computerwriter.com

CD-RW speed limit may be slowing you down

Toronto Star Fast Forward column for June 28, 2000

Copyright ©, Myles White, 2000

I think I'm already on record in this column as having declared the 3.5" floppy disk drive – if not dead – at least darned near moribund. I haven't seen any major software shipping on anything except Compact Disc for a couple of years now, and few, if any hardware companies are shipping drivers on floppy disks any more. 

Fewer do so every day when they realize that a single CD costs less to produce than a single floppy disk and holds just over 450 times as much data. So, aside from the occasional use for reading ancient backup disks created with one, the 1.44 MB floppy is soon going to join the 5.25" and 8" versions as curiosities. 

That leaves everyone and his or her great aunt fighting to become the floppy replacement. We've seen a number of devices make the attempt over the past few years, including the 2.88 MB floppy, the 20 MB floptical, the 100 MB and now 250 MB Zip, the now-departed SyQuest line, and the LS-120 SuperDisk. Each has its fans and proponents (with the obvious exception of the now-vanished floptical and SyQuest products), but none has really caught on in a major way. 

No, I haven't forgotten oddities and/or niche products such as the Panasonic PD (Phase Dual) drives, magneto-optical drives, or the yet-to-be-standardized recordable DVD drives. But they're either too expensive for most consumers to contemplate or have the disadvantage of producing discs that are only readable by the drive that created them. 

And that brings us to my candidate for the honour: the CD-RW (for ReWriteable) drive, also known among some users as a "CD Burner." It's becoming a standard component in many newer mid-range to high-end PCs. The advantages of a device that can hold 650 MB of data at one chomp are obvious when it's used to back up data on your hard drive against the day when the drive either wakes up dead, gets trashed by a virus, dies in a fire, gets ripped off by a thief, or succumbs to the curses of passing wizards. Unlike magnetic media, the CD isn't subject to being scrambled by being placed too close to a telephone. And, again unlike magnetic media, the CD's tracks don't simply deteriorate (lose their magnetic structure) over time. Yes, CD burners are also useful for making illegal copies of software and audio CDs, but I'm sure than none of Fast Forward's readers would stoop to such a vile practice.

Speed limit 

And that brings us to the product I want to mention: Hewlett Packard's newest, and fastest, CD Burner yet, the CD Writer Plus 9310i. The unit boasts a 10X write speed, 4X re-write, and 32X (max) read speed. 

For comparison's sake, earlier typical CD-RW drives, such as the CD Writer Plus 8250i was rated at 4X write, 4X rewrite, and 24X (max) read. Let's get one issue out of the way quickly. I tested both units noted above and had no difficulty either installing, using, or playing back the results on several different systems presently lurking around my skunk works. 

The only thing that bemused me was that, using the Adaptec CD Creator software that shipped with the drives – widely acknowledged to be the current best of breed for the task – the record speed of both drives was identical. 

Asking HP why a drive rated at 2.5 times the speed of the older product didn't produce faster record times turned up an interesting answer. According to Kerwyn Ballinger, of HP's Customer Satisfaction Group, there's an undocumented feature in the Adaptec software responsible for my results. 

"Adaptec wants its customers to have as much success as possible when they burn a CD," said Ballinger, "and they know that success is more likely at lower speeds, so they set the write speed to 2X, no matter how fast the drive may be capable of writing." 

And there's no way to change it. However, there is a way to work around it. CD Creator gives you two options for creating a CD: you can make a copy you can play on any CD-ROM drive (the method I used and the one Adaptec sets the speed limit for) or you can incrementally add files to the disc in an "unlocked" format you can only play back on your system until you lock it for use elsewhere. In this mode, you do get the benefit of the faster drive – but you also risk making what the industry calls a "coaster" (a CD that will keep water off your desk but will be useless for just about everything else).

One last note: While shopping for new CD-R discs to use for the review, I noticed that some were marked, "Multispeed – 2X, 8X, 12X." Others had a lower range of speeds. I mentioned this to Ballinger and asked if this was just marketing hype. 

The answer was, "No." 

Ballinger says the quality of discs you use does matter and your chances of success in creating a CD you can use later improves, particularly at high speeds, if the discs have been manufactured with that in mind. Specifications governing the manufacture of recordable discs, the drives that create them, and the drives that read them are all ranges of figures, not absolutes. So, if you have discs with a dye layer that meets only the low end of that spec., and you try to record with a laser operating at the low end of the specs for its power range, then try to play the result back on a CD-ROM drive at the low end of its range, you're likely to get unpredictable results.

More info: The Hewlett Packard CD Writer Plus 9310i (10X write, 4X re-write, 32X read) has a Canadian list price of $499, while the 8250i (4X, 4X, 24X) has been reduced to $339. Hewlett Packard Canada, www.canada.hp.com, 1-800-387-3867.

Back to top