burner question

[omega]

Do any of you that have personaly installed a second HD and burner ever get a buffer underrun while burning cd's?

[allenb1963]

Unless you have BURN-proof technology built into your burner, it is a generally accepted rule that you cannot have your machine running any other apps when burning a CD. Even with BURN-proof, it's not a good idea to be using the computer for anything else when burning. Thats about all I can tell you given the vagueness of your post, hope it helps.

[avdven]

First of all, try not to use that font for everything... it's quite difficult to read.

As for your question, I have a few workstations with multiple hard drives, a CD writer and a DVD-ROM drive. There is no reason why adding a second hard drive would cause a buffer underrun error. Most likely, you're attempting to burn at a speed which your CD writer does not support. Also, it's possible that the CD you are trying to write to does not support the speed at which you're trying to write to it. Try burning at a slower speed to see if it makes a difference. Also, what CD writing program are you using? I know many people who receive buffer underrun errors with Roxio Easy CD Creator often. If you are using Roxio's product, try updating to the most recent version (5.3 for both Basic and Platinum). If the errors persist, try a different CD writing program. I used to have problems with Easy CD Creator all the time, but since then, I've moved to ahead Nero - Burning ROM and have yet to get an error on any of my workstations, even when writing at the maximum speed. Good luck.

AJ

[omega]

No i am using NTI CD-Maker Plat. I seem to get it now because i made it a slave drive and i am running it off of the same ribbon that i am running my two hard drives off of. so i dont know if that makes a differece in it.

[allenb1963]

Can you hook it in to another IDE cable? Having it slaved in with TWO hard drives would explain alot. (slaved in with 2 other drives...new one on me)

[omega]

yea i got it set up like that so i dont overload my motherboard(its old and i dont have the money to replace it quit yet). i kinda got lucky in getting an IDE cable with three connectors

[RuffRyder]

Unless you have BURN-proof technology built into your burner, it is a generally accepted rule that you cannot have your machine running any other apps when burning a CD.

how would u know if u do have one of those ?

and is the running apps rule only if u have a burn proof tech

tahnks !

much love ,
jan

[allenb1963]

Ok...all aftermarket burners that have BURN-proof ( Buffer UnderRuN proof) advertise that fact heavily, but you can always check out your burner model's specs at the manufacturers website if you're in doubt.

Before BURN-proof, buffer underruns were commonplace, especially when multi-tasking during a burn session...hence the 'rule' that when you burn, thats ALL you do or you risk an underrun error. To be honest, even though I have a BURN-proof burner, I still follow the rule...probably due to the fact that I hate making 'coasters' (ruining a blank with an underrun error).

I will also add that what avdven is correct concerning burning software based on my own personal experience, and his suggestion about ratcheting down the burn speed is a good one.

[avdven]

yea i got it set up like that so i dont overload my motherboard(its old and i dont have the money to replace it quit yet). i kinda got lucky in getting an IDE cable with three connectors

I honestly wouldn't recommend doing something like that. There's a reason such cables never hit the mainstream and why they were abandoned very quickly... stability. The cable couldn't support all of the transfers necessary to support three individual drives. If you only have one IDE port on your motherboard, put your two hard drives on it as Master and Slave. Then, go out, spend $20 and buy and ISA or PCI ATA card which will let you add more drives to the computer. Promise and Adaptec are two reliable names, though, if I recall correctly, Adaptec is more expensive (though you definately get what you pay for). Anyway, that will hopefully resolve your problems. And just for your info, a CD-writer should always be a Master and a CD-ROM should be a slave. If you have a hard drive and a cd-writer, you should have each on their own ribbon because having any CD-ROM device can cause degraded performance for your hard drive.

AJ

[rcgreen]

I'm surprised that the system works at all with
three drives on one ide channel. In all my research,
I can't find any info on such a configuration being
possible.

Enhanced IDE) An extension to the IDE interface that supports the ATA-2 and ATAPI standards. ATA-2 (Fast ATA) provides faster transfer rates (see IDE for details) and allows for multiple channels, each connecting two devices. ATAPI supports non-hard disk devices such as CD-ROMs and tape drives. It also specifies a new BIOS for supporting hard disks greater than 504MB. Since mid-1994, PCs have shipped with EIDE interfaces, and most motherboards provide a primary and secondary channel for a total of four devices. In practice, the terms EIDE and IDE are synonymous. See IDE and LBA.

http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/...=eide&x=21&y=7