Roxio: Buffer exhaustion cause of slow burns?

CD, DVD and (Ultra HD) Blu-ray Writers NEC / Optiarc Writer
#1

Hello,

While it appears that Nero is the preferred burning software for many of the people in this forum, I have been using Roxio Creator Classic (Version 6.1.1.40) because it was included when I bought my NEC 2500 from newegg.

I’ve been burning Memorix 4x DVD-R disks recently (ProdiscS03) and although I specify 4X when I burn, the actual burn speeds that I get during the burn process are 2X (and sometimes it goes down to 1X). I’ve noticed during burning that the buffer seems to be depleted… it starts at 100% and then quickly goes down to 50% then down to 1 or 2%. It sometimes goes back up, and when it does the burning speed increases, but then it will go down again, and when it does the burning speed seems to follow.

I have a resonably fast hard drive: a Western Digital 7200 rmp 250 GB “Caviar” with 8MB buffer and good access times, etc. So it doesn’t make sense to me that the hard drive wouldn’t be able to keep up with the burning process.

Is there some other intermediate step that isn’t keeping up with the burning process that may be the reason for the slow burns (usually about 38 minutes to burn a full 4.7 Gigs).

As a side question, I do have Nero Express (version 5.5, I believe). Any guesses about whether this would yield faster burns if I installed it instead of Roxio? (I would have thought burning software wouldn’t have much impact on burning speed… it always seems like a media issue – or sometimes firmware related – in posts that I’ve read).

Thanks for all your ideas and suggestions!

#2

Did you check the DMA setting in Windows for your ND2500A ?

#3

Yes, make sure your DMA is enabled!

I have been using Roxio Creator Classic (Version 6.1.1.40) because it was included when I bought my NEC 2500 from newegg.

I’m in the same boat you’re in, and I noticed the same low buffer readings when I made my first disc. Plus, the write speed would periodically fall to 3x on my 4x media. After seeing these discouraging signs, I was convinced that the write was flawed. But both Nero and DVDinfo verified that the read speed was normal and no errors occured.

Did you run either of those tests on your discs to see if there was any writing flaws?

#4

DMA it was! I think…

I had a CD drive in Secondary Master and the 2500 DVD drive in Secondary Slave. This being the case, although I had “DMA If Available” selected for both drives, only the CD drive was getting DMA (as shown in Nero InfoTool).

So, I cracked open my computer and switched the CD and DVD positions. Put the 2500 into the Secondary Master and the CD drive into Secondary Slave. Now the DVD drive is in Ultra DMA Mode 2.

The result? I just burned a DVD at 4X! Beautiful!

Whereas the buffer would go from 100% down to 2% while I burned using Roxio before, and burn speed would switch between 2X and 1X (even though 4X was selected), now it stays at 4X the whole time and the buffer is at 100% (or 98% sometimes) during the entire burn process.

I’m really grateful for your suggestions… I’m just sorry that I had my DVD drive poorly configured for so long. It being an OEM drive (and there being no instructions for its installation), I made a pretty foolish mistake. Seems like a list of ‘common errors’ – such as this most certainly is – might be useful in a sticky FAQ style thread.

Thanks again!