Can you burn disks at 16X on a G4. I have a MDD and I'm not sure how fast the optical drive bus is but I could swear its an ATA-3 bus, which I think is either 16MBps or 33MBps. Not quite sure. Does anyone have one and can vauch the full 16 speed while burning.
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16X DVD burner in a G4?
- Thread starter TyleRomeo
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I have a 17" G4 PowerBook and it burns CD's at 16X
Firmware Revision: DXJ3
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Burn Underrun Protection DVD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO
Media: No
The maximum burn speed of your drive is not affected by the IDE Bus. The IDE Bus is sufficient to burn at speeds up to the maximum speed of any shipping drive.
There are instances which could cause the drive to wait for information due to delays. But, newer drives have buffer under-run protection built-in, and that should eliminate any potential problems.
In-fact, you are more likely to suffer buffer under-run problems with older and slower drives. Not because of their writing speed, but because they did not contain buffer under-run protection.
Buffer under-run has been an issue since the first CD-Writers. But, became less of an issue as newer drives incorporated protection mechanisms to prevent unsuccessful burns.
But, to minimize problems, your CD or DVD writer should be located on a different IDE cable than your primary hard drive (or whichever hard drive will contain the information you are burning to CD).
So, if your hard drive is on the Primary IDE channel, then place your CD-Writer on the Secondary IDE channel. Most tower-class computers contain two IDE connectors on the main logic board. One is the Primary and the other is the secondary.
To sum it up, the maximum burn speed is going to be determined by your drive and the quality of the media you use. The speed of the IDE / ATA bus is not really a factor.
I am still not sure. OWC says this
"PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENT:
To achieve the specified writing and reading performance it is important that the DVR-112D is connected to the IDE port via an 80 way ribbon cable and that the IDE port is at least UDMA 66 or above."
What is an 80 way ribbon? I doubt that the G4s have this, I'm sure the G5s are fine. Does anyone have an 16x or faster burner in their G4s that can testify that they are getting all the speed benefits.
The Mirror Drive Door PowerMac G4 has an ATA/66 IDE BUS. So, that requirement is met.
The 80-conductor cable is simply that. It is a 40-pin cable with 80 wires.
Yes, sounds odd. But, it is actually a 40-pin connector cable with 80 wires running through it. The additional 40 wires are used to minimize cross-talk and enable higher-speed transfers with reduced data loss / noise.
If the machine didn't come with an 80-conductor cable, then one could be obtained for about $3 or less. I called my local store when I needed one, and was quoted $3. When I got there, they gave me an 80-conductor cable, and said no charge.
Well, actually, there was a fee. They asked that I make sure to refer people to them.
So, the requirements should be met. If the system doesn't actually have an 80-conductor ribbon cable, then just grab one cheap, and go with it
Edit: The machine is listed as having one ATA/66 and one ATA/100 port. Most likely the ATA/100 is used for the hard drive. But, either port will more than meet the requirements. Each port would handle two drives. So, two ATA/66 and two ATA/100 drives. Best performance would be placing the hard drive on the ATA/100 and CD or DVD writer on the ATA/66 port. This way you are not sharing the bandwidth between the two drives (by sharing a cable).
The Mirror Drive Door PowerMac G4 has an ATA/66 IDE BUS. So, that requirement is met.
The 80-conductor cable is simply that. It is a 40-pin cable with 80 wires.
Yes, sounds odd. But, it is actually a 40-pin connector cable with 80 wires running through it. The additional 40 wires are used to minimize cross-talk and enable higher-speed transfers with reduced data loss / noise.
If the machine didn't come with an 80-conductor cable, then one could be obtained for about $3 or less. I called my local store when I needed one, and was quoted $3. When I got there, they gave me an 80-conductor cable, and said no charge.
Well, actually, there was a fee. They asked that I make sure to refer people to them.
So, the requirements should be met. If the system doesn't actually have an 80-conductor ribbon cable, then just grab one cheap, and go with it
Edit: The machine is listed as having one ATA/66 and one ATA/100 port. Most likely the ATA/100 is used for the hard drive. But, either port will more than meet the requirements. Each port would handle two drives. So, two ATA/66 and two ATA/100 drives. Best performance would be placing the hard drive on the ATA/100 and CD or DVD writer on the ATA/66 port. This way you are not sharing the bandwidth between the two drives (by sharing a cable).
Are you saying that the MDD have two seperate ATA 66 buses? The MDD have room for 4 internal hard drives and two optical drives. The have drive buses are ATA 66 and ATA 100. I have 4 hard drives already inside connected to those two buses. I want to make sure that my optical drive right now and the one extra optical bay I have are on a ATA 66 bus and not something that will be able to take full advantage of the write speed of 16x or faster DVD burning superdrive.
