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Setting CD-ROM Speed in Win95 Control Panel

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Grandcheapskate

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I have a P90 with rtwo CD ROMs...a 56x reader and a 2x rewriter. For some reason I was getting buffer underruns trying to write a few files to a CD from the hard drive, so I checked around and found a setting I have never played with before. It is located in Control Panel - System - Performance Tab. Under Advanced Settings there is a selection for File System and then the tab for CD ROM.

Here you can select the "Optimized access pattern" for CDs. There are a few choices based on speed, two of which are "double speed" and "quad speed or higher". Having two CD drives, I'm not sure which I should use since one drive is 56x and the other is 2x. It had defaulted to quad-speed and I am now trying double-speed.

Suggestions?

Thanks...Joe
 
What tool are you using to write to a CD?

Most CD writing tools control the write speed themselves. To correct a writing error related to speed, you would need to change the speed setting in the specific tool you are using.

The Windows settings you are looking at only relate to read and read-ahead caching.
 
SomeGuy said:
What tool are you using to write to a CD?

Most CD writing tools control the write speed themselves. To correct a writing error related to speed, you would need to change the speed setting in the specific tool you are using.

The Windows settings you are looking at only relate to read and read-ahead caching.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I guess I will leave it set at "quad speed or higher" as I always use the 56x to read a CD.

The CD writing software is Adaptec Easy CD Creator v3.5c, which came with the rewriter. It can only write at 1x or 2x. I'll have to look elsewhere for the buffer underrun problem.

Joe
 
ImgBurn 2.4.4.0 works well on Windows 95 for burning CDs and DVDs. Just don't let it install the Google toolbar, and be wary of later versions as at some point they started bundling worse crapware/malware, so they shouldn't be trusted any more. (But watch all the kids eat it up anyway)

I'd also check the hard drive for weak/bad sectors, especially if it is original to the P90. Any retrying could trip up a writing process.

I'm also surprised a 2x CD writer has lasted this long. But it is probably just me and extremely bad luck. Every single CD drive I have owned starts going flaky after a few years of use.
 
I remember buffer underuns, painful. For a dual speed burn, if your computer ever fails to continually deliver 300KB/s - the CD will be ruined. Stuff like disabling screen savers, putting the HDD/CDR on seperate IDE channels, not doing anything else on the computer, or even using a faster computer should all help.

It's not so much about access, as it is about reliable bandwidth throughput. If the laser hits the disk and the buffer becomes empty, it's game over.

I believe this was sorted out later with the help of software and improved firmware - allowing the write to pause when the buffer ran low, and resume once refilled. But this is just from my memory - and the number of times I got angry at early CD writers.
 
The Acer 2x rewriter has held up well over the years, although the Acer reader it came with failed long ago - hence the 56x reader to replace it. Of course it is well past it's prime but for the purpose I have it is sufficient. The PC has no other software other than the CD writing software so there should be no interference. The Adaptec software which came with the rewriter can act a little strange at times, but it works 99% of the time. If I am writing a CD, I just set the machine up and walk away because it can take close to an hour to write an entire CD.

The buffer underruns were caught during the testing phase so I didn't lose anything. And they did not occur on any subsequent writes, so no need to look any further right now. I may try to put a second hard drive in the machine whose sole purpose will be to hold the swap and temporary files.

Thanks...Joe
 
Stone said:
Why don't you use a contemporary machine to write CDs? Too easy? No challenge in it? :)
Click to expand...

Well, all these old machines need to have some purpose in life :) ...for this P90 and 2x writer, it's destiny is to be the machine which stores and writes all my computer related files (drivers, copies of floppies, etc.). There are faster writers which I can use to copy CDs, slipsteam WinXP CDs, etc.

Joe
 
Grandcheapskate said:
Well, all these old machines need to have some purpose in life...
Click to expand...
They also have limitations, as well, and recognizing their limitations can sometimes add to their useful enjoyment. I'd rather use a known reliable CD writer/system than have to wonder if somewhere down the line a CD you need is really going to work. I'd also rather know that the first try at writing a CD will be successful as opposed to going through a stack of blanks only to finally realize that the technique is flawed to begin with. BTW, this goes back to that definition of insanity in that other, earlier thread. :) :) :)
 
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