Burning 1x media at 2x

[trekkerj]

I upgraded from an old 1x burner to a brand new Lite-On burner. Everything seems ok, however, since I haven't gotten my shipment of 8x discs, I tried using some 1x discs. Nero Express had the option of which speed to burn at grayed out, and the only choice was 2x, which seemed to work. How can I burn a 1x disc at 2x, and it is safe? Why doesn't it let me choose 1x? These are Ritek G03's, I believe. (I'm about to get a bunch of Ritek 8x +R discs, so it's a moot point, but I'm still curious).

[[_chéf_]]

If the drive cannot burn DVD-R at 1x you'll not have that choice...

[atreides93]

Well, this confused me too when I first saw this after upgrading from my old 1x drive. Basically it seems most if not all the newer drives only go down to 2x speed.
You can record at 2x on a Ritek G03, but the reliability will vary depending on the write strategy employed by your firmware.
The reason 2X wasn't supported by most drives was the firmware had to be updated to support it.

For 2x burning the drive had to know what media it was burning to so it could use the appropriate write strategy. When they went to 4X media, they decided to add the info the firmware needed at the beginning of the 4x disk. So this lets you use any 4x rated disk on any 4x capable burner without difficulties. (well ideally).

I found that my NEC1300a didn't burn G03's at 2x very reliably. Try running cd speed on your burns and see if they're any good. If they are, then count yourself lucky and keep doing it.