New TDK 12/10/32X VeloCD. Anyone who bought, read please!

[reptilian]

I just bought this drive. The 8x TDK kicked ass, I figured this would be even better. I've established that the new 12x TDK won't work with Adaptec software until they release a patch. It sucks they bundled it with Nero, but I would rather use the Adaptec and I can't yet. I e-mailed TDK, they didn't tell me $#!+ Anyway, my drive access LED is ALWAYS ON when a cd is in the drive (data, audio, or RW). I can till it's not spinning either. Only when I eject or it's empty is it off. So far it works fine (even though I haven't written any cd's yet). When it accesses data or plays a cd, the light turns off instead of on, like it's inverted (off when should be on). Seems like a power issue. Would be pretty stupid to all of a sudden make cd lights always on, maybe to make it look pretty? I'm sure it doesn't matter, but does anyone else's TDK 12X do this? I need to know so I can return it to CompUSA before it's too late. Also, anyone have any idea when Adaptec plans on releasing an update to Easy/Direct CD 4.x?

-reptilian

 

[reptilian]

typo "I can TELL it's not spinning".

(sorry)

-reptilian

 

[Bling Bling]

plextor? yamaha?

 

[Howard]

It's a TDK.

 

[RagingGuardian]

Actually I think that Plextor manufactures the TDK drives.

 

[WetWilly]

Maybe there's something wrong with the LED. On the Plextor 12/10/32A, the LED is off if there's no disc in the drive, green if there's a disc but no activity, yellow if the drive is reading, and amber if the drive is writing.

As for the Adaptec patches, I'd keep checking their site or e-mail them for more info. Considering that the latest EZCD/DirectCD supports the Plextor with BURNProof, then the other BURNProof drives like TDK, etc. should be supported rather soon.

If you really want the Adaptec stuff to work now, return the TDK and get the Plextor. The Plextor comes with EZCD/DirectCD, and for that matter should also be a little cheaper than the TDK.

 

[reptilian]

Cool I'm glad it will support BURNProof. Yeah I'm sure the Plextor/TDK are pretty much identical, maybe even manufactured the same, but I was very pleased with my old TDK 8X. Also, since that drive I've rebuilt my system around it to match the blue cd tray. It looks really cool now
with my blue case, so to me it's worth the extra $30 to get the TDK. WetWilly, are you saying the LED(green) being on with a disk in the drive (not accessed) is normal?

"Maybe there's something wrong with the LED. On the Plextor 12/10/32A, the LED is off if there's no disc in the drive, green if there's a disc but no activity, yellow if the drive is reading, and amber if the drive is writing"

It seems the Plextor does the same as mine (the yellow is barely distinguishable from green though when accessing). Maybe it is not inverted, I just was speculating since it seemed backward. Weird, all my other cdroms LED's were always off when a disk was in the drive. I guess my drive is ok after all?

-reptilian

 

[WetWilly]

<< WetWilly, are you saying the LED(green) being on with a disk in the drive (not accessed) is normal? >>

Yup. I was a little surprised by it at first, but if you think about it, it does make sense. The light lets you know there's a disk in the drive without either opening the tray or using Windows Explorer (or whatever OS &quot;thing&quot; you're using) to check. No light at all means literally there's no disk in the drive, i.e. the drive ain't going to do anything.

<< the yellow is barely distinguishable from green though when accessing >>

That's also true.

Sounds like it's working fine. Have you used Nero to burn anything? I've got both Nero and Adaptec stuff and I actually use both - DirectCD for packet writing and Nero for disc-at-once stuff. Nero's definitely more powerful, but not quite as friendly as EZCD. Adaptec may just be waiting to see if there are any more BURNProof drives before they do their patch. Since there's already BURNProof support in EZCD 4.02c and (I presume) up, all Adaptec should need to do is update the list/database of recognized drives.

 

[reptilian]

Oh cool, that's what I was wondering about was Direct CD. I don't really &quot;love&quot; Easy CD that much, but all my cdrw's are already direct cd formatted, I didn't want to have to use Nero's packet writing. But it is still useless to me because I still have to wait for the Direct CD upgrade, but at least I know I can use Nero for regular stuff. Thanks for the quick replies WetWilly. I'll probably favor Nero if it's more powerful, since I'm a PC tech.

-reptilian

 

[OS]

the light on when there is a cd in isn't unheard of. My cdrw drive does that.

