Cooke, Julie wrote:
> It is safest to burn at 2x, although I always burn at 6x. This depends on
> the buffer underrun size of the CD recorder (why Plextors are especially
> reliable).
>
> Taken from
>
> "The CD recording process can't be interrupted in mid-session. Once the
> laser starts writing, any interruption would create a physical gap on the
> disc that could confuse CD readers.
This is the advantage to the new "burn proof" firmware/hardware
incorporated into some new CD-R units.
> Advice for preventing buffer underruns is scattered throughout this FAQ. A
> brief summary:
>
>
> Use a fast, AV-friendly hard drive (i.e. one that doesn't do slow thermal
> recalibrations). Pretty much all drives sold in the last couple of years
> fall into this category. You don't need a screaming AV-optimized drive.
> Record at a slow speed - it takes longer to empty the buffer when recording
> at 1x.
> Don't do anything else with the computer while recording. Don't record from
> a file server.
> Defragment your HD, especially if you're doing on-the-fly recording.
> Record from a disc image file rather than on-the-fly.
> Depending on your setup, putting the recorder and your hard drive on
> separate SCSI controllers may be necessary.
> Keep your CD-R cool. Sometimes the drives fail when they overheat.
> Also watch out for things like anti-virus programs that wake up, virtual
> memory settings that cause swapping, screen savers that activate during the
> CD creation process, unusual network activity, and background downloads of
> data or faxes. One way to check is to run the HD defragmenter in Win95. If
> it restarts every few seconds, it's because something is hitting the drive."
>
> HTH
>
> Julie
>
All very good and helpful info. I just wish the CD-R manufacturers
would have been honest about this from the beginning. They give a false
sense of the ease of writing, and speed. That 8 minute full burn now
requires, recording to the hard drive first (4-8 minutes), then shutting
off all "TSR" type programs running the the background, then burning
without moving your mouse (let alone anything else), then deleting the
hard drive copy, and then rebooting your system to re-engage the "TSR"s.
Suddenly we have a 1/2 hour process, if it doesn't fail on the first
attempt.
Art
