[JustinHorne]

My powermac G4 has an origional superdrive rated at 4x, and it burns with an "Average" write speed of 4x, if I set it to "Best" in Toast. That makes sense.

My new MB is rated at 6x, but the average it shows in Toast, set to Best, is ~3-4 x. I can deal with it, but I'm curious why....

Is my problem the dvd media? I am using 16x dvd DASH r discs, is this slowing it down somehow?
Thanks.

[mduell]

In the olden days, they had CLV (constant linear velocity) drives. When reading/writing at the inside of the disk they'd spin the disk faster, and as the laser moved toward the outside they'd slow the disk down. This way you got 4x no matter where you were on the disk. I think CLV topped out at about 6x or 8x.

Then someone had the bright idea of not slowing the disk down, and keeping it spinning at maximum speed all the time. Enter the CAV (constant angluar velocity) era of drives advertised with deceptively high 'x' figures. So your MacBook's "6x" drive is 6x at the outside of the disk, but only about 2x at the inside of the disk, averaging out to 3-4x.

Before you ask why your MacBook's drive isn't faster at the inside, note that portable drives are generally slower than desktop drives (power and other concerns), and slot loading drives are generally slower than tray loading drives (vibration and other concerns)

[JustinHorne]

Wow, that's interesting!
Thanks for that, I certainly feel more informed now.
I'll admit though, I think it's pretty cheap marketing. I mean, sure, it's spin to 6x, but to burn a full disc, you're doing 4x on average. Oh well, thanks much!

[amazing]

Put a Pioneer 18X in the G4, it's only about $32. Or put it in an external firewire case.

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