Hey guys-- Problem sometimes here, wonder if you have come across it. 80 GB Laptop, Nero 6.3.1.4, works well almost always. I've been leaving my laptop on a lot,and recently the burn will just stop somewhere. I've had to shut it off, cool it maye 15 mins, then restart again, and it burned okay. Last time I also deleted my DVDShrink files and re-ripped in case it was the ripped files, which I have never known it to be, but did that just in case, as it stopped at 66% 3 times. So just wondering if you know that a warm laptop or drive--I was ripping and burning normally, maybe 4 dvd rips and 5 burns before the problem starts--can affect Nero, and that just shutting and starting again with time in bewteen--NOT restarting--solves the problem, as it seems to, or is it a sign of aother problem? OH! Another thing--my drive was very full with only about 3 GB left; I deleted and cleared some DVD-ripped files that HAD burned successfully, and opened up the space of the drive to about 40 GB free--would THAT have anything to do with either buffer bar and it not having enough space, to, well, buff, lol? Any advice or help would be great. Thank you.
3 GB wouldn't be enough for a normal DVD. Are you still having problems after freeing up space and defragging. Are you transcoding with Recode, Shrink or Nerovision and heating up the laptop? If transcoding and if your laptop doesn't have a powerful processor, you could be overheating, causing a problem.
No, I said the drive only HAD 3 GB left after all was ripped on it and I had already burned a few DVDs that worked out fine. I was wondering if the buffer zones work better with a drive that is, say, half-free, rather than a packed one. The problem is not with the ripping, but with the Nero burning. I DO suspect it's that the laptop had been running for days and maybe hot--is that at least a good possibility? Once I cool it for 20 mins-several hours, no such problems.
I'd guess it is the encoding/transcoding that's causing system heating and thus the problems. The process is processor intensive and laptops being compact and confining don't have really great air cooling and one can generate lots of heat pretty quickly. Leaving the lappy on by itself likely isn't causing the problem unless the airflow is being blocked. You might try a laptop cooler that your laptop would sit atop to see if that helped. Unless you're burning at a really fast speed which you're likely not, the lack of HDD space isn't much of a factor. If it is, your laptop will gear down its burning speed if necessary. Thus if you try to burn at 4X and instead get a 22 minute 2x burn, you have a problem. On the other hand it's always better to have sufficient free HDD space just a general rule so keep deleting or transferring to other disks the things you don't need. You should have another external drive for backup storage anyway. HDDs are pretty inexpensive these days.
Duh! I feel so dumb. I often have it on my lap or couch, and the flow IS blocked! I will set it up on a grate or something. Yes, the NY Times today had a blurb on external backups, 149 and 199, like 300GB, and 500 GB, wireless, for families. I may get the 300GB one for $149. And no, my burns at 4X are always good, maybe 12 mins; on my PC I burn at 2.4X and that takes 22 mins, which is fine. But I think the overheating is the problem. Thanks for your help and advice.
You're welcome. If you don't want all the fancy features some of the external backup drives have, just buy a regular ATA or SATA internal hard drive and place that in an external enclosure, USB2 or Firewire. It's often cheaper to do it this way if you can find a drive on sale at newegg.com or frys.com, etc. I know there's a 400GB Seagate at Newegg for $80 or so. The had a 500GB for $95 last weekend. An enclosure runs $25-$40, depending. I use Bytecc, Plumax, and Philips enclosures. All work well for me.
Oh, cool, but I wanted a wireless one to hold films so I can access them on my laptop anytime and anywhere in the house.
