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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > Superdrive-worst optical drive I have ever used

Superdrive-worst optical drive I have ever used
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anticon
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Jan 27, 2004, 12:19 PM
 
I recently bought native instruments kontakt for my 15"albook. I installed the program and then later copied across the 5 CD discs of sounds that came with it. To copy across these five discs it took just under two hours. I then tried it on my friends 15 albook and it took close to the same time. I then booted up my 7 year old pentium 2 fujitsu lifebook with a cd drive and it took just over 30 minutes. I then tried it on my friends dell inspirion 8200 and it took around 25 minutes.
This doesn't just happen with the kontakt cds. All other cds I have copied across do it in more or less the same time.
     
parsec_kadets
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Jan 27, 2004, 05:44 PM
 
This is just a shot in the dark, but what are the speeds of your hard drives in each computer? Are those PCs using 4200RPM drives? I kind of doubt this is the problem, but just a thought.
     
ibook_steve
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Jan 27, 2004, 05:58 PM
 
Define "copied across." Is this just a drag and drop or is there an installer? Do these files need to be decompressed? Copying a full CD (about 650 MB) should never take that long.

Steve
     
moodymonster
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Jan 27, 2004, 06:04 PM
 
Thats the deal with the superdrive, you trade off speed for the ability to burn dvds as well as cds. A cd only burner will go at least twice the speed.

I think the superdrive runs up to 16 speed, the fastest cd only burners go at 54 speed, but can't burn dvds.

Reading wise superdrive is about half speed a cd-rom only drive.

When I first read the post I took it to mean burning backups of the discs, coping should take minutes. I have a standalone 48x cd burner that will burn a disc in less than 5 minutes, let alone read one.
     
anticon  (op)
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Jan 27, 2004, 09:28 PM
 
I am not to sure of the hard disk in the fujitsu but the dell inspiron is 5400RPM
By copied across I meant dragging and dropping files from the cd to my desktop. The files on the kontakt cds were mainly just wavs.
Burning a cd is never really a problem. Usually in Toast a 650mb data disc burns in around 5 minutes or so.
Usually if I have an 700mb .avi on a cdr and drag it to my desktop the estimated time remaining is around 15-18 minutes but it usually takes a little longer than that. The estimated time usually starts at around 5-6 minutes but then it starts to get longer and longer. The kontakt files took alot longer. Close to 30 minutes a disc.
I posted this a while back when I first got the powerbook and someone said it may have something to do with the speed that the files were burnt at. Well I burnt an .avi onto a cdr and it took around 4 minutes. To drag this file back to the desktop from the cdr took 12 minutes.
     
mrmister
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Jan 27, 2004, 11:45 PM
 
It's because of the SuperDrive speed issue--on both the PC and Mac sides. If you need a lot of speed and no CD burning, get a combo drive. Otherwise, wait and soon technology is sure to catch up to where you want.
     
polendo
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Jan 28, 2004, 12:14 AM
 
Where they CDRW's? I had a hard time the other day doing just that.
     
Paul Huang
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Jan 28, 2004, 02:43 AM
 
DVD-R in a notebook is just the silliest thing I have seen in a long time. Transfer the files to the desktop and burn it there or use an external 4X DVD-R is way faster than wearing out the spindle of the drive in the PowerBook.

Slow and costly.
     
popstand
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Jan 28, 2004, 03:16 AM
 
Originally posted by Paul Huang:
DVD-R in a notebook is just the silliest thing I have seen in a long time. Transfer the files to the desktop and burn it there or use an external 4X DVD-R is way faster than wearing out the spindle of the drive in the PowerBook.

Slow and costly.
Silly for you, necessary for others. The last thing I need is to be dragging an external DVD burner around the country with me. I've burned over two hundred DVDs on my burner and have experienced no problems. I hadn't heard that spindle wear was an issue, and I doubt that it will be.
     
Paul Huang
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Jan 29, 2004, 04:10 AM
 
Offices and studios that I visit all have external DVD-R drives. These are standard issues for my clients.

Let's see, burning at 1X and full 4.5GB. 200 DVDs. Hmmmm, not only do you have DVDs to burn, you also have TIME to burn.

You are ready for a breakdown soon.

Silly for you, necessary for others. The last thing I need is to be dragging an external DVD burner around the country with me. I've burned over two hundred DVDs on my burner and have experienced no problems. I hadn't heard that spindle wear was an issue, and I doubt that it will be. [/QUOTE]
     
JayTay
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Jan 29, 2004, 05:46 AM
 
Originally posted by Paul Huang:
DVD-R in a notebook is just the silliest thing I have seen in a long time. Transfer the files to the desktop and burn it there or use an external 4X DVD-R is way faster than wearing out the spindle of the drive in the PowerBook.

Slow and costly.
Well personally I don't have a desktop so having a SuperDrive in my PowerBook is ideal for me.
     
phantomo
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Jan 29, 2004, 06:12 AM
 
JayTay said: Well personally I don't have a desktop so having a SuperDrive in my PowerBook is ideal for me.
I'll second that, a SuperDrive in my PB makes a lot of sense to me. I were in my parents place showing them my vacation DVDs. Since they wanted a copy, I just burn it with my PB. Simple and fast. It is not about silliness but choice.

Back to original topic, if it is true that you drag and drop from CD-RW, it is usually slower.

I just made a test to copy files from CD to HD by your method, the 600MB disc took just 7 minutes. Multiply that by 5 ==> maximum 35 minutes.
15"MBP/C2D2.4GHz/4GB RAM/320GB HD
15"MBP/C2D2.16GHz/3GB RAM/250GB HD
12"PB/1GHz/768MB/60GB/SuperDrive/AE
iPhone 8GB/iPod video 30GB
     
popstand
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Jan 29, 2004, 02:32 PM
 
Originally posted by Paul Huang:
Offices and studios that I visit all have external DVD-R drives. These are standard issues for my clients.

Let's see, burning at 1X and full 4.5GB. 200 DVDs. Hmmmm, not only do you have DVDs to burn, you also have TIME to burn.

You are ready for a breakdown soon.
First of all, they burn at 2X, and I don't sit in front of my computer for the 25-30 minutes it takes to do so. The time issue is irrelevant for me. Secondly, I don't have ready access to free external DVD burners, and I don't think I'd use them if I did. I don't think I want to sit around somebody elses office/studio for an hour so I can burn a few DVDs. Thirdly, you are basing your breakdown prediction on total supposition. What exactly makes you believe that external drives are bulletproof and internal superdrives are fragile little eggs? Type the search term...superdrive "spindle failure" into google and you will get exactly one hit.
( Last edited by popstand; Jan 29, 2004 at 02:48 PM. )
     
SEkker
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Jan 30, 2004, 11:07 AM
 
I think the Superdrive is terrific for PB users -- a PB is by definition a jack-of-all-trades machine.

If I WANTED a desktop machine, I'd certainly consider both external AND internal high speed DVD writers. I think if you're doing serious DVD burning, you're probably regularly working with large data files. On a PB, the only way to go with this kind of work is via an external (and likely externally powered) FW drive. And then you're back to a desktop-like setup. Daisy chain a nice external DVD burner, and all you have to do is plug in a single cable and you're ready to go.

There are times when speed on my PB is limiting (HD, DVD burning, etc) but I more than make up for it by having all of my work on one central computer.
     
   
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