Buffer Under run question

[ellisz]

Hello all,

I am currently experiencing some buffer under run problems while trying to copy from 1 cd to another on the fly. I am using an Aopen 56x cd rom as the source and a Plextor 8/4/32 burner. The system is an Epox 8kHA+, AMD 1600+ XP, 512 crucial ram and the CD roms on the same IDE with the burner as the master. My two HD's are on the other IDE channel. I have DMA enabled on the CD roms and the HD's. I can burn fine by writing to the HD first but I would prefer to burn on the fly. These are data cd's and I don't normally do audio cd's since my dial up is very slow.

Anyway, I am currently using the Adaptec cd creator that came with my burner and it makes it to 97-99% and then the buffer underruns. It did this twice in a row with the burn test and all background applications were killed in WIN98.

I am going to try a version of NERO 5.0 I have but from everything I have read, with the speed of my computer and considering I am only writing at 8x, this should not be an issue. I have been looking at some faster burners with burn proof, etc. but can you burn on the fly with a 24x burner?

DO you think NERO will make a difference or any tips on getting this working. Will I see any difference using WinXP?


Thanks

 

[bacillus]

sounds like you have both reader & cdrw on the same ide channel which is not the best arrangement if you want to do on the fly copying!

 

[ellisz]

I have read that having the burner and the cd-rom on different channels but then others say that with a fast computer it should not make a difference.

On the subject of IDE channels ... can you use the longer IDE cables (24" or 36") to reach from the top of the tower case to the bottom? My HD's are on the bottom and the CD-roms are on the top. My current IDE cables won't work unless I relocate the HD's.

I have also heard that an IDE controller card might be a better option. Any cons to this? I have always tried to limit the amount of PCI cards I use due ti IRQ conflicts I have had in the past with my firewire card. It is currently sharing an IRG with my AGP card which is normally bad but seem to be working

Thanks

 

[bacillus]

<< but then others say that with a fast computer it should not make a difference. >>


doesn't matter how fast your pc as you have 2 devices trying to access the ide channel at the same time & ide channels, unlike scsi, don't handle that well!


<< can you use the longer IDE cables (24" or 36") to reach from the top of the tower case to the bottom? >>


suggest you limit the cable length to 24" max.

 

[ellisz]

Ok one last question. Will I have any reduction in performance with my HD by putting it on the same channel with cdrom? I have heard some people say that the IDE channel is only as fast as the slowest drive on the channel.

Thanks

 

[Eug]

<< Ok one last question. Will I have any reduction in performance with my HD by putting it on the same channel with cdrom? I have heard some people say that the IDE channel is only as fast as the slowest drive on the channel.

Thanks >>

It may not be your problem, but it's always better to have your source drive on a different IDE channel than the writer. With this setup I could easily burn on the fly in CPU-intensive PIO mode with a 4X burner and a 12X reader, on a Celeron 366@412. I could even multitask, although really consistently on when I got a Promise card and stuck my hard drives on different IDE channels as well.

Eug:

IDE 0: 24X burner with DMA and burnproof (previously 4X burner without burnproof or DMA)
IDE 1: DVD-ROM (40X read) and CD-ROM

Promise 0: IBM 34GXP 7200 rpm
Promise 1: IBM 34GXP 7200 rpm

Firewire: external 7200 rpm hard drive

On a Celeron 880 I can multitask so obviously with your Athlon you should be fine when not multitasking as long as your hardware and software are correctly set up. Mind you I don't worry as much now since my 24X burner has burnproof and to be honest I haven't done a full 24X copy disc-to-disc. 8X should be no problem though.

 

[ellisz]

So I guess the jist is to either put a cdrom/HD on one channel and the Burner/HD on the other, get an IDE controller or burn to HD first.

Main HD/cd rom as master/slave on IDE 0
Burner/back up HD as master/slave on IDE 1

Is there a decent IDE controller that could be had for cheap? I am trying to determine what would be simpler and cheapest. Re-arrange the HD's and cd-roms in the case and buy new IDE cables, possibly get a longer IDE to work without re-arranging or just getting a IDE controller card and a new short cable.

hmmmm...

 

[bacillus]

without trying to influence you, with a controller card you can have each of your devices as master.
as for a controller card, the promise TX2 Ultra ATA100 x4 IDE Controller PCI can be recommended.