How reliable are CD writers are juding the fastest writing speed?

When I put a CD-R disk rated at 1-8x my CD writer tells me that the
fastest speed I can write at is 40x. Should I belive what the CD
writer is telling me?
I don't want to end out with a lot of coasters.

Regards Brian

Brian wrote:
When I put a CD-R disk rated at 1-8x my CD writer tells me that the
fastest speed I can write at is 40x. Should I belive what the CD
writer is telling me?
I don't want to end out with a lot of coasters.

Neither. This is covered extensively in the usual references: the CD-R
FAQ; the primer at my WWW site. I'll be brief here; see one of those for
more.

The disc has no max speed set in the ATIP; your drive has no table of
max speeds with default. As a result, it's prepared to write at its own
max (presumably - you are keeping the drive secret).

You need to do some tests to find the speed you want to use.

Mike
--

http://www.mrichter.com/

Mike Richter wrote:
Brian wrote:

When I put a CD-R disk rated at 1-8x my CD writer tells me that the
fastest speed I can write at is 40x. Should I belive what the CD
writer is telling me? I don't want to end out with a lot of coasters.


Neither. This is covered extensively in the usual references: the CD-R
FAQ; the primer at my WWW site. I'll be brief here; see one of those for
more.

The disc has no max speed set in the ATIP; your drive has no table of
max speeds with default. As a result, it's prepared to write at its own
max (presumably - you are keeping the drive secret).

You need to do some tests to find the speed you want to use.

Mike

Mike,

Do I understand you to say then that there is no limit to the speed to
which a blank CD can be written, except by that of the capabilities of
the CD burner? I thought there was a difference between the material
that was used on a blank rated 40X versus 8X? Perhaps I am not
interpreting your comments correctly?

Ken

lid wrote:


Mike Richter wrote:

Brian wrote:

When I put a CD-R disk rated at 1-8x my CD writer tells me that the
fastest speed I can write at is 40x. Should I belive what the CD
writer is telling me? I don't want to end out with a lot of coasters.



Neither. This is covered extensively in the usual references: the CD-R
FAQ; the primer at my WWW site. I'll be brief here; see one of those
for more.

The disc has no max speed set in the ATIP; your drive has no table of
max speeds with default. As a result, it's prepared to write at its
own max (presumably - you are keeping the drive secret).

You need to do some tests to find the speed you want to use.

Mike


Mike,

Do I understand you to say then that there is no limit to the speed
to which a blank CD can be written, except by that of the capabilities
of the CD burner? I thought there was a difference between the material
that was used on a blank rated 40X versus 8X? Perhaps I am not
interpreting your comments correctly?

If that's what you understand, you are not reading what I wrote.

I'm saying that if the disc does not limit the max speed and the drive
does not limit the max speed (to less than its own), then you can try
any speed you want. Some won't work at all, some will appear to work but
be loaded with errors, but if you're lucky, you'll find some that work
well enough for your eneeds.

Mike
--

http://www.mrichter.com/

Mike Richter wrote:
lid wrote:



Mike Richter wrote:

Brian wrote:

When I put a CD-R disk rated at 1-8x my CD writer tells me that the
fastest speed I can write at is 40x. Should I belive what the CD
writer is telling me? I don't want to end out with a lot of coasters.




Neither. This is covered extensively in the usual references: the
CD-R FAQ; the primer at my WWW site. I'll be brief here; see one of
those for more.

The disc has no max speed set in the ATIP; your drive has no table of
max speeds with default. As a result, it's prepared to write at its
own max (presumably - you are keeping the drive secret).

You need to do some tests to find the speed you want to use.

Mike



Mike,

Do I understand you to say then that there is no limit to the
speed to which a blank CD can be written, except by that of the
capabilities of the CD burner? I thought there was a difference
between the material that was used on a blank rated 40X versus 8X?
Perhaps I am not interpreting your comments correctly?


If that's what you understand, you are not reading what I wrote.

