DVD read speed

[Nikolausr]

I have a very large DVD collection and I am trying to digitize it by ripping the discs to ISO. The problem is my dvd drives aren't getting anywhere near their rated speed. One of them seems to be firmware limited to about 3x, and the other one hovers around 8x.

I want to know if there is anything I can do about this, or what drives would make good replacements. Newegg has an 18x DVD-ROM drive for $20 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106276), but even though it says that I don't know what the actual read speed would be.

[The Scientist]

You didn't mention your drive make/model.......

As long as you have checked the obviously (that you're drive is in DMA mode and not PIO) I wouldn't worry too much about it. Some disks will rip quicker than others, I love my drive, rips great but on some disks the process can be quite tedious. The method of ripping has an effect too, as an example: If I were to rip a DVD that is a different region to my system in DVD Decrypter for example and it has to switch to brute-force then ripping will be slow (starts at about x2 and slowly rises). Other disks much quicker.

You could always have a look around for any custom firmwares, see what's available, may improve things for you.

[Taurus]

The Scientist said:
You didn't mention your drive make/model.......
On my LiteOn Burner i get around 12x Speed under normal conditions.
A fimware update and/or riplock remove should do the trick.
And, as The Scientist said, make sure DMA modus is activated
and no other drivers from pessy burning programs are interferring.
On a friends pc the drivers of about 10 burning suites messed upped the system.
After carefully deleting any trails to this mess and enabling the standard Win Xp drivers,
or enabling the winaspi drivers from Nero (forgot which one I enabled), everything went back to normal.
You can always reset your DVD drive by deleting it from the list in devicemanager,
reboot and windows should rebuild it with standard settings.

[manolito]

There is a "feature" called RipLock which is integrated into many drive's firmware which deliberately limits ripping speed.

But there also is a software called "MediaCodeSpeedEdit" which can disable RipLock. Maybe you are affected by this, you should google if MediaCodeSpeedEdit is available for your specific drive.

Good luck
manolito

[Nikolausr]

Wow thanks, that MediaCodeSpeedEdit worked great! For the record it was an lg gh22ns40. I didn't post the model number because I didn't think there was anything that could be done.

I would still like to know if I would get 18x out of that ROM drive though.

[Ghitulescu]

I thought that MCSE was for burners only. And I knew the riplock can be eliminated only by reflashing the FW.

It's good to know that it works with DVD-ROMs drives too.

@Nikolausr:
If you thought that nothing could be done, why posting? :confused: :p

[lordsmurf]

Speed ramps up as the disc proceeds. It doesn't get to 12x-18x until the very end anyway. Most of a disc is read at 4x-6x. It's the same for burning.

[setarip_old]

@Nikolausr'

Hi! I would still like to know if I would get 18x out of that ROM drive though.Although the drive may be capable of burning at an average 18x, presently, the highest offered average burning speed of the available media is, to the best of my knowledge, 16x...

[lordsmurf]

Nothing can burn at an average of 18x or even 16x.

The average burn/read speed is around 4x-8x range, and it doesn't get to 16x until the last few seconds of a completely-full 4.38GB DVD. If it does up to 18x, it would only hit that at the very tail-end of the burn. There is almost NO DIFFERENCE between 12x, 16x, 18x, 20x, etc --- aside from potential data loss from a bad burn at those high speeds.

A 12x burn is the most you should do on 16x media, for the best results.

Reading that fast can be an issue, too -- causing the drive to work harder than necessary to re-read imperfect/bad areas of the disc. A slower read in the 8x-12x range is better, and can actually go faster than a 16x read that has drive thrashing from re-read attempts.

[setarip_old]

The average burn/read speed is around 4x-8x range, and it doesn't get to 16x until the last few seconds of a completely-full 4.38GB DVD.Apparently, you are claiming that the information output by IMGBurn is fallacious/incorrect, since (when set to 16x burn speed for periodic testing purposes of new batches of burnable media) my older SONY GH15L(DVD only) burner is indicated to burn at an AVERAGE 12-13X, while my newer LG GGC-H20L (BD/DVD combo) burner is indicated to burn at an AVERAGE of 13-15x...

BTW - I'm fairly certain that the consensus at Doom9 Forum is that it is surest to select a burn rate no greater than 1/2 the media's indicated maximum - meaning that you'd be safer burning 12x media (if it exists) at 6x...

Hopefully, the OP has sufficient information.opinions to move forward ;>}

[lordsmurf]

If I simple-averaged four 1's and the number 500, I'd get a skewed result.
The obvious average is three one's, so "1" is the average.

Yes, if ImgBurn claims the average burn speed is 12x, it's clearly using wrong statistical math.
Either that, or it should say "max" instead of average.
If your disc is not 100% full, and you've selected 16x, a max speed of 13x-15x is very likely for near-full media.

The optimal burn speed for 8x-16x media is not half the rating -- it's one rating under.
For 16x media, you burn 12x (or 8x if the burner can't do 12x).
For 8x media, look at 6x (or 4x if the burner can't do 6x).
If you have 4x media, you don't want to burn it 2x. Same for 2x media.
If you burn media too slow, it can be just as bad as burning it over the rating (i.e., 8x media at 12x).
Media are rated by an "x" speed for a reason.

Anybody that doesn't want to believe me needs to look up PCAV and Z-CLV burning.
The inner part of a disc reads/writes slower than the outer edge. It's a fact of physics.

The OP will only have sufficient information if he/she is given correct information to work with.

[Ghitulescu]

Just burn at 4x or less and you'll have CLV thus the average speed is the actual speed...

The burners that use more than 4x will have to use CAV, PCAV, ZLV, PZLV and their combination, with the highest speed attained only at the edge, which explains why the PI/PO errors have a peak also in that region.

[lordsmurf]

Yes, but 4x on some 16x media gives terrible results.
6x is usually CLV, too.

[LIGHTNING UK!]

My 'math' for Average Read/Write rate is simply: amount of data / time taken.

Right or wrong, that's what it is.

Burning at 24x would (according to my math) get you an average of ~15x. At 16x, not a chance.

That can be seen in the log/pictures in this post (Optiarc 7240S using TYG03 media) - http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=10843&view=findpost&p=97811

[lordsmurf]

I know. :)

Other members are trying to make it out to be something different than what it really is.
They've mixed a bunch of issues (burning + reading + riplock + true speeds).

[ala42]

I thought that MCSE was for burners only. It's good to know that it works with DVD-ROMs drives too.

Not really, and there are no riplock patches for DVD-ROM drives supported by MCSE.