Why is it only going at 24x burning when its able to do 54x?

[catattack]

Hi guys. Anyways I got a brand new Lite-On 54x32x54 CD-Burner and its my first ever. I am using Nero 5 (burning rom I think?), and when I am about to burn my cd, it gives the selection of write speed and it only goes up to 24x. Whats this all about?
Any help is great.

Thanks guys.

[leon]

Can you tell us the exact version number of Nero? It'll be something along the lines of 5.5.0.9.

It may be that the version your using only supports lower speeds, or isnt recognising your burner as what it is. Updating the software would normally solve both of these problems.

[Theo]

...unless the media you're using peaks at 24x?

[Austin]

leon and Theo have totally covered it, I'd be amazed if one or the others' advice doesn't work. You could check the drive's settings in Windows as it can be manually limited (to reduce noise?) and there's sw capable of limiting it too. Otherwise check the cables, try diff channel or Master/Slave and if needs be try it in a diff PC too. Most likely the CDRs you are using are deemed by your drive to be unsuitable for the higher speeds, 1st 3rd of the CD is written at 16x max anyway (most drives do it like this, others speed up gradually) so you're only really losing out on the latter 2/3 of the CD.

[catattack]

The version of my nero is 5.5.9.14. What do you mean by media? The cd-r's that i'm using? I think they support 54x. Austin, how do I check my drive settings in Windows? How can I change it to make it burn at 54x?

Thanks for the help guys.

[Austin]

Media just means something to store information, in the case of CD Writers it's CDRs. 5.5 is pretty old but should still work okay, esp if it came with your Writer. Check Ahead's website for updates as that should fix it, you'll have to pay for the latest version6 (I suspect). Try some other CDR's first and see if the write speed it allows you to select changes. What does Nero say when you choose 'Select Burner' from the menu (gives stats inc max burn speed)?

In WInXP (what I use) go to 'My Computer' or WIn Explorer and select the CD Writer (D:?). R.click and select 'Properties' then 'Recording'. Check what the the Burn Speed is, FASTEST is normal but have a look underneath, the next speed down should say 52x, that also helps to confirm you don't have driver / recognition problems. You could also try EasyCD Creator as alternative sw, they do a free preview.

You may also want to go to Device Manager / System via Control Panel. Select IDE/ATAPI followed by the Channel your Writer is on, note the Master and Slave info. Basically you want to be running in UDMA mode, you could also check the BIOS settings but they should be auto. Perhaps some of the other enahnced IDE settings will help. Do you have the latest drivers (esp mobo)? Be sure to check both manu (eg Gigabyte) and chipset (eg VIA).

[catattack]

First off, I just got brand new Nero 6. Then I turned off some Smart-Burn option in there and now its letting my burner go at 52x write. STILL, I was reading up, and it says that at 52x, it goes around 7000kb/s? I think, then 2x more at 54x, it goes at 9000kb/s! So yea if anyone knows how to get me those 2x more then please help.

Thanks.

[Jiff Lemon]

It's only capable of wrting at those speeds at the outer edge of the disc. If you were to burn 100mb, you'd probably on creep up to 12x. Burn 800mb and you'll probably see 52x for the last couple of secs.

[Austin]

52x is the fastest speed for writing CDs (AFAIK), it's unlikely to be developed further as they have hit another technological barrier and the cash is no longer there for the investment of CDRW when DVD Rewriters are becoming faster, more compatible and affordable, so 52x CD writing is all you're likely to get and certainly possess at the mo.

Most drives use 16x for the first 3rd of a CD (233MB) and then shift up to the max speed for the remaining 2/3'rds (467MB). Try searching for info about Constant Angular Velocity (CLV) and other technologies. Anyway having a 52x writer means you are likely to have a 40x average write speed (16x first third, 52x last 2/3rds). Some drives do make a steady transisition from 12-16x gradually rising to the max at the end of the CD but these are uncommon, more complex and only marginally faster though more prone to problems (inc pauses in writing). Drives have to do this because although the mechanism that spins the CD remains at the same physical speed the inside obviously spins faster than the outside (imagine a roundabout or vinyl record).

The speed rating refers to how much faster the drive is compared to a regular CD in your hi-fi system designed to only read/play audio CDs. 1x is 150KB/s so 52x is 7800KB/s (7.6MB/s). As you go higher up in speed the less impact it has on time, for example approximate times for writing a whole std CD (700MB) ...

4x = 1195 secs / 19.9 min
8x = 598 secs / 10 min
16x = 299 secs / 5 min
24x = 233 secs / 3.8 min
32x = 199 secs / 3.3 min
40x = 179 secs / 3.0 min
48x = 166 secs / 2.8 min

For the love of all that is good leave Smart-Burn activated. It is buffer under-run protection meaning it is virtually impossible to burn a dud CD, if you try to multitask without protection the CD will surely be ruined. Lite-On only use 2MB on drive buffer but TBH 8MB is the biggest and still petty pointless given current writing speeds, it only offers 1.05 seconds of protection.