I'm saying that if the disc does not limit the max speed and the drive
does not limit the max speed (to less than its own), then you can try
any speed you want. Some won't work at all, some will appear to work but
be loaded with errors, but if you're lucky, you'll find some that work
well enough for your eneeds.

Mike

Mike,

I am sorry you took my question as being critical. That was NOT my
intent. I had always thought that if the max rated speed of your media
was LESS than the max rated speed of your burner, that you should not
exceed that lower rated speed. Admittedly, the burner is not able to
determine what the max rated speed of the MEDIA would be, therefore it
might try to write at IT'S highest rated speed. In such a case errors
might result due to the media not being up to the capabilities of the
burner. I have always set my burning speed no higher than the lowest
maximum speed of either the media or burner. I assume that is the
correct thing to do based upon your latest comments?

Every burner/media/speed combination will likely produce slightly
different results; the *only* way for you to know the optimum results is
to test for yourself... What generally can be inferred from most likely
performance curves *without such testing* is that median burn speeds are
likely to give better results than the extremes of high and low
available.

A 1-8x media rating just means the media was formulated and packaged
with those speeds in mind; though as you have seen a more recently made
writer may itself determine (via power calibration routine or internal
s/w product specs) a capable of writing them faster ; though not
necessarily better...

Tim K

wrote in message
...


Mike Richter wrote:
lid wrote:



Mike Richter wrote:

Brian wrote:

When I put a CD-R disk rated at 1-8x my CD writer tells me that
the
fastest speed I can write at is 40x. Should I belive what the CD
writer is telling me? I don't want to end out with a lot of
coasters.




Neither. This is covered extensively in the usual references: the
CD-R FAQ; the primer at my WWW site. I'll be brief here; see one
of
those for more.

The disc has no max speed set in the ATIP; your drive has no table
of
max speeds with default. As a result, it's prepared to write at
its
own max (presumably - you are keeping the drive secret).

You need to do some tests to find the speed you want to use.

Mike



Mike,

Do I understand you to say then that there is no limit to the
speed to which a blank CD can be written, except by that of the
capabilities of the CD burner? I thought there was a difference
between the material that was used on a blank rated 40X versus 8X?
Perhaps I am not interpreting your comments correctly?


If that's what you understand, you are not reading what I wrote.

I'm saying that if the disc does not limit the max speed and the
drive
does not limit the max speed (to less than its own), then you can
try
any speed you want. Some won't work at all, some will appear to work
but
be loaded with errors, but if you're lucky, you'll find some that
work
well enough for your eneeds.

Mike

Mike,

I am sorry you took my question as being critical. That was NOT my
intent. I had always thought that if the max rated speed of your
media
was LESS than the max rated speed of your burner, that you should not
exceed that lower rated speed. Admittedly, the burner is not able to
determine what the max rated speed of the MEDIA would be, therefore it
might try to write at IT'S highest rated speed. In such a case errors
might result due to the media not being up to the capabilities of the
burner. I have always set my burning speed no higher than the lowest
maximum speed of either the media or burner. I assume that is the
correct thing to do based upon your latest comments?

lid wrote:

Mike,

I am sorry you took my question as being critical. That was NOT my
intent. I had always thought that if the max rated speed of your media
was LESS than the max rated speed of your burner, that you should not
exceed that lower rated speed. Admittedly, the burner is not able to
determine what the max rated speed of the MEDIA would be, therefore it
might try to write at IT'S highest rated speed. In such a case errors
might result due to the media not being up to the capabilities of the
burner. I have always set my burning speed no higher than the lowest
maximum speed of either the media or burner. I assume that is the
correct thing to do based upon your latest comments?


I have media rated 32x which will not write well above 8x in a
Plexwriter. There are many reports of 16x media writing at 32x and above.

Consistency is not an attribute of CD recording media. Honesty is not an
attribute of those who write the packaging.

Mike
--

http://www.mrichter.com/