are usb 2.0/firewire external DVD burners usb 1.1 compatible?

[kcbass]

Just bought a memorex external usb/firewire dvd burner, and am having some trouble with it. Most of the machines I need to use it on only have usb 1.1, and now that I look on their website, they only mention usb 2.0 and firewire connectivity. When I look at similar products, they all say the same thing as memorex. So are these drives backwards compatible with usb 1.1? If not, is there a workaround? I need to use this drive on about 30+ win98 machines that have usb 1.1 for image backups, so installing a usb 2.0 or firewire card for each is out of the question.

Any thoughts? 

 

[LED]

Yes they are backward compatible but kick back as it'll burn slooooooooooooooooooow

 

[kcbass]

yeah, it is slow...i was just concerned because the last computer i tried it on failed every time (been trying for a few days now with no success on 3 DVD-r's, 4 DVD+rw's, and 2 CD-r's). That's why I was concerned that it may be the usb 1.1. Trying a more stable win98 computer now. 

 

[kcbass]

oh...do I need to slow down the burner to prevent bad data transfer, or will the buffer underrun protection do it for me? 

 

[LED]

With 12Mbits/s on USB 1.1 you are prolly burning @ 4X speed so I'd adjust accordingly, use Nero verify recording and commect the device directly to the MoBo ports (no Hub)...Better yet 1 Hi-Speed card can be had for about $20 well worth the investment of not losing discs and time...

 

[Peter]

USB 1.1 is good for 4x CD burning, and might be overall too slow for even 1x DVD. I don't have the figures at hand, but this is well thinkable.

 

[BlueWeasel]

General Burning Rates

12 Mbit/sec = 12/8 Megabytes/sec = 1.5 MB/sec

DVD @ 1x = 1.38 Megabyte/sec transfer rate

So, in theory, 1x DVD burning should be fine on a maxed out USB1.1 connection. Success at a higher burning speed would be unlikely.

 

[Peter]

Your math is flawed ... the 12 megabit rate is raw throughput, and the encoding isn't 8 useful bits in 8 transmitted bits, more like 8 in 10 - and that's still without protocol overhead. You'll get 1 MB/s straight in an optimal situation - and using your number (thanks!), that's a third below DVD 1x speed.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: Peter
Your math is flawed ... the 12 megabit rate is raw throughput, and the encoding isn't 8 useful bits in 8 transmitted bits, more like 8 in 10 - and that's still without protocol overhead. You'll get 1 MB/s straight in an optimal situation - and using your number (thanks!), that's a third below DVD 1x speed.

Excellent advice...thanks for pointing out my error.