Slow Burning Speeds, LG SATA Drive

[dn604]

Hello,

 

I've read lots of posts, and the FAQs concerning slow burn speeds. I have defragged my drive etc.

 

I'm using a LG GH20LS10 SATA Drive, so I don't believe the PIO/DMA discussion applies to me here.

 

Any suggestions on increasing speed from an average of 2x? When the disk buffer files, speed jumps to about 5 or 6x before its empty, then its on the device buffer for a while and down to 2x, then slow drops to nothing while the disk buffer files again.

 

Here is the log:

I 15:02:55 ImgBurn Version 2.4.0.0 started!

I 15:02:55 Microsoft Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600 : Service Pack 2)

I 15:02:55 Total Physical Memory: 2,096,212 KB - Available: 1,486,420 KB

I 15:02:56 Initialising SPTI...

I 15:02:56 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices...

I 15:02:56 Found 1 DVD±RW/RAM!

I 15:14:55 Operation Started!

I 15:14:55 Source File: \\192.168.0.1\Storage\cme.img

I 15:14:55 Source File Sectors: 2,026,822 (MODE1/2048)

I 15:14:55 Source File Size: 4,150,931,456 bytes

I 15:14:55 Source File Volume Identifier: CME

I 15:14:55 Source File Volume Set Identifier: 378e1328

I 15:14:55 Source File Implementation Identifier: Sonic Scenarist 3.1

I 15:14:55 Source File File System(s): ISO9660, UDF (1.02)

I 15:14:55 Destination Device: [2:1:0] HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH20LS10 FL00 (D:) (ATAPI)

I 15:14:55 Destination Media Type: DVD-R (Disc ID: TYG02) (Speeds: 4x, 8x)

I 15:14:55 Destination Media Sectors: 2,298,496

I 15:14:55 Write Mode: DVD

I 15:14:55 Write Type: DAO

I 15:14:55 Write Speed: MAX

I 15:14:55 Link Size: Auto

I 15:14:55 Test Mode: No

I 15:14:55 OPC: Yes

I 15:14:55 BURN-Proof: Enabled

I 15:15:02 Filling Buffer... (40 MB)

I 15:15:17 Writing LeadIn...

I 15:15:35 Writing Session 1 of 1... (1 Track, LBA: 0 - 2026821)

I 15:15:35 Writing Track 1 of 1... (MODE1/2048, LBA: 0 - 2026821)

W 15:16:01 Waiting for buffers to recover...

W 15:16:15 Waiting for hard disk activity to reach threshold level...

I 15:16:16 Writing Sectors...

W 15:16:44 Waiting for buffers to recover...

W 15:16:59 Waiting for hard disk activity to reach threshold level...

I 15:16:59 Writing Sectors...

W 15:17:30 Waiting for buffers to recover...

W 15:17:44 Waiting for hard disk activity to reach threshold level...

I 15:17:45 Writing Sectors...

W 15:18:50 Waiting for buffers to recover...

W 15:19:04 Waiting for hard disk activity to reach threshold level...

I 15:19:05 Writing Sectors...

W 15:20:10 Waiting for buffers to recover...

W 15:20:25 Waiting for hard disk activity to reach threshold level...

I 15:20:25 Writing Sectors...

W 15:21:53 Waiting for buffers to recover...

W 15:22:08 Waiting for hard disk activity to reach threshold level...

I 15:22:09 Writing Sectors...

W 15:24:35 Waiting for buffers to recover...

W 15:24:50 Waiting for hard disk activity to reach threshold level...

I 15:24:50 Writing Sectors...

W 15:25:58 Waiting for buffers to recover...

W 15:26:11 Waiting for hard disk activity to reach threshold level...

I 15:26:12 Writing Sectors...

W 15:28:19 Waiting for buffers to recover...

W 15:28:33 Waiting for hard disk activity to reach threshold level...

I 15:28:34 Writing Sectors...

W 15:29:24 Waiting for buffers to recover...

W 15:29:39 Waiting for hard disk activity to reach threshold level...

