issues with 5.25" external enclosure

[Kaido]

I bought a Bytecc USB 2.0 5.25" external enclosure from Newegg and put my Lite-on 401s @ 811s DVD burner in it.

It has issues.

It is recognized fine by the computer, it's just become a coaster-maker. I hooked it up to my mom's dell to backup her files onto a Ritek 4x DVD-R, and it coasterized the disc. Her computer only has USB 1.1 ports, which I thought must have been the problem. So I hooked it up to my computer and tried it (USB 2.0), and it made a few coasters and a few good ones (one good DVDr and two good CDr dicss).

Anyone have any idea what the problem would be? I never had a problem on my computer before with the DVD burner...in fact, I don't think I've burnt a single coaster with it since I got it last December. I really wanted to be able to burn DVDr discs from different computers for backup, a couple of which have the older USB 1.1 ports. On my computer, I found that if I just let it burn and didn't open up any programs or even scroll through a webpage, just left it untouched, it was more likely to finish a disc. I never had this problem when it was installed internally.

 

[Kaido]

bump

 

[Kaido]

bump and more questions

would getting a firewire drive be better?

would changing the cable help? I'm using a 10' led USB 2.0 cable. would switching to a shorter 6' cable with gold connections help at all? I don't imagine it would, but a friend of mine had issues with card readers and data corruption at his work and they switched to gold cables and that solved the problem. any ideas?

 

[ScrapSilicon]

On my computer, I found that if I just let it burn and didn't open up any programs or even scroll through a webpage, just left it untouched, it was more likely to finish a disc. I never had this problem when it was installed internally.

you are answering your own question..in your instance it appears to be a bandwidth issue(posssible harddrive/ide/even memory amt affects this)..not too sure about those gizmoey flashing usb cables neither..

 

[flyvholm]

Hi Kaido,

I think I have the same external enclosure you do, put a new DVD burner in it (Pioneer DVR-108) and it just won't work. Well, it will work burning CDs at low speed (16x) and may occasionally get through a DVD at low speed too (burned 1 successfully at 6x, but have 15 coasters using from 4x to 12x), but now that I happen to have a fast burner and the setup really should be able to handle the speed, this is just not satisfactory. I use Nero and hook it up to the USB 2.0 ports on my laptop (Compaq Presario R3000Z), and I keep getting 'SCSI command aborted' errors. The frustrating thing is that they can arise from a number of issues:
-Software, drivers or firmware for any of the components involved not being up to date
-Different burning software conflicting
-Problem with USB ports/controllers/cable
-Media can't handle write speed, may be a bad batch
-Power supply in enclosure doesn't yield the output required by burner. These numbers should be readily found on the power supply and the burner, so that's an easy check. If you do have the same enclosure as me, I know that it doesn't give sufficient output for all burners.
And probably more. It can be a pain trying to pin down the source and could cost you a lot of coasters unless you have a DVD-RW to use for testing (I'll have to get one!). I finally found out that my burner works much better with a different laptop, so I have an issue with the USB ports on my Compaq. However, even with the better laptop it still made a couple of coasters at 12x, and using it as an internal drive it didn't do this. So it appears to me that USB is simply not a stable interface for sustained transfer at high rates, some ports/chipsets evidently being much worse than others. If you look around in different forums you will find a lot of people having issues with CD/DVD burners in USB enclosures, but few having problems with firewire. So my advice is, check for the above issues to the extent you have the patience for it. But if it becomes too much of a pain and it just won't work, go firewire. I'll be happy to hear about the results.

 

[flyvholm]

Thought I'd come with an update on this issue as a lot of users are still having problems with internal burners in external enclosures. The USB interface and Nero software have been common factors, and as it turns out this combination was indeed the problem in my case. If you are are also having problems with USB/Nero, follow the development in this thread.
Installing the latest Nero version (6.6.0.1) and a modified version of MMC.DLL (see the above link) my setup now works fine (Compaq R3000Z, Bytecc ME-320, Pioneer DVR-108, WinXP Home SP2, Nero 6). Others tried in vain, but hopefully a few more software updates will cure these 'childhood diseases' so burners in USB enclosures can become a reliable combination in the future.

 

[Arcanedeath]

I've had very good luck using a sony DRU 510 @ 4x in my Bytec Firewire enclosure, no coasters yet (uses the oxford 911 chipset) this is using Nero 6 too

 

[RaiderJ]

Originally posted by: Arcanedeath
I've had very good luck using a sony DRU 510 @ 4x in my Bytec Firewire enclosure, no coasters yet (uses the oxford 911 chipset) this is using Nero 6 too

I think Firewire w/ the Oxford chipset is the way to go ATM with external burners. I know USB 1.1 is much too slow for burning (most cases). USB 2.0 should be fast enough, but USB still seems finicky for external drives, if not plain slower.

 

[flyvholm]

I agree that firewire is the way to go currently. I tried to put my burner in a 2+ year old firewire enclosure, and it worked flawlessly whereas my new USB enclosure was giving me all the trouble. I finally got it working now, but it cost me a lot of time, frustrations and coasters, and who knows when it will start spitting error messages at me again. So whereas USB enclosures appear to be fine for HDs, I would not recommend buying them for burners when firewire is an option.