 

[WetWilly]

Reptilian,

You're welcome. One other thing, and it's a biggie. Nero doesn't like DirectCD very much. In fact, Ahead Software (publisher of Nero) has a web page dealing with Nero and conflicts with other CD writer software. To be fair, it's not just Nero, but apparently a problem with conflicting VXDs in general when multiple CD writer software packages are installed. You can get both to work when installed together, but from reading newsgroups it almost seems to be a crapshoot. General consensus there was to uninstall the Adaptec stuff and stick with Nero, but that really isn't an option if your discs are formatted under DirectCD. I installed both Nero and EZCD/DirectCD with no problems, but from reading the newsgroups there are a lot of people for whom DirectCD screwed up Nero. I'm not saying it absolutely won't work, but I do want to warn you it might not exactly be smooth sailing. Best thing to do is give it a shot and keep your fingers crossed.

 

[youseelabruin]

so this tdk velo is the same as the plex 12/10/32? burnproof and everything? and i didnt know burnproof had to be software supported. i just thought it was somehow built into the drive itself. since the tdk is bundled with nero, is it correct to say nero supports burnproof or what ever tdk calls it? i think they call it burnassurance.

if they are identical, i want to get the tdk since its more readily available.

 

[youseelabruin]

ttt

 

[reptilian]

Yes, the TDK 12/10/32 is basically exactly the same as the Plextor, but the TDK has a blue tray, and it now comes with Nero instead of Adaptec. The TDK technology is called BURNProof, just as Plextor's, and yes it has to be software supported. Nero DOES support it, and WetWilly says Adaptec does also. Adaptec doesn't support the 12X TDK yet, but the Nero with BURNProof works out of the box. Both the Plextor and TDK have 24X rip speed, which Plextor doesn't even advertise that much (Very nice feature!) This was TDK's big selling point with the 8X.

-reptilian

 

[WetWilly]

Yup, rip with a Plextor and you'll never go back to anything else. I'll take guesses on two of those questions:

1) I'm not sure why Plextor doesn't hype their rip speeds like TDK does - maybe it's because the CD-RW drives aren't quite as good as their CD-ROM drives. I know ExactAudioCopy (EAC) does better with the CD-ROM drives.
2) Software support for BURNProof - while it sounds like BURNProof should be a hardware-only solution, I'd guess that the reason software support is needed is for managing the data stream on its way to the buffer - sort of like what Xon/Xoff flow control is for serial ports.

Also if you have Nero, you can usually overburn CD-Rs, i.e. get 80 mins of audio on a 74 min disc. Seems to work better with Nero than EZCD. That extra capacity can sometimes be really handy.

 

[youseelabruin]

i know this is a silly question, but since you brought it up... if i have 74 min cdr's.. how do i overburn 80 minutes? how can i tell if the cdr will have 80 minutes? when i get &quot;info&quot; on my cdr's they only &quot;say&quot; they have like 74:24.18 etc.. but not 80 minutes.

thanks in advance for any help.

i found some info. BUT... does this mean you burn coasters if it just doesnt fit? i mean the only way to find out how much space you got on a 74 or 80 min cdr is dependent on what you try and burn on it right? and if you try to burn 78 minutes when the cdr turns out to have 77 (after overburn) does that mean you get a coaster?

OVERBURNING &amp; 80 MINUTES MEDIA

Overburning
Overburning is the possibility to burn more than 74 minutes on a regular 74 minutes disc. How is that possible? A blank CD-R contains a pre-groove, which is used for calibration and tracking by the writer. On this groove the data will be burned. The length of the pre-groove determines the length of the CD. Normally a CD-R is 74 minutes, but the groove is always a little longer. This allows you to burn more than 74 minutes on a 74 minutes disc. Most discs are capable of holding about 77 minutes. Thus if your burner supports (Plextor, Yamaha, Teac,...) overburning, you can write 77 minutes (sometimes even more) on a regular disc. Overburning may seem a little bit overkill, but if you are planning on copying (backup for own purpose ) recent PC or PSX games you might need overburning because some games are made larger than 74 minutes as a kind of copy protection. Note that some CD readers have problems reading overburned discs (but I never had any problem with it). Anyway with the low prices of 80 minutes media overburning isn't really very important anymore.

80 minutes CDs support
Since many (prerecorded) CDs are larger than 74 minutes there are also 80 minutes CDs available. Are this certified overburnable discs? No, a 80 minutes disc is not overburned (but can also be overburned up to 83 minutes!). The pre-groove is simply wound tighter (thus it's longer). An often made mistake is thinking that a burner capable of writing 80 minutes discs can also overburn or vice versa. Both are not related to each other.