The information I was looking at came from MacTracker. But, as I understand it, the indication is that there is one ATA/66 BUS and one ATA/100 BUS on the mainboard.
It does not say how many connectors there are. But, each connector can operate two drives. If there are only two, then this would give you a maximum of 4 drives in the system If there are 3, then that would give you a maximum of 6 drives in the system.
Probably best to just open the computer and look. That would be the most direct way of answering the question. You may have two ATA/100 connectors on the ATA/100 BUS and one ATA/66 connector on the ATA/66 BUS.
I'd have to find a picture of the mainboard on your computer to know for sure. But, you could probably tell by opening it up and taking a look.
I hope this helps.
On the same ATA-4 (33 MB/s) bus I might worry for a 16X DVD burner and a hard drive. The hard drive's access time should still prevent most problems. Otherwise a sole device 16X isn't going to fully saturate the bus.
The MDD have up to 6 internal drives. So there are 3 seperate buses like you noted inside. I have looked inside and its ATA 33 for the optical drive bays. I which would mean up to 33MBps transfers which is fast enough but only in theory since they say you should have an ATA-66 bus for your optical drives.
I have this unit in my G4 Gigabit ethernet system .. Spec @ 1 Ghz Dual Cpu and 1.5GB of Ram
SONY DVD RW DRU-810A:
Firmware Revision: 1.0e
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Unsupported)
Profile Path: None
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +RW, +R DL
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Burn Underrun Protection DVD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: No
I have iLife 06 so yes its iDvd compatible but its not apple supported
SONY DVD RW DRU-810A:
Firmware Revision: 1.0e
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Unsupported)
Profile Path: None
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +RW, +R DL
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Burn Underrun Protection DVD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: No
I have iLife 06 so yes its iDvd compatible but its not apple supported
The optical bays in the MDD are connected to the ATA/33 bus by default. I currently have a MDD 867 with a Pioneer 107D connected and buffer underrun is supported. I haven't had any problems burning using iTunes or Toast 8.
PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-107D:
Firmware Revision: A707
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported)
Cache: 2000 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +RW
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Burn Underrun Protection DVD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: No
You can change the bus, but you need to find the cables to do this as the installed cables are too short to reach another bus. I also have a ATA/66 IDE card, but a standard ribbon cable won't work as the case door opens, moving the card and increasing the necessary cable length. I might look to change to rounded cables as it would help airflow.
Mike
PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-107D:
Firmware Revision: A707
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported)
Cache: 2000 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +RW
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Burn Underrun Protection DVD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: No
You can change the bus, but you need to find the cables to do this as the installed cables are too short to reach another bus. I also have a ATA/66 IDE card, but a standard ribbon cable won't work as the case door opens, moving the card and increasing the necessary cable length. I might look to change to rounded cables as it would help airflow.
Mike
Thanks Mike good to know. So yours is an 8 speed DVD burner attached to the ATA 33 bus of the optical bay. Do you still have you original optical drive in the second optical bay?
In addition I have used a DVR-111D on my Power Mac G4 MDD 2003. It was on the standard PATA bus and cables for the optical drive slots and did burn at 16x.
It was on the standard PATA bus and cables for the optical drive slots and did burn at 16x.In addition I have used a DVR-111D on my Power Mac G4 MDD 2003.
When you mean standard PATA bus you are refering to the ATA 33 bus that attaches to the 2 optical drive bays? If so that's great news. Since 16x DVD burn is 22.16MB/sec that means that the ATA 33 bus can handle the full speed of the drive. It can then also handle the newer drives that burn at 20x which would be 27.7MB/sec. As long as you are not taxing the ATA 33 with another optical drive at the same time. If I am correct on this someone please let me know. All this bus talk can be confusing.
Yes, I have the original combo drive and the Pioneer 107 on the same bus. I generally pick the max burn speed available and haven't had any problems. I had an LG 52x24x48 drive in place of the combo drive before and didn't have problems burning. I only removed the LG as my dad needed a new optical drive and he didn't feel like buying a new drive so I gave him mine and I went back to the original Apple combo drive.
Mike
Yes, having two CD-ROM drives on the same bus is not a problem. The main issue with having two drives on the same bus is when you try to use them simultaneously.
If you were simultaneously reading from one drive and then writing to another drive on the same bus, you would end-up running into a slow-down that would potentially affect your burning.
So, if you were intending to copy a CD directly to another disk, then you would want the two drives on separate busses for best performance. If you will only be using one drive at a time, then sharing the same bus should be no problem.
The same would apply if you intend to copy data from your hard drive to a CD-ROM drive (which is more common). You would ideally prefer to have your CD-ROM / Writer on a separate bus or channel from your hard drive.