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Want to build a CD Duplicator tower - Anyone know how they work, internally ??

purbeast0

purbeast0

No Lifer
I am looking to build one of those CD-R towers, where you can burn 5 cd's of the same data image at the same time. I am just wondering if anyone knows how these work internally and what the guts of this are. I am figuring they are scsi, but also that there is alot more to it. So far I can consider there is a power supply, a scsi card, a scsi cable, and however many cdr's you want to have working at once. But do they have their own CPU or anything like that? So if you can gimmie some advice on what the guts look like, please do so. Thanks.

-Drew
 
the one we have at work has a 20GB HDD that mirrors the disks place din the normal CDROMS. Then the CDR is written with the image on the hard drive.
 
Welp I have been doin websearches and haven't found anything with plans on how to build one at all. Not even anything close. Using google as the search endine.
 
why wouldn't you just build a barebone computer...
and use that?

are you trying to build a standalone system? without a monitor?

also, about scsi, i don't think you necessarily need to go that route.

if you want five cdrw's built in, then use a full size case with 2 ide cards.

get a small... 20gb should be more than enough... ide hd
and hook up in this order... every device being master

mobo ide 1 - 20gb HD
mobo ide 2 - cdrw1
ide card 1:1 - cdrw2
ide card 1:2 - cdrw3
ide card 2:1 - cdrw4
ide card 2:2 - cdrw5

that whole configuration should work. just make sure you get a mobo that's well developed.
you don't want a new mobo to do this. you want a stable bios... for both mobo and ide card.
and you'd also need some long ide cables... for the full size case.
after that, you just need to choose a software that supports multiple cdrw burning.
 
Originally posted by: hoihtah
why wouldn't you just build a barebone computer...
and use that?

are you trying to build a standalone system? without a monitor?

also, about scsi, i don't think you necessarily need to go that route.

if you want five cdrw's built in, then use a full size case with 2 ide cards.

get a small... 20gb should be more than enough... ide hd
and hook up in this order... every device being master

mobo ide 1 - 20gb HD
mobo ide 2 - cdrw1
ide card 1:1 - cdrw2
ide card 1:2 - cdrw3
ide card 2:1 - cdrw4
ide card 2:2 - cdrw5

that whole configuration should work. just make sure you get a mobo that's well developed.
you don't want a new mobo to do this. you want a stable bios... for both mobo and ide card.
and you'd also need some long ide cables... for the full size case.
after that, you just need to choose a software that supports multiple cdrw burning.
Click to expand...

You'd need to use SCSI, not IDE. With all those devices running simultaneously, you'll over-run the channels and create nothing but coasters.

EDIT:

I just re-read your post. It should work that way, so nevermind. I thought you were saying to use the master and slave on each.
 
hoitah: thanks for the reply man! Now what kind of CPU should I be looking for? Also how much RAM do you recommend?I know that burning CD-R's takes up alot of resources. And since scsi is alot more stable, thats why I assumed to go the SCSI route. But if I don't need to I would go IDE since it's alot cheaper 🙂
 
Originally posted by: purbeast0
hoitah: thanks for the reply man! Now what kind of CPU should I be looking for? Also how much RAM do you recommend?I know that burning CD-R's takes up alot of resources. And since scsi is alot more stable, thats why I assumed to go the SCSI route. But if I don't need to I would go IDE since it's alot cheaper 🙂
Click to expand...

The only way I'd even consider using IDE is if you have only one device per channel, don't use the slave connectors. That way you have a full, dedicated channel for each device, and you won't be using parallel transfer on the cables, which will cause buffer underruns/coasters.
 
Yea I have seen the duplicators for sale, but the price is not right :/

They run alot, where as you can pick up 4x or 8x CDR's for cheap now a days. If I were to go IDE, and go seperate channels will that pretty much GUARANTEE no coasters? Or should I just shoot for SCSI. Also what kind of CPU power and RAM should I be lookin at for this project? Again, thanks for all the help fellas!

-Drew
 
You'd need to use SCSI, not IDE. With all those devices running simultaneously, you'll over-run the channels and create nothing but coasters.
Click to expand...

not true.

if you give each devices their own channel, you don't have this problem.
besides, ide cdrws come with burn proof technology.

given that it's not infallible system...
as long as your mobo and ide cards are stable and developed,
you don't have this issue.

i've created a tower with 4 cdrws + 2 ide hd.
all ide.

if you have money to burn, then sure... go ahead and use scsi.
it's a better technology for something like this.
but that doesn't mean that ide cannot handle it.

i don't want to go into the whole decade ol' debate.

all i'm saying is why spend more if less can do it... and do it well.
 
Originally posted by: hoihtah
You'd need to use SCSI, not IDE. With all those devices running simultaneously, you'll over-run the channels and create nothing but coasters.
Click to expand...

not true.

if you give each devices their own channel, you don't have this problem.
besides, ide cdrws come with burn proof technology.

given that it's not infallible system...
as long as your mobo and ide cards are stable and developed,
you don't have this issue.

i've created a tower with 4 cdrws + 2 ide hd.
all ide.

if you have money to burn, then sure... go ahead and use scsi.
it's a better technology for something like this.
but that doesn't mean that ide cannot handle it.

i don't want to go into the whole decade ol' debate.

all i'm saying is why spend more if less can do it... and do it well.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I re-read your post. If you have each on it's own channel (don't use the slave connectors) it should work fine. Just be sure that the controller cards you use are compatible with CD-RW's. I know that when I got my promise ultra-133tx card, I couldn't use my burners on it because it was incompatible.

 
as for cpu and ram.

i'd say 1 ghz + 256mb is enough.

if you have less than that, it'll still work.
but with prices being so cheap, i don't see why you'd want to go lower.

and you should also know the difference between

ide
-burnproof technology
-usually 2 mb cache ram.

scsi
-no burnproof
-8+ mb cache ram.

and how each technology prevents coasters.
 
