Latitude E-Series DVD Burner troubles

hi thanks for the reply. I have used dvd identifier before but on other pcs. I just want to know if anyone with the TS U6 33A drive can recommend any particular brand of media they have had lots of successful burns with? I want to buy bulk and dont want to mess around with experimenting with different makes. I have used Infiniti DVD+R Reference Series and they work ok but want to see if there are any options out there. Thanks again for the info though
ful

 

UK DVDR lists the dye type against some of the media. It's where I do my bulk media shopping.

John

 

thanks John for your help. will look up the UKDVDR site. I normally get my DVDs from 7day shop or Picstop as they are cheap but limited on brands.
cheers again
ful

 

For info on DVD media, I can't post web links but check out this website by googling the following words: digitalfaq digital media quality guides

For single-layer discs, I have used Verbatim MediDisc DVD-R inkjet printable.
For dual-layer discs, I have used Verbatim DataLifePlus DVD+R DL injet printable and also some other Imation DVD+R DL that I don't have with me here.

As has been mentioned before, the Media ID on a disc will tell you the real manufacturer of the disc. Check out that website digitalFAQ dot com.

 

cheers memphis charlie it all helps in knowing what discs to buy bulk! will look into the website you mentioned and go from there.cheers to all
ful

 

John, do you remember when you changed from SATA IRRT mode to SATA AHCI mode? Did you just change it in BIOS?

What version of the SATA drivers are you using now?

I have been doing some tests today with different versions of the SATA drivers and different SATA modes and I believe the SATA driver version affects DVD drive performance a lot in IRRT mode.

For example, copying my Windows XP CD to the hard drive took 8:40 min with IRRT using v. 8.5 drivers compared to 5:02 min using the v. 8.6 drivers.

For comparison, in ATA compatible mode the XP CD copy took 4:42 min but on the other hand hard drive performance seems to be a bit slower.

I will do more tests with different SATA modes and versions soon, especially comparing AHCI to IRRT.

Örjan

 

I think I switched from IRRT to AHCI at the beginning of October. I just changed it in the BIOS and had no BSOD. This is with the Dell factory installation of XP and I assume that Dell pre-loaded the drivers for the different modes.

I am still using the 8.2.2.1001 driver / software that are on the Dell website. I haven't had issues which have caused me to venture beyond whatever Dell are offering.

I have just checked the time to copy an 577MB XP Home CD to the HDD and it took 6 minutes.

John

 

Thank you for the information.
Have you had any burner problems since you changed from IRRT to AHCI?

The slow CD reading performance I got with IRRT and Intel drivers 8.2 and 8.5 could explain a lot of the burning problems other people have experienced. I also got errors in the event log about "drive not responding in time" etc.

I will make a new Windows XP installation with AHCI instead of IRRT and compare performance.

Of course there could be something completey different that solved your problem. I guess you e.g. have updated BIOS since you got your computer.

Örjan

 

I've had no significant burner related problems during the past 1.5 months. My original problems including reading discs as if the head wasn't moving properly.

I've had lesser problems such as burning a Sony branded CD at 10x speed and not 24x, but the burnt discs are readable, which is the important outcome.

John

 

I have performed more tests today on DVD drive and HD performance with different SATA settings and driver settings. All tests have been performed on a restored copy of the Dell factory installation shipped to me in beginning of November with SATA drivers version 8.2 and Matrix Storage Manager Console installed. I have the Panasonic DVD drive and the hard drive used is a quite slow 80 GB 5400 RPM drive.

IRRT mode, Matrix Storage Manager Console installed:
Copy WinXP CD to HD: 4:37 minutes
Copy WinXP installation files from HD to HD after reboot: 1:10 minutes

AHCI mode, Matrix Storage Manager Console installed
Copy WinXP CD to HD: 4:35 minutes
Copy WinXP installation files from HD to HD after reboot: 1:29 minutes

AHCI mode, Matrix Storage Manager Console uninstalled
Note: SATA drivers still installed
Copy WinXP CD to HD: 8:41 minutes
Copy WinXP installation files from HD to HD after reboot: 1:27 minutes

IRRT mode, Matrix Storage Manager Console uninstalled
Note: SATA drivers still installed
Copy WinXP CD to HD: 8:40 minutes
Copy WinXP installation files from HD to HD after reboot: 1:29 minutes

IRRT mode, Matrix Storage Manager Console reinstalled
Copy WinXP CD to HD: 4:39 minutes

As seen above, the thing that really makes a difference with DVD drive performance with the 8.2 drivers is to install the Matrix Storage Manager Console. I did some other tests yesterday and if my notes are correct I got roughly the same CD copy performance with the 8.5 drivers. With the 8.6 drivers however, I got almost the same performance when copying the CD without installing the Matrix Storage Manager Console. I have some other notes from yesterday saying a different thing though so I will check this a little bit closer later.

It seems that the Matrix Storage Manager Console is more than just a console since it influences performance a lot with some driver versions.
However this seems to be consistent with what people have reported in this thread. Installing the Console seems to fix a lot of burning problems. I haven't tried burning anything yet but I will do soon.

Örjan