Does a computers RAM have any impact on burning?

[Seany123]

I just installed a new DVD-RW on my other computer... (well its basically my junk computer) it has like 256mb ram lol...

 

anyway.. ive noticed that when burning, every 30second - 1 minute its needing to re-buffer, where as when i burn on my main computer it doesnt need to buffer half as much.

[mmalves]

The HD can't deliver data fast enough in order to burn at the speed you've selected. Try defragmenting it, disabling antivirus/etc and closing all programs before burning and it might help.

[Cynthia]

If you have 256 MB of RAM and running a modern OS like Vista it could create a problem.

 

The buffer issue is that your hard disk can't feed the burner with the data fast enough. Using a slower write speed can solve that. Other options is not to use the computer for other tasks while you are burning or try to defragment the hard disk.

 

Edit: Mrs Slow today also...

[Seany123]

If you have 256 MB of RAM and running a modern OS like Vista it could create a problem.

 

The buffer issue is that your hard disk can't feed the burner with the data fast enough. Using a slower write speed can solve that. Other options is not to use the computer for other tasks while you are burning or try to defragment the hard disk.

 

Edit: Mrs Slow today also...

 

 

i set the burning to autospeed.... and its doing it at 0- 2.5x... i dont have any other programs running....

 

 

but as i said the computer is like my (junk) computer... its about 8 years old and has nothing updated apart for dvd rws since bought...

 

 

i was wondering because i wanted to know what i could buy for the computer to make it go work better...

[Cynthia]

What OS do you have on it? Microsoft XP? I had 256MB on my old XP computer and no burning issues with that level of memory.

 

If it's a desktop computer and that old - they usually have two IDE connectors. Having the burner and hard disk on the same cable can slow it down. Tried to separate them?

 

It's not autospeed = the program can determine the right speed - instead it goes for MAX speed if it's not set up.

 

AWS = Automatic Write Speed and needs to be configured in the Main Menu -> Automatic Write Speed if you want to use another speed than MAX.

[mmalves]

Look in the FAQ about the slow burning speed too.

[Seany123]

What OS do you have on it? Microsoft XP? I had 256MB on my old XP computer and no burning issues with that level of memory.

 

If it's a desktop computer and that old - they usually have two IDE connectors. Having the burner and hard disk on the same cable can slow it down. Tried to separate them?

 

It's not autospeed = the program can determine the right speed - instead it goes for MAX speed if it's not set up.

 

AWS = Automatic Write Speed and needs to be configured in the Main Menu -> Automatic Write Speed if you want to use another speed than MAX.

 

yeah its XP...

 

no it has two leads going from MB to Hard drive and another Going from MB to dvd drive.

 

 

so its not actually Autospeed....

 

so thats probabley runied my 360 burn now >.<

[Seany123]

What OS do you have on it? Microsoft XP? I had 256MB on my old XP computer and no burning issues with that level of memory.

 

If it's a desktop computer and that old - they usually have two IDE connectors. Having the burner and hard disk on the same cable can slow it down. Tried to separate them?

 

It's not autospeed = the program can determine the right speed - instead it goes for MAX speed if it's not set up.

 

AWS = Automatic Write Speed and needs to be configured in the Main Menu -> Automatic Write Speed if you want to use another speed than MAX.

 

yeah its XP...

 

no it has two leads going from MB to Hard drive and another Going from MB to dvd drive.

 

 

so its not actually Autospeed....

 

so thats probabley runied my 360 burn now >.<

 

 

Actually i tell a lie, it set it to 4x

[Cynthia]

Not sure that's it's ruined. Once tried to force a burn to activate buffer under runs throughout the whole burning phase and the disc worked.

 

Do as mmalves posted in #6, to determine if the hard disk or burner has gone into PIO mode rather than DMA mode.

[Shamus_McFartfinger]

so thats probabley runied my 360 burn now >.<

 

Your disk shouldn't be ruined but your machine will run like a sick dog with only 256MB of RAM under XP. Get a gig at least. 2 would be better. With a limited amount of RAM, Windows will continually access the swapfile (called C:\pagefile.sys) on your harddrive. It's called virtual memory. In simple terms, when something requires memory to run and memory isn't available, Windows will copy the contents of your memory to a place on your harddrive (pagefile.sys) just incase you need it later and then clear your RAM to allow other programs to use it.

 

With loads of RAM available, burning with ImgBurn would look something like this:

 

ImgBurn requests data to burn

Windows sees that RAM is available and allocates it accordingly

Windows copies the requested data from the HD to RAM (your buffer)

ImgBurn copies from the buffer to CD or DVD while more data is sent from the HD to RAM.

 

 

With little or no RAM, you'd expect this:

 

ImgBurn requests data to burn

Windows sees that RAM is unavailable and moves the contents of RAM to your pagefile (your harddrive)

Windows copies the requested data from the HD back to the swapfile on the HD

Windows copies the requested data from the swapfile to RAM (your buffer)

ImgBurn copies from the buffer to CD or DVD while more data is sent from the HD to the swapfile on the HD and then to RAM.

 

 

With low RAM, the data being requested is being copied from the HD to a temporary file on the HD and then to RAM. As data is continually being requested by the program, data gets copied to your HD while ImgBurn is also trying to read from it.