GripeLine by ED
The ways of burning CDs and DVDs faster
The majority of computer users purchase recordable CDs and DVDs for burning with just price in mind. They don't care about manufacturer, which means that the burner in their PC has to deal with diverse discs. At this point users note that some discs are burned faster than the others for no apparent reason (while speed specification is equal). For example, your drive supports burning DVDs at 8x speed, you insert a 8x blank DVD, yet the software limits the speed to 4x. Let's discuss why this happens and how to avoid such speed decrease.
The thing is that your burner is controlled by the firmware which includes the database of media manufacturers and types of discs they produce. When you put a CD or DVD into the drive, burning software searches for its manufacturer in that database in order to determine the maximum speed supported by this disc. If the manufacturer cannot be found in the database, the burner considers such disk untested and falls back to a slower but safer speed, despite the fact that both the disc and the burner can operate at higher speed.
The first step in fixing the described problem is to update the firmware of your burner. The page named "firmware" features a collection of up-to-date firmwares by various manufacturers. Some manufacturers use auto update dvd burning software suite. Before taking any action, carefully read the guide on that page. Remember, you may damage your drive if you install inappropriate firmware. For this reason, the official site of your burner's manufacturer is always a better place to look for the right firmware.
If the burner's firmware version is already the latest but the problem persists, try the following:
- If the drive is connected to the system via populated cable, connect it to the separate cable and set its role to "Secondary Master".
- Make sure that DMA transfer mode is activated for your burner. (This setting is accessible in Hardware Manager from Control Panel)
Alternatively, you can experiment with different disc manufacturers to find out which ones suit your burner best. Information about the actual manufacturer of inserted disc can be viewed by specialized software (e.g. software for CD and DVD burning Identifier or Nero CD-DVD Speed).
Note that the trademark printed on disc cover or surface doesn't necessarily point at the actual manufacturer. As soon as you verify that discs of certain manufacturer can be burned at maximum speed, stick to buying media from that manufacturer.
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