multi task

[faithfoo]

1) apart from 5 Gb of space in the hard disk,
can I multi task ( burn DVD and work on e mails/word document, listen CD ALL at same time ..) without suffering any writing errors on DVD
my LG 4082 DVD writer is connected as an external casing via firewire/USB to a Pentium 3 notebook , 1.2 Ghz with 256 Mb Ram

[Tuning]

What datarate is required for DVD burning? If your HDD isnt enough for giving the required datarate for all these tasks, error may happen. :rolleyes:

[killingspree]

well i'm not running a p3, but tasks as checking your mail, word processing and listening to musik actually shouldn't be any problem! i do it all the time...

edit: second thoughts: iirc most laptop hds are 5400 rpm with mediocre reading speads at max - so i would do any other hd intensive tasks either (like reading larger documents, or playing something from a disk... you know...

[ammck55]

We could bat around several different ideas on multi-tasking while running your burning software, starting with a memory upgrade, but why not just crank one up and see how far you can push it? It would only take a coaster, or two, to give you an idea of what your system can handle. Doesn't this model of LG burn at 4x, and if it does, aren't you closing out burns in like 14-17 minutes?

I read here in the forum a long time ago that it was a good idea to switch user profiles (an option with XP) while transcoding if you needed to multi-task, but I've always tried to keep my hands off my machine whilst burning. :)

ammck55