Well, the project was to copy to the CD-RW a full ThinkPad
HDD backup made with the IBM Rescue & Recovery Program.  R&R
actually has an option for this task so we did not use
either the Win XP applet or the IBM-provided DLA program,
each of  which apparently allows for Drag & Drop of files to
the CD drive icon of My Computer.  On each new CD-RW, the
program "premastered" initially, then "copied", and then
"verified".   I just surmised that "premastering" is a
function for CD's that is analogous to formatting for
diskettes.

With this program, there was no opportunity to set or to
adjust burn speed.

So, does that sound about right?

Thomas J. Holmes, Jr., P.C.
By Thomas J. Holmes, Jr.
[log in to unmask] 


-----Original Message-----
From: Personal Computer Hardware discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Richard
Glazier
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2007 11:36 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] CD-ROM Format

From: "Don Penlington"

clipped

> If the data is important, you are probably aware that it
pays to buy 
> good quality disks, as the cheaper no-name ones tend to
lack proper 
> protective coatings. It's best to burn at least one step
less than the 
> maximum speed, to reduce errors.
> 
> After burning, do some random checks on the CD data to
make sure you 
> have been successful.

Note that for CDs, the rated speed of the DISK is not
embedded on the disk where the "burning drive" can see it,
and adjust to it...
It is only on the packaging, or "printed" on the disk...
I think you can lock a drive to a maximum speed somewhere in
Windows...
(I still have 1X disks that would be happy to burn at 40X or
so, but likely not work...)

On DVDs speed is locked to a certain "range" by the drive
firmware, (right or wrong, BTW, so upgrade your firmware if
you can get any...)

I like burning all my CDs or DVD in a program that will read
them right away to verify them... I buy decent blanks, but
still get about 1 or 2 % bad burns...
Since I value what I an burning, I want to know right away
if anything went wrong...
(This doubles the time it takes, but I am in no rush...)
Note with a CD burning program, you get to pick your burn
speed each time.

 
Rick Glazier

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