The big external enclosures thread

Glad to hear all went well. I'm sure you and your son are enjoying the new toy.

I FINALLY got my BenQ DW1620 drive + StorTecc enclosure and everything is working fine now. The drive was mfg in June 2004 with the firmware being B7C9. I will update to the latest BenQ firmware (B7T9) intially in about a week or so b/c I need to test this drive out more to see if it works OK or not.

I used Nero to perform "Create A Data Disc" using a TDK 4x (RICOHJPN-RO1). The burst rate came to 21mb/s with Firewire which is good enough for 12x writing. I'll be satisfied with that performance. Not sure at the moment what version the Prolific firmware I have, but will probably upgrade to 9/7/2004 along with the BenQ firmware.

Anyways, glad I can join you guys testing out the BenQ + ext. enclosure.

When you upgrade the BenQ 1620 FirmWare go with the 47L9 (EW162I) FirmWare. Your burst rate will go from the 21MB/s to 23MB/s so you can burn at 16X...

b-h, there have been reports when using the .cvt file to flash your BenQ, an error report shows up for some reason. Has this happen to you or anyone else. I know dishinit reported this instance before.

I had no problem using the CVT file and Flasher to go to 47L9. Then I used the DB's EXE to convert to Region Free 47L9.

only way to flash to 47L9 is with .cvt file unless it has 47xx on it?

This doesn't relate to ext. enclosures, but a concern when using the Nero Disc Quality Test. For some reason, I get a straight line throughout the entire process. Is there a way to fix this where the graph will show a curve instead of a straight line? Also, does using an older firmware have anything to do with this problem??

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Last edited by crea78; 25-12-2004 at 22:16.

One other thing I noticed, intially I plugged the cable into the IEEE port on the back of the ext. enclosure. This is what gave me 21mb/s. However, when I noticed this wasn't the firewire port, I then plugged it into the 1394 port and got 17mb/s. USB2 gave me 19mb/s. What have I done wrong & what will give me the best results from what I have said?

Update: I just flashed the StorTecc enclosure to the 9/7/2004 firmware. ROMwriter 2.14 had the error like others have said, so I used 2.04 and encountered no problems. USB2 is now up to 20mb/s.

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Last edited by crea78; 25-12-2004 at 22:48.

I have just come across a post in the closed thread, stating:

"1. USB 2.0 is crap, don't sulk about it not burning at 16x when the interface can theoretically only cope with about 6x

2. Firewire is better, you should manage 8-12x maybe

3. IDE is better still, your motherboard can easily cope with 16x" (By sej7278)

USB 2.0 may be a crap, but the statement that it can cope only with 6x is far from being true. My external USB 2.0 external Freecom Classic recorder (Toshiba SD-R5272, ver. 1031) burns at 8x.

This statement had to be corrected.

Transfer Speed (Burst Rate) of a DVDRW in an external enclosure can be effectived by many different things. I will only address the CASE issue now...

In my testing, the best I can do is 12X via USB2. I can do 16X via 1394a. This is with the Polific ChipSet and latest firmware for the case. I have not had good luck with Oxford 911 chipset, appears to be set as multi-word DMA and not UDMA-2. Therefore, I only get 13 MB/s with the 911.

With the USB2 Cypress chipset, I have never gone over 7 MB/s on two totally different laptops. Some people have different results, but I don't know WHY ???

Hi - re: burstrate w/ PL-3507 chipset enclosures - a limiting factor may very well be the variable quality of 33MHz PCI-buses [off which your USB2 &/or firewire controller hang].

I have just run some CD-DVDSpeed burstrate tests, using the same Philips/BenQ 16xx flashed to EW1621 47L9, same disk, same enclosure w/ same firewire cable & so on, same system - only difference is the SIIG TI-chip PCI-card controller was moved from a 33MHz slot to a 66MHz slot in a MPX-chipset workstation.

Burstrate went from 21MB/s to 24MB/s . . . .

The reason for this might be that the 1260 with the external drive firmware is treated as a UDMA-3 device (UDMA-2 = stock).

. . . the same Philips/BenQ 16xx flashed to EW1621 . . .

Keyword=same; only variable was moving the host from an iffy 33MHz PCI-bus to a pretty good 64-bit 66MHz bus.

I was able to burst at 24MBps with either the Benq 162I or NEC 3500A through 1394 from the Plumax/Prolific 3507 to the VIA-based PCI 1394 add-on card on my Asus motherboard in the PCI lane. There is some validity about bus routing designs, but it sounds like your PCI lanes may not have been routed optimally.

Check here, post #19.

KTL - Hi - 'routed' . . . ? [perhaps you might make this a leetle more clear]

That mobo is based on the AMD MPX chipset: only the 64-bit/66MHz slots were in use: this chipset is notorious for iffy 32-bit PCI performance [due to a very strange chipset architecture]; but has excellent 64-bit performance. Funnily enough, changing PCI latency to 128 improved the firewire performance while burning.

Do these enclosures generally come with the little power cable to connect to the drive/device you put in it? I'm ordering a Bytecc 340u2f.

Thanks

Sorry, I was referring to how the physical traces on the board were routed, from a layout perspective. But as you've indicated, it is probably due to the limitation of the chipset.

Can you post a picture of what it looks like currently? I'm not sure which line you are referring to since there are many in there.

Well, I've been talking to dishinit thru PM and he has gotten my issue straighten out. The main problem was using the older firmware & I just upgraded to B7T9 tonight. Another thing I did wrong was use maxium speed and not 12x like I should. Now my test results turned out much better

Will post the scans soon. They look like other ppl's scans which is good to see.

Cool. That looks just like my YUDEN000T02 8x@12x PCAV. Unfortunately, I've yet to get up to 16x internally or externally.

I know what you mean by testing the media at 16x. The "Create A Data Disc" scan will go up to 12x-14x just like normal and around the 3gb mark, start dropping considerly. The scan will look very bad and I had disc qlt scores of 56

I have a bytecc USB 2.0 320 with the Ali M5621 chipset. I have a choice between the BenQ 1620 I/O magic rebadge, Benq 1620 retail, and a NEC 3500 mad dog rebadge. Becase of all of the conflicting results, I'm not sure who is the best canidate for the bytecc enclosure. The other two drives can replace my current internal pairing. I rip alot of movies. Advice would be appreciated.
I also would like to know what the jumper setting is supposed to be on the external drive?

The BenQ 1620 or IOMagic (BenQ 1620) have a ripping rate of 8X on pressed dual-layer. The NEC 3500 has a ripping rate of 7X with hacked firmware or 5X with stock firmware.

In addition, you get to use Quaility Testing with the BenQ, no testing is available on the NEC.

Had both - Sold the NEC, kept the BenQ...

Not so familiar with ALI chipset, but here is what I would do, I would install the NEC into the Bytec enclosure, and burst test it to see if I got 23MB/s or better over USB2 or 1394 (probably 1394). That should allow you 16X with the NEC on External.
Then I would get another enclosure (I favor the PL 3507 chipset) and flash one of my BenQ's to 47L9 and install in the new enclosure. Confirm a burst test of 23MB/s or more, which would give you 16X over 1394 connection.
Then I would buy a Lite-On 166 or 167 DVD-Rom reader, go to Code guys web page and download latest riplock removed firmware for your drive.
Then I would rip & burn to my hearts content.
Lot's of "then's" but you get the picture.
Another way to say this, burst test your drives in your enclosure (remember to flash BenQ to 47L9 before testing) Use which one you want mobile in the enclosure & keep the others in your machine.

Whoops, just re-read your post and see that you only have USB2!
Don't ecpect more than 12X from any of your DVD burners.