mastering Enabled
binkie7, Did not mean to jump in but it is my understanding DMA has nothing to do w/ USB. Have you ever heard that? ssinger , If I am not mistaken it looks like you have USB 1.0 which really is slow. Before I would carry that laptop to a store call Lenovo and verify that really is a 1.0 USB PCI card. They should have an 800# that you can find if you google for it.
Car.Mike You right on the dma and usb bit! Oh and you're not jumping in - your help is always welcome!
Resurrecting this thread to ask a follow up. I have resigned to the fact of 1.5 hours per disk and it has been going OK at around 8 disks per day. So far so good. One thing that happens is, on some disks, after working on it for 1.5 hours, Nero complains that the burning process fails. I am able to look at the burnt disk and only the last few files are not saved. They are there but I could not open it. That is fine for now. My question is: Sometimes I have trouble reading those DVDs on the laptop using which I was burning this ( the source DVD sits in the DVD bay of that laptop ). But I can look at it on another lap top. In a couple of occasions, the burner itself would not let me read it. It is a bit troubling that I have this trouble, though I am happy that I can atleast read this on one compupter. Is there a disk closing step that Nero does for DATA dvd to DVD-R? When the burning process fails at the end like this, is there something that Nero may not do which can be the reason for this problem? Or this kind of reading problem can happen even if Nero successfully finishes the burning of the DVD. I am not religiously checking the successfully completed DVDs due to lack of time but if you all put enough scare in me, I will check them all before I part with the source DVD disks.
Hi ssinger The discs should be finalized so they can be read/played by most players/drives. If they are not and/or the burn failed - they can be unreadable. The program you are using knows to finalize the disc in writing the lead out. So if the burn failed at the end then all the may not have been written to it. What brand of media are you using? Make sure the LiteOn's firmware is up to date. This helps with the read/write strategies of media. The latest is YSOY. http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?download_id=2141 To find out the latest in Nero go to ToolKit>Info Tool>drive tab. A field for the firmware is there - make sure the LiteOn is selected as the drive. While you there have a blank in the drive and check the 'disc tab - this should list the manufacturer of the discs.
Binky: >What brand of media are you using? The brand I am currently using is TEON DVD-R 8X. How good is TEON? After I am done with the 40 I will switch to the CompUSA brand DVD-R. I have a whole bunch of them. The CompUSA dude said it is made by Fuji. Is the CompUSA brand any good? I will update the firmware. There seems to be a YSOZ now. To install it, do I just double click the YS0Z.EXE. ( I have never updated the firmware on the LiteOn before ). Thanks.
Thanks binkie7 with that screenshot. That made it a lot more comfortable for me to look up the firmware info. I have since updated to the YS0Z. Isn't it lame that it asked me to reboot my PC after the firmware update? But I updated the firmware of the burner from another laptop. I did reboot that laptop just to be safe. But then I connected the burner to the laptop from which I am doing the actual burning. The Neroinfo tool displayed the updated firmware revision level. Should I reboot that laptop as well? ( I am confused about the necessity to reboot after a firware update on the burner ). Anyway, after the update, the first burn failed fairly quickly. When I examined the burnt disk, it said the capacity is 4.3 Gig and it showed all the files but I could not access many of the files...I do not know what went on.. I am trying it again after bringing down the write speed to 4X from 8X, just to see.This time it has gone a lot further. Even at 4X, it seems to be a bit faster than the previous firmware. Let us see if it completes successfully. Thanks for the handholding so far.
