Slow USB2.0 CDRW

[Mike]

Right, here's what I'm using:
Vaio (yes, yes - I know) laptopCG-FX701 (Athlon 1400+, 256Meg, Win
XP)
Newlink cardbus USB 2.0 port
Samsung 252B CDRW in a (powered) USB 2.0 caddy.

So, I've installed all of the drivers, I even have a full complement
of Windows Updates but WHY does it still take 15-20 mins to burn a
~500Meg CD? (The CD-Rs are rated at 48X). Nero clocks the CD drive at
~20X, so i'm fairly confident that the USB2.0 is working (otherwise
it'd be <<20X, right?), but I get the impression that writing is done
at ~4-6X.

Tried a couple of different versions of Nero, can anyone recommend
other CD burning software?

The caddy also has a FireWire connection, unfortunately my Vaio only
has a 4 pin,
ahem, "I-Link" port so I bought a little 6PIN to 4PIN adaptor but the
device doesn't appear when connected. I'm assuming that the "missing"
2 pins are for power and aren't needed anyway since the caddy has its
own PSU. So, what can I do to solve this little problem? I don't care
whether I have to use 1394 or USB2.0 to burn, just so long as it's
quicker than at the moment.

One final question: The packaging for my CDRW mentions that the drive
has an 8MB buffer, but Nero only report 2MB. Is there a way of finding
out for sure what the buffer size is?

I've trawled through Google & haven't found any solutions - all help
appreciated.

 

[David Burnett]

USB dynamic addressing:

Watch that exploiter Trojan.

Try to disable; reinstall; physical disconnect; repeat.

 

[Phrederik]

I don't know if this is still the case or not, but back in the good ol' days
when CD-R was carved from wood or soapstone... : )

Seriously though, burning software used to need to know specifically about a
drive model to use most of it's features. It wasn't uncommon to go out and
get the latest CDRW drive, plug it in and find out that it only would work
at 2x because the software wasn't up to date. I don't know if this is the
case or not, but it's something to consider. I'd check for an update online
for your software, or maybe try a different program.

Lemme know if I'm wrong. : )

 

[David Burnett]

I have a TDK burner that is drag & drop. No software. And it plays on
DVD's (not full size of course).