ElectroGeeza Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 Hello! I'm new here! I haven't had any problems with ImgBurn before. Now I do! That's the reason I registered here in first place. Overview OS: Windows Vista 64-bit SP: Service Pack 1 for Vista ImgBurn: 2.4.2.0 HDD: Seagate Barracude 7200.11 ST3500320AS (S-ATA2, 500 GB, 32 MB cache) ODD: Nec ND-3520A ODD Firmware: 3.07 (date: 2006-02-09) ODD Media: TDK DVD-R (4.7 GB, 1-25X, 25 disc spindle) Nec ND-3520A details Field Value Optical Drive Properties Device Description _NEC DVD_RW ND-3520AW ATA Device Serial Number 51JA632S111 Firmware Revision 3.07 Firmware Date 2006-02-09 Buffer Size 2 MB Manufacturer NEC Device Type DVD+RW/DVD-RW Interface ATAPI Region Code 2 Remaining User Changes 4 Remaining Vendor Changes 4 Writing Speeds DVD+R9 Dual Layer 4x DVD+R 16x DVD+RW 8x DVD-R9 Dual Layer 4x DVD-R 16x DVD-RW 6x CD-R 48x CD-RW 24x Reading Speeds DVD-ROM 16x CD-ROM 48x Supported Disk Types BD-ROM Not Supported BD-R Not Supported BD-RE Not Supported HD DVD-ROM Not Supported HD DVD-R Not Supported HD DVD-RW Not Supported DVD-ROM Read DVD+R9 Dual Layer Read + Write DVD+R Read + Write DVD+RW Read + Write DVD-R9 Dual Layer Read + Write DVD-R Read + Write DVD-RW Read + Write DVD-RAM Not Supported CD-ROM Read CD-R Read + Write CD-RW Read + Write Optical Drive Features Buffer Underrun Protection Supported C2 Error Pointers Supported CD+G Not Supported CD-Text Supported Hybrid Disc Not Supported JustLink Supported LabelFlash Not Supported Layer-Jump Recording Not Supported LightScribe Not Supported Mount Rainier Not Supported SMART Not Supported CSS Supported CPRM Supported AACS Not Supported VCPS Not Supported BD CPS Not Supported Device Manufacturer Company Name Sony NEC Optiarc Inc. Product Information [url="http://www.sonynec-optiarc.com/products/index.html"]http://www.sonynec-optiarc.com/products/index.html[/url] Firmware Download [url="http://www.sonynec-optiarc.com"]http://www.sonynec-optiarc.com[/url] Seagate ST3500320AS Field Value ATA Device Properties Model ID ST3500320AS Serial Number 9QM04FVK Revision SD15 World Wide Name 5-000C50-0027D478B Device Type SATA-II Parameters 969019 cylinders, 16 heads, 63 sectors per track, 512 bytes per sector LBA Sectors 976771055 Buffer Unknown Multiple Sectors 16 ECC Bytes 4 Unformatted Capacity 476939 MB ATA Device Features 48-bit LBA Supported Advanced Power Management Not Supported Automatic Acoustic Management Not Supported Device Configuration Overlay Supported DMA Setup Auto-Activate Not Supported General Purpose Logging Supported Host Protected Area Supported, Enabled In-Order Data Delivery Not Supported Native Command Queuing Supported Phy Event Counters Supported Power Management Supported, Enabled Power-Up In Standby Not Supported Read Look-Ahead Supported, Enabled Release Interrupt Not Supported Security Mode Supported, Disabled SMART Supported, Enabled SMART Error Logging Supported SMART Self-Test Supported Software Settings Preservation Supported, Enabled Streaming Not Supported Tagged Command Queuing Not Supported Write Cache Supported, Enabled ATA Device Physical Info Manufacturer Seagate Hard Disk Name Barracuda 7200.11 500320 Form Factor 3.5" Formatted Capacity 500 GB Disks 2 Recording Surfaces 4 Physical Dimensions 146.99 x 101.6 x 26.1 mm Max. Weight 530 g Average Rotational Latency 4.16 ms Rotational Speed 7200 RPM Max. Internal Data Rate 1287 Mbit/s Average Seek 8.5 ms Track-To-Track Seek 0.8 ms Interface SATA-II Buffer-to-Host Data Rate 300 MB/s Buffer Size 32 MB Spin-Up Time 20 sec ATA Device Manufacturer Company Name Seagate Technology LLC Product Information [url="http://www.seagate.com/products"]http://www.seagate.com/products[/url] ImgBurn log I 16:00:16 ImgBurn Version 2.4.2.0 started!I 16:00:16 Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium x64 Edition (6.0, Build 6001 : Service Pack 1)I 16:00:16 Total Physical Memory: 4
LIGHTNING UK! Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 This normally happens because the program is unable to read quickly enough from your hdd. Try to make sure it's not being used (very much) by any other software whilst you're burning. Random access on the hdd will kill the transfer rate. Don't forget to defrag it too.