Originally posted by: purbeast0
hoitah what kind of CPU speeds and RAM would you recommend if I do this project? Thanks!
Click to expand...

for my tower, i used amd athlon 1ghz with 512mb.
but i don't think you need 512 mb ram.
 
Okay thanks for all the help guys! I also just realized something ... in my current setup, I have 1 HD and a CD-R and a DVD-R. It's like this on the channels:

IDE 1:Master - HD
IDE 1:Slave - CD-R
IDE 2:Master - DVD-R

Now what I just realized is that I also have onboard RAID (Dragon+ mobo). This RAID can be used as seperate IDE also. I currently have an XP 1800+ @1.6Ghz w/512 DDR. When I get home I think I might try this ...

IDE 1:Master - HD
IDE 2:Master - CD-R
RAID/IDE 1:Master - DVD-R
RAID/IDE 2:Master - empty

That should seperate everything into 3 seperate IDE channels. The DVD-R can burn CD-R at 8x so I think I will try this out. If this works, then I might get another 8x CD-R drive and see what I can do with it all 🙂 because I think 3 CD's burning at 1 time is good enough for my likings 🙂

Does this sound like it should workout right? Thanks again for all the input!!
 
You can call me lazy if you wish, but I suggest buying a commercial cd tower. You can usually get a duplicator for about $1000-1500 that will do what you need. They work rather quickly and you'll be able to get support for it, rather than dealing with worries of failed drives etc. The biggest problem you're going to have if you build a computer-based one is that the controller is software based instead of firmware based. It's going to give you more functionality, but if you're only duplicating cds, you don't need fuctionality. Good luck on findign a solution that fits your needs for the lowest price and the best quality...
 
you're going to build an 8x cdrw tower?
when you said that you wanted a cd duplicator, i thought you had a lot of cd's that you had to burn.

at 8x, i dont' think it's worth creating a tower.

a 40 x can burn a full 74min cd in abou 3.5 min.

8x can burn one in about 11min.

what you can do with 3, 8x'es... you can do with 1, 40x.

so why go through the hassle?

not worth it for me.

and if you are going to make use of that raid ide port,
make sure that you can hook up a cdrom on there.
like what beau said, some boards/cards don't support cdroms.
i'm not sure about your mobo... so check before hand.
 
Okay thanks again hoitah. When you say that a 40x can do what 3 8x can do at the same time, that is true as far as the time consumption. But atleast with 3 8x burners, i can walk away from my computer for 10 mins and do something else, instead of sitting there and swapping every 3.5 minutes. Thats the thing I hate is sittin and waitin to swtich them. Heh it's just annoying!

Also, with my experience, I have had probs with the cdr's after burning at fast speeds, even 16x. I burnt windows xp at 16x, and halfway through the installation, after win2k was already wiped off my HD, i got a cyclic redundancy error, and there was nothing I could do. So I had to put win2k back on there, but had lost everything. From then on, highest I have burnt is 12x which takes like 6.5 minutes for a full disc. This was on verbatim 24x vaue datalife CDR's too that i had windows xp on :/

But yea I'll take a look into the mobo supporting the cdrom on the other IDE channels. Thanks again for your help.
 
Originally posted by: purbeast0
Okay thanks again hoitah. When you say that a 40x can do what 3 8x can do at the same time, that is true as far as the time consumption. But atleast with 3 8x burners, i can walk away from my computer for 10 mins and do something else, instead of sitting there and swapping every 3.5 minutes. Thats the thing I hate is sittin and waitin to swtich them. Heh it's just annoying!

Also, with my experience, I have had probs with the cdr's after burning at fast speeds, even 16x. I burnt windows xp at 16x, and halfway through the installation, after win2k was already wiped off my HD, i got a cyclic redundancy error, and there was nothing I could do. So I had to put win2k back on there, but had lost everything. From then on, highest I have burnt is 12x which takes like 6.5 minutes for a full disc. This was on verbatim 24x vaue datalife CDR's too that i had windows xp on :/

But yea I'll take a look into the mobo supporting the cdrom on the other IDE channels. Thanks again for your help.
Click to expand...

with your current set up ... cdr sharing a channel with hd... i'm not surprised that you're buring coasters.

i have burned 40x'es without any error.
it's not how fast it burns, it's all about how fast your system can supply the data.

after that, let your software check and verify the data burnt.
that way, you're sure that it's a good cd.

by the way, for OS'es... (if you are making a back up copy of your licensed one 😉 )
it's not a bad idea to burn at a slower speed just to make sure your system can handle it.

good luck
 
Originally posted by: purbeast0
Welp I have been doin websearches and haven't found anything with plans on how to build one at all. Not even anything close. Using google as the search endine.
Click to expand...

well all i can say is thati have seen ads fo then in the uk occasionally in micro mart magazine, but i dont have links they were like 250stlg for a 5 or 10 cd burner or something.micromart
 
I may be wrong, but I'm pretty positive that on the RAID IDE connectors, you can only have hard drives..so you wouldn't be able to have the DVD-R (grr) on any of the RAID ports...
 
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