I 15:29:39 Writing Sectors...

W 15:30:27 Waiting for buffers to recover...

W 15:30:42 Waiting for hard disk activity to reach threshold level...

I 15:30:43 Writing Sectors...

x 100 more

 

Still waiting for this disc to finish.

 

I had the same issues with this drive in the old DVDDecryptor as well.

 

Thanks for any advice.

 

-dn

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Burn a disc in discovery mode and see what happens with that.

 

This takes other drives out of the equation as everything comes from memory.

 

What mode is your SATA controller in? ATA, RAID or AHCI? (This is a bios setting)

 

What controller is it connected to?

 

What's the controller called in device manager? Have you installed special drivers for it?

[dn604]

Burn a disc in discovery mode and see what happens with that.

 

This takes other drives out of the equation as everything comes from memory.

 

What mode is your SATA controller in? ATA, RAID or AHCI? (This is a bios setting)

 

What controller is it connected to?

 

What's the controller called in device manager? Have you installed special drivers for it?

 

Thanks for the fast reply!

 

SATA Controller is in RAID mode, I meant to mention that. Running 2 SATA Drives in RAID0, and then the DVD Writer.

 

When checking in the Device Manager, it seems there is a problem with my Mass Storage Controller, it has the Yellow ! so there is a driver issue.

 

Let me try cleaning that up, and then discovery mode and I'll report back.

 

Thanks.

[mmalves]

I 15:14:55 Source File: \\192.168.0.1\Storage\cme.img

Your network and/or the source computer/HD are too slow to maintain the speed needed for burning at 8x. Copy that image to a local HD and it should work as expected

[dn604]

I 15:14:55 Source File: \\192.168.0.1\Storage\cme.img

Your network and/or the source computer/HD are too slow to maintain the speed needed for burning at 8x. Copy that image to a local HD and it should work as expected

 

That would of been my first try at fixing this problem, except, I have another computer, with an older drive, using DVD Decryptor, burning files from the same location at 8x without any problems. I would think SATA Hard Drives over a 100MB network should be sufficient. I also use Padus Discjugger for some burns, and always get 8x over the network as well. Could this be an issue with ImgBurn and burning over a network? I really need it to work over the network.

 

I will give it a shot though.

 

I just fixed all my Raid Controller drivers, Device Manager shows no problems now. I changed it to Incremental from DOA and increased the disk buffer to 130MB, but still the same, after the disk buffer is used up, it drops from 6x (where it stays, never went above that), and then slowly drops to 2x again and the cycle repeats.

 

I 15:51:49 ImgBurn Version 2.4.0.0 started!

I 15:51:49 Microsoft Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600 : Service Pack 2)

I 15:51:49 Total Physical Memory: 2,096,212 KB - Available: 1,605,932 KB

I 15:51:49 Initialising SPTI...

I 15:51:49 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices...

I 15:51:49 Found 1 DVD±RW/RAM!

I 15:58:12 Operation Started!

I 15:58:12 Source File: \\192.168.0.1\Storage\BT.ISO

I 15:58:12 Source File Sectors: 2,273,270 (MODE1/2048)

I 15:58:12 Source File Size: 4,655,656,960 bytes

I 15:58:12 Source File Volume Identifier: BT

I 15:58:12 Source File Volume Set Identifier: 3784910A

I 15:58:12 Source File Implementation Identifier: MEI

I 15:58:12 Source File File System(s): ISO9660, UDF (1.02)

I 15:58:12 Destination Device: [2:1:0] HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH20LS10 FL00 (D:) (ATAPI)

I 15:58:12 Destination Media Type: DVD-R (Disc ID: TYG02) (Speeds: 4x, 8x)

I 15:58:12 Destination Media Sectors: 2,297,888

I 15:58:12 Write Mode: DVD

I 15:58:12 Write Type: Incremental

I 15:58:12 Write Speed: MAX

I 15:58:12 Link Size: Auto

I 15:58:12 Test Mode: No

I 15:58:12 OPC: Yes

I 15:58:12 BURN-Proof: Enabled

I 15:58:19 Filling Buffer... (130 MB)

I 15:59:07 Writing LeadIn...

