External CD burning tips (non-IBM burner)

[DavidNZ]

Like many, I'm sure, I opted for a external CD-RW burner for my new X40 that was not made by IBM. It was, like, half the cost, so that's my justification!

I purchased an external CD-RW drive from Creative and have had varying level of success with it over the past few months. To be fair, I only wanted it for the ability to read a CD, so the burning capabilities were just a useful additional feature that I though I may use every once in a while. I had no intention of installing third-party burning software either. I had used the embedded XP software numerous times on my Dell desktop at my office so I figured it would work fine here.

Anyway, just recently I went to burn about 400MB of files as an archive. I went through about three CDs, each one resulting in the error from XP saying that it just didn't work. Thoroughly [censored] off, I scoured the net looking for solutions and reasons. Here's what I found:

1. Unplug all USB devices from your machine so that only the external burner itself is attached via USB. That means removing all USB hubs and your USB mouse.

2. Reboot your machine.

3. Verify that Windows can 'see' the fact you have a burner attached.

4. Temporarily disable your screensaver.

5. Don't attach your machine to any network (wireless or wired) and stay off the internet (if you use a modem).

6. Don't open any programs. You could even disable some of your taskbar items if you wanted, but I generally don't.

7. Don't burn any faster than 8X, regardless of how fast your writer is. It'll take longer, but take a break and make a sandwhich or something.

For what it's worth, I'm running a full patched XPP OS (sans SP2) on a 2371-6EM with 512MB physical RAM.

Hope this helps anyone who is having problems!

David

[selvan777]

Thanks for sharing.

But are you saying those steps helped you out?

I ask because I burn at about 52x using an external CD burner while my camera, PDA, and external HDD is also connected and turned on.

[skanky]

most of those points can be negated by having a burner that has burnproof or equivalent.

[DavidNZ]

Thanks for sharing.

But are you saying those steps helped you out?

Correct. But I am jealous that you've been able to burn under specs/config you mention. Maybe I just got a few bad CDs, but three in a row?

*shrug*

[selvan777]

Don't feel bad, my first external only gave me 4x, a real tester of my patients. I replaced it with a USB2 TDK Cyclone 52x32x52 while in Singapore and it rips with native XP.

Perhaps your burner could be fine tuned for better performance, what do you have?

[DavidNZ]

It's actually a Creative (52/24/52X) and i think the model number is ED5220. I think it's only available in this part of the world (NZ/AUS) because I recall doing a search on it shortly after I got it and didn't find much.

Oh well, I'm trying to convince my wife we need a full desktop system, so if we do get it I'll get a DVD burner!

Cheers

D

[selvan777]

Now I'm getting jealous wishing I got a DVD burner instead.

G'day, mate

[DavidNZ]

Hehe - don't get too jealous! She's a tough nut to crack, my wife.

There's a better than average chance I won't get anything.

[DavidNZ]

Hehe - don't get too jealous! She's a tough nut to crack, my wife.

There's a better than average chance I won't get anything.