Are CD drives getting less usable as time passes?

[ShadesOfGrey]

Yup, I somethimes wish I gotten the UltraPlex 40X Wide instead of the UltraPlex 40X Max...  But I didn't have a Wide Ultra SCSI controller at the time.  :-D

[iamaboringperson]

ShadesOfGrey wrote:
Yup, I somethimes wish I gotten the UltraPlex 40X Wide instead of the UltraPlex 40X Max...  But I didn't have a Wide Ultra SCSI controller at the time.  :-D

yep thats the drive i want for my next few(3-4) computers :-D i might have to buy them in bulk!


i wonder if there is a place where i can buy slow and new cd-drives

[HMetal]

@KennyR

My Yamaha CD-R/W drive does this on some data disks but not others.  It's an awful sound and, just as you said, the data rate is terrible when they do this.  There is a pause in data transfer while the drive speeds up to maximum speed and then spins down again to read/transfer the data.  When you're transfering a huge batch of MP3s or FLACs, it just isn't fun. :-(

My Pioneer DVD-AO4 doesn't have this problem at all but then the CD read max speed isn't as high; I think it's on the order of 16x.

I guess I'll be trying that Plextor CD-R/W sooner than later.  I hate the noise that the Yamaha makes when it spins up, though it has been a super-reliable drive and hasn't burned a coaster yet.

[mikeymike]

My Teac IDE CD-RW drive can write at 24 speed (writes a full CD in four minutes), never had a 'bad' CD (not properly burnt or whatever) with it, it's silent, and it doesn't mind me doing stuff in the backround.  I like :-)

[Waccoon]

I had a Toshiba 32x that was the best CD Drive I ever owned.  I've since replaced it with a Toshiba DVD drive, and I've had problems where the disc starts spinning insanely fast, only so it has to spin down (in several steps) before it can read the disc.  It's pretty annoying.

I also had a Sony 32x that had horrible spin-up times, and was pretty dodgy with certain copy protection systems, but it would read any disk no matter how out of round it was.

If you're going to buy a CD burner, I recommend a 16x10x40 Plextor, or my own beloved 40x12x48 Lite-On.  Both are outstanding burners and good CD-Roms.

[Atheist]

patrik wrote:
Fortunately CD-ROMs have the possibility be controlled by software to spin in a number of different speeds. That would enable you to run your 48X drive in 8X. If you are using windows on your pc I know for certain that a number of utilities exists.

Whenever I watch a movie using my PC I use the utility "Nero DriveSpeed" to set my CD-ROM to 8X. There is some software and text about this here:  CD Speed

On the amiga I am not so sure if anyone have written a utility like this.


/Patrik

Yeah there is, try this

COPY CD0: RAM: ALL CLONE QUIET

Then run your program.

AmigaOne! Fixing what ms broke!

[JetRacer]

I just tried NeroCDSpeed. My cheapo AOpen x52 cd-roms barely reach above x16 reads. WTF does the drive run at x52 sounding like an air strike when it only can read x16 anyway!?!

Do any of you guys know of some util that allows me to limit the drive speed to x16 permanently?
I'm assuming that Nero doesn't (havn't checked).

[alx]

@ Atheist

I certainly cannot do that - I've only got 10Mb of RAM :-( Although on the plus side the CD-ROM connected to it has a wonderfull feature that makes sure it never gets above the silent 4x speed:-) How much memory does your 'miggy have to fit in whole videos?

[mikeymike]

@ JetRacer

A firmware patching job is the only thing I can think of that *might* be able to do it.

[JetRacer]

I quote Patrick's earlier post: "Fortunately CD-ROMs have the possibility be controlled by software to spin in a number of different speeds. That would enable you to run your 48X drive in 8X. If you are using windows on your pc I know for certain that a number of utilities exists."

I think someone also mentioned that the effects of Nero isn't permanent (killed by reboot). So I just wanted some links to something more permanent since it's useless to use Google with keywords like "cd-rom", "utility", "speed", etc.