I 15:59:11 Writing Session 1 of 1... (1 Track, LBA: 0 - 2273269)

I 15:59:11 Writing Track 1 of 1... (MODE1/2048, LBA: 0 - 2273269)

W 16:00:06 Waiting for buffers to recover...

W 16:00:53 Waiting for hard disk activity to reach threshold level...

I 16:00:54 Writing Sectors...

W 16:02:13 Waiting for buffers to recover...

W 16:02:59 Waiting for hard disk activity to reach threshold level...

I 16:03:00 Writing Sectors...

 

 

Thanks.

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Assuming discovery mode works fine, keep an eye on the buffer the next time you do a network burn.

 

If you can see it dropping off slowly whilst the device buffer remains constand you'll then need to look at the network speed.

 

Stick a trial version of DU Meter on or something and watch the pretty graph to see what speeds ImgBurn is able to read from your networked PC at.

 

8x *might* be pushing it on a 100mb lan, but it certainly should do more than 2x.

 

Doing fake burns during testing, I've easily had ImgBurn hitting 35 - 40 MB/s from a network machine (connected via gigabit lan). That's basically the same speed I get doing a file copy in explorer.

 

btw, optical drives DO NOT like being on controllers in RAID mode. ATA mode is by far the most compatible, use AHCI if you really need to RAID your HDDs and can't avoid it.

Better still, buy a

[dn604]

Assuming discovery mode works fine, keep an eye on the buffer the next time you do a network burn.

 

If you can see it dropping off slowly whilst the device buffer remains constand you'll then need to look at the network speed.

 

Stick a trial version of DU Meter on or something and watch the pretty graph to see what speeds ImgBurn is able to read from your networked PC at.

 

8x *might* be pushing it on a 100mb lan, but it certainly should do more than 2x.

 

Doing fake burns during testing, I've easily had ImgBurn hitting 35 - 40 MB/s from a network machine (connected via gigabit lan). That's basically the same speed I get doing a file copy in explorer.

 

btw, optical drives DO NOT like being on controllers in RAID mode. ATA mode is by far the most compatible, use AHCI if you really need to RAID your HDDs and can't avoid it.

Better still, buy a �10 sata card (silicon image 3512) for the optical drive.

 

As far as the buffer is concerned, it fills up on start, and then will burn at 6x until empty, then it moves to the device buffer (main buffer stays empty), device buffer keeps it steady for about 2min at 2x until it empties and then the main buffer fills again and the cycle starts over.

 

I'll do a discovery after this disk and report back as well as copying one of these .iso over locally and testing.

 

But as you said, I might not get 8x, but I should get more than 2x.

 

Thanks for all your help, heading out for a bit, so will test more later.

[dn604]

Assuming discovery mode works fine, keep an eye on the buffer the next time you do a network burn.

 

If you can see it dropping off slowly whilst the device buffer remains constand you'll then need to look at the network speed.

 

Stick a trial version of DU Meter on or something and watch the pretty graph to see what speeds ImgBurn is able to read from your networked PC at.

 

8x *might* be pushing it on a 100mb lan, but it certainly should do more than 2x.

 

Doing fake burns during testing, I've easily had ImgBurn hitting 35 - 40 MB/s from a network machine (connected via gigabit lan). That's basically the same speed I get doing a file copy in explorer.

 

btw, optical drives DO NOT like being on controllers in RAID mode. ATA mode is by far the most compatible, use AHCI if you really need to RAID your HDDs and can't avoid it.

Better still, buy a �10 sata card (silicon image 3512) for the optical drive.

 

Well, getting a solid 8x now burning locally. So will have to blame the RAID in this machine for now (and maybe the fact the burner is using the same controller) as I know I can burn 8x across the network using Discjuggler or even DVD Decryptor on other machines to the same shared storage. I will pick up a separate SATA controller for the burner and test again over the network. DUMeter is only reporting 2.2MB/s, so something isn't happy.

