DVD-RW Slow Data Transfer rate

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I'm using Windows XP and a Samsung TS-H542A DVD drive.
I claims a RW speed of 4X(5.4MB/sec). at that rate I calculate that a 2GB
folder containing about 2000 jpeg files sould take a little over 6 minutes.
The disc I am using are labelled 1X-2X but even at that speed it should take
no more than 15 to 20 minutes not 240 minutes.
But it takes over 4 hours. 50MB of files takes 4.5 minutes.
That happens with or without SP2 and with this motherboard and the one I
just replaced recently.
Are my calculations wrong? Four hours seems a very long time.
 
Is the DVD-RW running at it's expected UDMA mode 2 ? Also,
where and on what type source media are your files (Internal or
External, USB, Firewire or other). Something is not correct, based
on your description.
 
Not only this but most DVD RW burners have an internal list of "supported"
DVD media description codes. If the DVD media disk is not listed, the drive
may not use the fastest write speed.
 
UDMA mode 2(33.3MB/sec) given in the specification for the drive but how can
I tell whether it's running at its expected UDMA?
I'm copying a folder that contains about 2000 JPEG files from my hard
drive(C:\Photos) to a DVD-RW that has been "Format/Prepare rewritable disk
using Nero SmartStart.
Where do I find an internal list of "supported" DVD media description codes .
I searched the internet for"DVD media description codes" with no success.
Even getting out of My Computer/System Properties/Hardware/device manager
for that drive takes over 2 minutes. With my CD-RW drive it's instantanious.
I don't know if there's a conection.
 
Lou said:
UDMA mode 2(33.3MB/sec) given in the specification for the drive but how can
I tell whether it's running at its expected UDMA?
Click to expand...

Go to Device Manager. Right Click My Computer | Properties | Hardware |
Device Manager. Expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers category, and
double click on the channel the drive is installed on. On the Advanced
Settings tab it will tell what the Transfer Mode is set to.
 
I have installed a second copy of WinXP on my second HDD and installed
nothing but INCD and NERO startsmart. and a 218MB folder copies in under 2
minutes the way it should.
Following Rock's advice on this install both CD and DVD drives show UDMA
mode 2.
Back to the original install the CD drive shows UDMA mode 2 but the DVD uses
PIO.
I selected transfer mode DMA if available and that didn't change anything.
Still PIO and still slow.

It looks like that is the problem but how can it be fixed.
I uninstalled and reinstalled both INCD and NERO and
tried to updatethe ide driver and was told 'keep the current software'
What can I do?
What changes the transfer mode from UDMA to PIO?
 
Lou said:
I have installed a second copy of WinXP on my second HDD and installed
nothing but INCD and NERO startsmart. and a 218MB folder copies in under 2
minutes the way it should.
Following Rock's advice on this install both CD and DVD drives show UDMA
mode 2.
Back to the original install the CD drive shows UDMA mode 2 but the DVD uses
PIO.
I selected transfer mode DMA if available and that didn't change anything.
Still PIO and still slow.

It looks like that is the problem but how can it be fixed.
I uninstalled and reinstalled both INCD and NERO and
tried to updatethe ide driver and was told 'keep the current software'
What can I do?
What changes the transfer mode from UDMA to PIO?
Click to expand...

The transfer mode is stepped down from the fastest supported to lower
rates when errors are encountered. That is what presumably happened to
you. The way to restore DMA mode is to uninstall the controller from
device manager and reboot.
 
I uninstalled the controller and rebooted and it indeed get the Current
Tranfer mode to UDMA mode 2.
But it didn't speed things up. The dvd was left in such a state that when I
booted the alternate winXP i have on the other HDD i took 2:05 hour of both
dvd and the HDD light flashing to finally be able to talk to the DVD.
I then formated the DVD and copied a 199MB folder from HDD to DVD; It took 1
min 20 sec.
Booted the original WinXT on c: erased the file and repeating the exacyt
same copy took 13 minutes 20 sec.

It looks like a fresh install of windows clears the problem but what causes
it and how can it be fixed?
 
Lou said:
I uninstalled the controller and rebooted and it indeed get the Current
Tranfer mode to UDMA mode 2.
But it didn't speed things up. The dvd was left in such a state that when I
booted the alternate winXP i have on the other HDD i took 2:05 hour of both
dvd and the HDD light flashing to finally be able to talk to the DVD.
I then formated the DVD and copied a 199MB folder from HDD to DVD; It took 1
min 20 sec.
Booted the original WinXT on c: erased the file and repeating the exacyt
same copy took 13 minutes 20 sec.

It looks like a fresh install of windows clears the problem but what causes
it and how can it be fixed?
Click to expand...

Sorry Loue I don't have any suggestions for you. Maybe someone else
will jump in.
 
Thank you very much for your help, Rock, the uninsstalling of the driver
fixed one problem and I'm sure I'll need it again in the future.
I went a few steps further and uninstalled the driver for the drive; it
didn't help.

I then uninstalled, I was on a roll, ZoneAlarm and thanks to what you
started the problem is fixed.
Thanks to your idea the problem is resolved.
Lou
 
Lou said:
Thank you very much for your help, Rock, the uninsstalling of the driver
fixed one problem and I'm sure I'll need it again in the future.
I went a few steps further and uninstalled the driver for the drive; it
didn't help.

I then uninstalled, I was on a roll, ZoneAlarm and thanks to what you
started the problem is fixed.
Thanks to your idea the problem is resolved.
Lou
Click to expand...

Great Lou, glad it's fixed now and thanks for posting back.
 
One small thing: I installed a second copy of WinXP on D: now that's it boots
by default.
How do I get rid of that second WinXP or at least have the original OP
system boot by default?
 
Lou said:
One small thing: I installed a second copy of WinXP on D: now that's it boots
by default.
How do I get rid of that second WinXP or at least have the original OP
system boot by default?
Click to expand...

You're post is unclear. Can you rephrase it explaining exactly what you
did and what you'd like to do?
 
In order to troubleshoot my problem I installed a second copy of WinXP on my
second drive(D:) and it proved that I didn't have a hardware problem.
Now when I restart my PC it boots automatically to that new WINXP in the
second drive unless I'm there to switch to my original install.

The question was: How do I either get rid of it(unstall it) or at least
modify the boot record to have the original copy of WinXP boot automatically
instead of the new one which has only INCD and NERO installed.

Sorry to have bothered you with this since I just now discovered that
MSCONFIG can be used to set the default to any opsys that I choose. I can now
simply format my D: drive.

Thanks again
 
Lou said:
In order to troubleshoot my problem I installed a second copy of WinXP on my
second drive(D:) and it proved that I didn't have a hardware problem.
Now when I restart my PC it boots automatically to that new WINXP in the
second drive unless I'm there to switch to my original install.

The question was: How do I either get rid of it(unstall it) or at least
modify the boot record to have the original copy of WinXP boot automatically
instead of the new one which has only INCD and NERO installed.

Sorry to have bothered you with this since I just now discovered that
MSCONFIG can be used to set the default to any opsys that I choose. I can now
simply format my D: drive.

Thanks again
Click to expand...

Ok, great. Sometimes the best solution is one you learn yourself. Then
it's yours thereafter.
 
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