Ripping question - hardware related

guttapercha 2005-01-23 10:40:57 UTC #1

Hi, this is strange. Wondering if anyone could shed some light.
I use itunes on my PC which has two DVD drives (one is an NEC DVD/R and the other is a Samsung non-R). Anyway, both are supposedly capable of 48X CD read. When I rip on the NEC in itunes it goes fast at around 17X; a whole CD is thus ripped in about 2.5 minutes. On the other hand, when I rip on the Samsung, which I would prefer to do because I'd like to save the motor on the NEC for burning things only, it imports very slowly at around 3X. My processor also gets very bogged down when I rip from this drive.

Also if there is a better place to post this, I'm all ears.

Thanks,

minix 2005-01-23 15:04:39 UTC #2

Most modern drives can rip audio at least twice as fast as that Samsung.
You should say the exact model of that Samsung.
It's probably working in PIO mode instead of DMA, which is much slower and uses a lot of CPU time.

Is your drive one of these? :
http://www.cdspeed2000.com/go.php3?link=daeresults.php3
http://www.feurio.com/English/cd_roms/frame_list_ide.html

Anyway, one thing is speed and another is quality.
A lot of Samsungs are quite bad at DAE. I wouldn't trust it unless extensive tests show it's good enough.

guttapercha 2005-01-24 09:43:17 UTC #3

Yes, it was on Feurio
SAMSUNG DVD-ROM SD-616E 16,0 No Yes Yes Yes No 47,9 ? -

It seems to be a good drive by their account. I'll check to make sure it's not in PIO mode.

minix 2005-01-24 10:20:37 UTC #4

Both Feurio and CDSpeed can make DAE quality tests.
They're recommended.
Feurio CD-Manager -> Program Parameters -> Test Device

None of those programs install any junk.
I guess that there's only one version of SD-616E and all firmwares work well. Different firmwares might produce different DAE quality.

guttapercha 2005-02-06 11:45:09 UTC #5

Ok, I ran feurio and it tells me 15X. The problem must be with itunes somehow. Perhaps it doesn't like using the primary drive on that IDE channel? Weird and annoying.

minix 2005-02-06 12:23:40 UTC #6

If it's a hardware problem, then it would possible affect all programs, but you could try it anyway.

I don't know itunes: it should have something to change the reading options, commands, etc.

NRen2k5 2005-02-07 17:42:22 UTC #7

I would advise you to just not use Itunes. Use proper ripping software such as CDex or Exact Audio Copy or AudioGrabber.