Hi! I am choosing an external dvd writer and Hard disk (or internal ones on external enclosures), and a pc-card adpter, and trying to find out the best devices and connection to allow real 16x dvd burn. Lately, in addition to the firewire vs. usb stuff, I was occupied in a SATA vs. firewire stuff. I felt quite tired and confused, and scared about prices more and more high! Then I felt that maybe I was falling into the trick of "wow, it is faster, buy it!", while I had to understand what I really needed . So, I understood what I had to ask in the forum 1) which is the sustained data transfer that the HD must provide to allow a 16x burn or near it? The same of the burner? The double or triple of it? 2) which kind of HD rpm (5400, 7200, 10000) provides such speed? 3) Which kind of connection (Usb2, firewire, firewire2, SATA, SATA2) must have the writer and/or the HD to REALLY allow the needed data transfer, considering my system (see computer details), and that I will connect both devices at same time on the pc-card adapter? 4) just to close the theme opened in the other thread: practically, concretely, which would be for my system the problems using two devices at same time in Usb2 instead of firewire or SATA? No one? Just few minutes more in burning? Not being able to do anything else when burning? Or something more serious? I am happy, i feel that now I will have the right elements to choose well. Thank You!
K, I'll have a crack at answering this one. From my research (google, ha) in 16x DVD burning the data transfer rate is 21.13Mb/s. All of the connections you've listed have a max transfer rate that's faster than that, but the actual rate of the device may be lower, so you'd have to check that to find out for certain.
I don't think the speed of the HDD will be a limiting factor; more the connection type; but again the device may not use the maximum speed of the interface.
To sum up, check the specs of the burner and the HDD to know for sure.
Now I think about it, it'd be odd for them to market a 16x DVD burner that's not practically able to reach that speed, so the only limit should be the HDD.
Well, I still haven't got the dvd nor the HDD... I am wondering which HDD to buy (5400rpm, or 7200 or 10000) to have the enough data transfer to burn at 16x. As I knew that source signal must be the double or more than the write speed... No idea if I am right... Then, I would like to understand if for example SATA is better for the HDD in my case, or firewire would be more than enough to provide enough data transfer to burn at 16x. And if Usb2 would create problems to system with two devices at same time... This...
I'm just kind of putting 2 and 2 together here, I'm no expert either If the source speed needs to be 2x faster, than that changes things up, but It'll be easy enough to factor this into your calculations. (I haven't heard this before, so I don't know if it's right or wrong).
I'd be very very surprised if even a 5400rpm drive didn't give you the performance you need for DVD burning, so I don't think you should be concerned there (it might be a good idea to go for 7200, for better loading times etc., but it depends on what you want to do).
Finally, FW provides transfer speeds at up to 400Mbit/s (roughly 50Mbyte/s) so, depending on the device, and if the figures I've given are correct, then you should (just) be able to burn at the full 16x.
Are you guys for real? What in heaven has got you thinking a hard drive in any way shape or form would be a limiting factor in Dvd burn speeds. The quality of the media you buy and to a lesser extent the brand of burner you purchase are your only considerations here. Even an old hard drive will be faster than any dvd burner could possibly draw from it. I only use 16x speeds to burn data disks anyhow (with verify on) for making dvd's to play on my TV, I reduce the speed to reduce the possibilty of errors. A cd burner can be up to 52x speed, do you think it struggles to achieve that because of the type of hard drive or its connection type?
If the interface between the hard drive and the computer doesn't allow a data transfer rate that's at least equivalent to the 16x DVD burn, then yes, I think the hard drive will be a limiting factor.
After looking around, I realise that this will probably never happen, unless you're using something like USB1.1, but it still may happen.
Where in the world is he going to buy an external anything that is usb 1.1 today. Unless he buys an old used hard drive he will get a usb 2.0 and as for the dvd drive, I don't think you can even find a usb 1.1 on e-bay so the transfer rate is a moot point. Heck IDE transfer rates would be a problem if that was the case, its an old spec. There is no way that what ever he buys will not be able to achieve 16x speed unless he screws something up like drivers or the usb setting in the bios.
Hi! Well, Simon, yes, i think i will go for a 7200rpm, there are not anymore 5400, if not 2.5", which are more expensive even if slower... So, I'll go for a 3.5" 7200rpm... And possibly firewire... I would have liked Usb2, but many people told me that usb2 has got more cpu usage, I have a relatively old cpu... And that Usb divides its speed between all devices connected, while firewire give all the same speed to each one... I have no idea if these caracteristics of Usb can create real problems, of just few minutes more in burning times, which i wouldn't care... But, if I can't get infos about Usb2 real contra, I will go for firewire and usb2 combo pc-card adapter... Very thanks for searchign google for me!
Hi again! Ken, effectively I do not know much about HDD... I had absolutely no idea about the speed in MB/s os a 5400rpm or a 7200rpm... Also I remember that for cd burn Nero told me that the source speed must be the double of writing speed, and I was supposint the same for dvd, no sure at all about this... The problem, anyway, i was sure about this, for me is the connection. As I wrote above, all connection, on the papaer, are enough. But, especially with old cpu (pentium III 750mhz), and with all external peripherals, connected at same time to pc.card adapter (even if type II, 32 bit), I had some doubts if usb was the right choice. But, as it is the easier and cheaper, and here in Argentina all is more difficult and expensive to find, i wanted to inform well about usb problems...
1: SATA is faster than FIREWIRE is faster than USB 2.0 (everything now is usb 2.0)
2: YES, even an external FIREWIRE drive is fast enough to write to a DVD at 16X. A USB drive will cause a very slight increase (of about 5 seconds) in total burn time because of caching and seek issues.
3: 10 000RPM is faster than 7 200RPM is faster than 5400 etc. The true limiting factor on a drive's speed is the BUS (ATA, SATA, etc). With GOOD 10 000RPM drive, you are pretty much matching the drives speed to the bus. Purchase a hard drive with a LARGE AMOUNT of onboard memory ('cache'). Atleast 16MB. Don't accept less. This also improves speed hickups and seek hickups. ALSO If you must have a mobile HD, firewire. If not, SATA. I also highly suggest you purchase a DVD burner which connects via SATA aswell. The components will share a common dataBUS in this way and remove yet another bottleneck ensuring the speed you seek. Get a drive with a LOW SEEK TIME (measured in ms). If you do all of these things, you will have a very fast mean bad @ssed HD and DVD burner combo. And do spend atleast $150 on the DVD drive. It makes a difference
Just re-read your post. If you have to go external make sure you run everything through firewire. Also I would recommend you purchase high quality drives with the features I mentioned and run them in enclosures purchased sperately. Its not difficult to put together.
Hi Paul... thanks for the answer... Yes, it is a long time I am waiting the vendor here in Argentina to find what I need. Unfortunately Argentine laws are so much ridicolous that if I buy something in internet it will stop in the duty of the international airport of Buenos Aires, and I must go personally there to get it, can you imagine it? On the other side, it is absolutely impossible to find a good enclosure here. I do not have any idea why it is so hard to buy good things here, but, anyway, I am waiting the last answer from the last vendor I tried, about an external enclosure, combo, firewire and Usb2, as I read that many times the drive's firmware can be updated just through usb. I hope to receive the answer, or I 'll have to buy from internet and travel to Buenos Aires to get all. Absurd... Well, thanks again! Sergio
I have the same problem getting tropical fish up here if it makes you feel better. Im in Canada and I can't get 1/10th the stuff they get in the states... stupid permits and stuff...