ElectroGeeza Posted February 23, 2009 Author Posted February 23, 2009 (edited) This normally happens because the program is unable to read quickly enough from your hdd. Try to make sure it's not being used (very much) by any other software whilst you're burning. Random access on the hdd will kill the transfer rate. Don't forget to defrag it too. Hey there! As I mentioned before, I recognized the graphical user interface of ImgBurn as soon as I started using it. It reminded me about the one used in DVD Decrypter. But it was only recently that I realized that you were the man behind this wonderful software project as well. Lightning UK, you're my hero! I have just played the movie that I've created today. I didn't watch the whole movie, I only played parts of it. I just wanted to visually inspect it to make sure there is no video distortion or sound clipping on it due to errorous recording. I couldn't find any such errors in the actual content of the movie. After that, I opened up a new instance of ImgBurn and made a new bit-by-bit comparison of the DVD media with the original image file. The operation completed successfully. From that I conclude that the disc is OK, I don't need to record another one. So I guess the buffers were recovered successfully and the hard disk activity reached the threshold level during the burning process. The only thing that I can think of that might have played a role in this issue is that I had uTorrent running in the background. But prior to even starting ImgBurn in first place, I have limited the upload bandwidth to 300 KB/s in uTorrent settings (no downloads). I don't know, but maybe 300 KB/s was too much as well. However, when I burned the second part of the same film series (Karate Kid 2), I didn't have uTorrent active at all, and the operation completed successfully without any errors. Then I burned the third film in the series (Karate Kid 3) with uTorrent active again and a stable uplink transfer speed of 300 KB/s. This time the same errors appeared again, but only once and at the end when the burning process was like 98% finished. But regardless of how many times the errors appear, it sure has to do with uTorrent being active in the background. Still, I don't get it why a 300 KB/s read operation on the HDD from uTorrent can have such impact on the performance of ImgBurn. I'm sure other such software like Nero Burning ROM would deal with it without these issues, or perhaps they wouldn't show any messages about these events of recovering buffers to the user. To be on the safe side, I will remember to terminate uTorrent when doing things in ImgBurn. Thanks for your reply! Edited February 23, 2009 by ElectroGeeza
LIGHTNING UK! Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 What you have to remember is that a drives 'fast' transfer rate speed is one where a large amount of data is accessed sequentially. Reading lots of little bits from all over the place is going to 'thrash' the hard drive and the overall transfer rate will drop significantly. Use something like HD Tune to get the top speed of your drive. A 16x burn needs a steady transfer rate of over 20MB/s. If you want to leave uTorrent running, I suggest you increase ImgBurn's buffer to something bigger than the default 20 / 40MB... i.e. 256MB. Ideally though, keep your images on a totally different hdd from the one most other apps would / could be accessing.
ElectroGeeza Posted February 27, 2009 Author Posted February 27, 2009 (edited) Thank you for the information! I have increased the buffer size for Img Burn from 40 MB to 256 MB as you suggested. I chose Tools, Settings, Build, and set Read Buffer Size to 256 MB. Is that the correct procedure?... is that the buffer for writing images?... under the Build tab?... or is there another buffer I have to set to the 256 value? Why I ask is because the changes won't apply. I mean the new value of 256 MB does get saved, i.e. when I enter the settings and the Build tab again it's there, but when I burn an image file it still says "Filling Buffer... (40 MB)". Do I have to re-start the computer for the changes to take affect?... I have done that as well, but it still says "40 MB" when burning a image file. What do I have to do, or what have I done wrong? It's true that I have the image files stored on the same physical drive as the operating system and applications. They are only separated by the different partitions they use. I currently have to have it set up this way, but I will bear your suggestion in mind for the next time I re-configure the drives on the computer. As for the speed of the disk drive, I have two of the above mentioned Seagate drives - one for OS system, and another for storage of personal files. I have just tested them both with HD Tune. The average transfer speed for the system drive was 88.1 MB/s, minimum is 51.9 MB/s, maximum is 111.1 MB/s, burst rate is 163.1 MB/s, and access time was 13 ms. The average transfer speed for the storage drive is 85.3 MB/s, minimum is 51.4 MB/s, maximum is 106.6 MB/s, burst rate is 162.9 MB/s, and access time is 12.6 ms. During the test no additional software application was running, except for the autostart objects and services. Are these values sufficient enough? I know it's little bit off topic, but is there any place I can compare them with results from others? Edited February 27, 2009 by ElectroGeeza
mmalves Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 As LUK said above ~20 MB/s is enough for 16x DVD burning, so even at the slowest area of your HDs you still have enough for ~36x DVD burning By the way, you should leave the Build buffer at the default 40MB value and change the I/O buffer (in the I/O tab respectively) to 256MB.
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