Here's a "stumper"

J

Justin Kremer

Hello all,

I'm running a fairly new system with an IBM Deskstar 180GXP (8MB cache), P4
3.06GHz, 1 GB dual-channel DDR, Asus P4C800 Deluxe, Koolance water-cooled
case.
The problem I've been encountering is I'm unable to burn CDs at the maximum
speed of my CDRW drive - Liteon 48x12x48x. When I ran a SpeedTest within
Nero I was shocked to see the read speed would only PEAK around 24x and
normally stayed around 22-23x.
I've tried a defrag and also different OS - same result within WinXP SP1a &
Win2K SP4, and Scandisk reports no errors.
At one point I was able to burn at top speed. The only things that I have
done in the interim are transported the PC about 2,000 miles in my car
during relocation and also filled quite a bit of the drive. I still have
27GB remaining on the drive, however this equals approximately 75% full.
HDTach reports random access time 13ms, read burst speed 80MB/s, read speed
avg. 45MB/s. My HDD is Primary Master, CDRW Secondary Master.

Any suggestions to further troubleshoot this issue would be greatly
appreciated. Also anyone who has experienced similar situations please
advise.
Response via e-mail please remove XREMOVEX from address.

TIA
 
J

J.Clarke

Hello all,

I'm running a fairly new system with an IBM Deskstar 180GXP (8MB
cache), P4 3.06GHz, 1 GB dual-channel DDR, Asus P4C800 Deluxe,
Koolance water-cooled case.
The problem I've been encountering is I'm unable to burn CDs at the
maximum speed of my CDRW drive - Liteon 48x12x48x. When I ran a
SpeedTest within Nero I was shocked to see the read speed would only
PEAK around 24x and normally stayed around 22-23x.
I've tried a defrag and also different OS - same result within WinXP
SP1a & Win2K SP4, and Scandisk reports no errors.
At one point I was able to burn at top speed. The only things that I
have done in the interim are transported the PC about 2,000 miles in
my car during relocation and also filled quite a bit of the drive. I
still have 27GB remaining on the drive, however this equals
approximately 75% full. HDTach reports random access time 13ms, read
burst speed 80MB/s, read speed avg. 45MB/s. My HDD is Primary Master,
CDRW Secondary Master.
Click to expand...

Is DMA turned on in XP?
 
J

Justin Kremer

Here's a little update:
I ran CHKDSK /R last night and am now able to get about 30MB/sec in Nero.
This is odd as Scandisk didn't report any errors.

Is my drive starting to die? I have noticed a pronounced click sound which
may be a bad head, but I'm hesitant to jump to that conclusion as the drive
is only 2 months old.
 
W

Will Dormann

Justin said:
Is my drive starting to die? I have noticed a pronounced click sound which
may be a bad head, but I'm hesitant to jump to that conclusion as the drive
is only 2 months old.
Click to expand...


A clunking sound on an HD is usually an indication of impending death,
since it's the sound a drive makes when recalibrating after a read error.


-WD
 
R

Rod Speed

Here's a little update:
I ran CHKDSK /R last night and am now able to get about 30MB/sec
in Nero. This is odd as Scandisk didn't report any errors.
Click to expand...
Is my drive starting to die? I have noticed a pronounced
click sound which may be a bad head, but I'm hesitant to
jump to that conclusion as the drive is only 2 months old.
Click to expand...

It is however an IBM GXP. They dont call them DeathStars for nothing.

That click is the drive recalibrating when it sees a read error.

Make sure that SMART is enabled in the bios, run an active SMART
reporter like HDD Health as well, and make sure that everything that
you'll slash your wrists if you lose has been written to more than one CDR.
 
N

Neil Maxwell

Any suggestions to further troubleshoot this issue would be greatly
appreciated. Also anyone who has experienced similar situations please
advise.
Click to expand...

I've had problems with anti-virus software slowing down the apparent
read speed as it checks all the files out. Some files will slow it to
a crawl, causing underruns, but the performance problems are very
uneven, and not across the entire contents of the CD.

You could try turning off any AV software, or try writing to an image
first, then burning.



Neil Maxwell - I don't speak for my employer
 
J

Justin Kremer

Thanks for the replies everyone!
I spoke to IBM/Hitachi today and they will replace the drive however they
don't offer an advance RMA - even if I provide a credit card #. That's some
B.S. - they should be much more accommodating seeing as this drive is just 2
months old.
*** DO NOT BUY AN IBM/HITACHI DESKSTAR!!!!!!! ***

Everything that's of importance to me was backed up long ago.
 
R

Rod Speed

Any recommendations on a new drive with comparable features?
Click to expand...

I like the WDs myself. Main downsides are that its one of the last
of the drives to not have fluid bearings, doesnt have a SMART
temperature sensor, and has a different jumper config when its
the only drive on the ribbon cable if you arent using cable select.
I do like the 8MB cache, when the drive was working it was blazing fast.
Click to expand...
Please don't say Maxtor... LOL
Click to expand...

Yeah, I avoid them myself.
I know that every manufacturer is going to have it's handful
of horror stories - any manufacturer with fewer than most?
Click to expand...

That appears to be WD and Samsung currently.

Samsung has just released a new range, so I'd personally
avoid them for the moment, just to see how they go. And
they can be quite hard to find amoungst the mainstream.

Seagate Barracudas get too hot for my taste unless you
have a decent airflow over the drives and I prefer a quiet
system, so choose to avoid having a fan for the drives.
I'm actually considering the Western
Digital Caviar 8MB cache drive.
Click to expand...

Thats what I'd get myself currently.
 
F

Folkert Rienstra

Will Dormann said:
A clunking sound on an HD is usually an indication of impending death,
since it's the sound a drive makes when recalibrating after a read error.
Click to expand...

While a dieing drive may clunck, that isn't to say that a clucking drive
must be dieing. Read errors can be induced and that isn't just limited to
whacking it (destructive). Other causes are nondestructive and can be
recovered from, as chckdsk /r demonstrated.
 
A

Adam Leinss

Thanks for the replies everyone!
I spoke to IBM/Hitachi today and they will replace the drive
however they don't offer an advance RMA - even if I provide a
credit card #. That's some B.S. - they should be much more
accommodating seeing as this drive is just 2 months old.
*** DO NOT BUY AN IBM/HITACHI DESKSTAR!!!!!!! ***

Everything that's of importance to me was backed up long ago.
Click to expand...

Been there, done that with IBM. I've had good success with both Maxtor
and Western Digital.

Adam
 
Top