 

Thanks again for the great support and software!

 

-dn

Edited March 2, 2008 by dn604

[dn604]

btw, optical drives DO NOT like being on controllers in RAID mode. ATA mode is by far the most compatible, use AHCI if you really need to RAID your HDDs and can't avoid it.

Better still, buy a �10 sata card (silicon image 3512) for the optical drive.

 

I've checked all my local stores, but nobody carries SI Controllers, any onsite stores you recommend ordering this from?

 

Thanks!

[LIGHTNING UK!]

ebay... that's where mine came from

[dn604]

ebay... that's where mine came from

 

heh, ok thanks.

 

So, I fixed my "network issue", which was actually some incorrect settings on the Hard Drive on the network machine. When I ran some diag tools, it popped up and mentioned that Windows Support for Hard Drives Larger than 137GB wasn't enabled, so it enabled it via a registry edit), I rebooted and voila. What HDTach originally reported as 3MB/sec, was now 151MB/sec. Much better.

 

Just ran a network burn and I got a pretty solid 6x, although still some blips.

 

I 17:16:21 ImgBurn Version 2.4.0.0 started!

I 17:16:21 Microsoft Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600 : Service Pack 2)

I 17:16:21 Total Physical Memory: 2,096,212 KB - Available: 1,635,684 KB

I 17:16:21 Initialising SPTI...

I 17:16:21 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices...

I 17:16:30 Found 1 DVD±RW/RAM!

I 17:22:57 Operation Started!

I 17:22:57 Source File: \\192.168.0.1\wply.iso

I 17:22:57 Source File Sectors: 2,294,912 (MODE1/2048)

I 17:22:57 Source File Size: 4,699,979,776 bytes

I 17:22:57 Source File Volume Identifier: PAON

I 17:22:57 Source File File System(s): None

I 17:22:57 Destination Device: [2:1:0] HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH20LS10 FL00 (D:) (ATAPI)

I 17:22:57 Destination Media Type: DVD-R (Disc ID: TYG02) (Speeds: 4x, 8x)

I 17:22:57 Destination Media Sectors: 2,297,888

I 17:22:57 Write Mode: DVD

I 17:22:57 Write Type: Incremental

I 17:22:57 Write Speed: MAX

I 17:22:57 Link Size: Auto

I 17:22:57 Test Mode: No

I 17:22:57 OPC: Yes

I 17:22:57 BURN-Proof: Enabled

I 17:23:04 Filling Buffer... (40 MB)

I 17:23:09 Writing LeadIn...

I 17:23:14 Writing Session 1 of 1... (1 Track, LBA: 0 - 2294911)

I 17:23:14 Writing Track 1 of 1... (MODE1/2048, LBA: 0 - 2294911)

W 17:29:03 Waiting for buffers to recover...

W 17:29:08 Waiting for hard disk activity to reach threshold level...

I 17:29:09 Writing Sectors...

W 17:32:02 Waiting for buffers to recover...

W 17:32:07 Waiting for hard disk activity to reach threshold level...

I 17:32:08 Writing Sectors...

I 17:33:08 Synchronising Cache...

I 17:33:12 Closing Track...

I 17:33:13 Closing Session...

I 17:33:40 Exporting Graph Data...

I 17:33:40 Graph Data File: C:\Documents and Settings\dn\Application Data\ImgBurn\IBG Files\HL-DT-ST_DVDRAM_GH20LS10_FL00_SATURDAY-MARCH-08-2008_5-22_PM_TYG02_MAX.ibg

I 17:33:40 Export Successfully Completed!

I 17:33:40 Operation Successfully Completed! - Duration: 00:10:43

I 17:33:40 Average Write Rate: 7,726 KB/s (5.6x) - Maximum Write Rate: 11,106 KB/s (8.0x)

 

 

Hoping an SI controller might help.

 

But I'm pretty happy with this for now!

 

Thanks!!

Edited March 9, 2008 by dn604