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I did try to figure out the thread you already have listing makes/speeds/etc. I have no idea what speed my dvd drive goes at, (It says transfer Rate 1064.70 kbytes/sec.) The manufacturer is listed as 'Standard CD-ROM Drives'. Maybe someone here knows where that info can be found?

I run windows XP service pack 2, Dell inspiron 8600 Intel Celeron, 1500 MHz, 1.50 GHz, 512 MB RAM. I don't know what info you need about my computer, so I just gave it all to you.

I need to rewrite to the discs often for certain database info, so will need some CD/DVD-RWs. For regular audio or data files, I will use CDRs and DVDRs.

I have been looking at customer comments, and it seems some brands are only good as frisbees. Could anyone recommend a good brand for me to use for all my needs?

Also, a recommendation on a media label maker? (inkjet)

Thank You very much,
damalas@aol.com

Welcome to CDRLabs!

To find out more about your drive and the media types you are using, use the Nero InfoTool and Nero CD-DVD Speed. These come with Nero, or can be downloaded from Erik Deppe's website: http://www.cdspeed2000.com/go.php3?link=download.html

You can't go wrong using Verbatim media for your rewritable needs. Generally, this is a good choice for write-once media as well- but look for "Azo" on the packaging.

Media made by Taiyo Yuden is generally regarded as the best there is. However, this is not always easy to find because TY is a manufacturer and not a vendor. Brands in Europe using TY media include Plextor (expensive) and Verbatim DataLife Pastel (not colour discs). Generally "Made in Japan" is an indicator of TY or other (usually) good media types. This doesn't mean that these are the only good types, of course.

As to labels- personally I use the Nero Cover Designer and print directly to CD/DVD with my Canon i865 printer (2 years old) or use WordPerfect (my text processor) with paper labels (never use paper labels on DVDs). Outside of North America, all Canon inkjet printers in the 3000 or higher series will print on a disc with a special tray. Of course you'll need special printable media for this.

G

MediumRare wrote:Welcome to CDRLabs!

To find out more about your drive and the media types you are using, use the Nero InfoTool and Nero CD-DVD Speed. These come with Nero, or can be downloaded from Erik Deppe's website: http://www.cdspeed2000.com/go.php3?link=download.html
G

Wow! What a lot of great info..thank you very much I am not too clear on how to print directly onto a cd/dvd.. my AIO (Canon Pixel MP500) does have cassette printing as well as auto-feed. Is that what you mean?

Donna

damalas wrote:I am not too clear on how to print directly onto a cd/dvd.. my AIO (Canon Pixel MP500) does have cassette printing as well as auto-feed. Is that what you mean?

No- unless it's different in your AIO. With my printer, there's an additional plastic insert that you have mount in the front of the printer- a tray that holds the CD/DVD then get pulled in for printing.

However this is not available on Canon printers in North America (Epson holds some kind of a patent). So if you're in Canada or the US, you won't see this.

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture available. You may be able to find one in a brochure on Canon's European site (the brochures link is not working at present).

G

MediumRare wrote:With my printer, there's an additional plastic insert that you have mount in the front of the printer- a tray that holds the CD/DVD then get pulled in for printing.

O.K., I don't have that kind of printer.

I did the tests in those programs and I have a 24x combo drive, it can read cd/dvd but not write dvd according to the results. How lame is that!!

I put Verbatim 24x cd azo in dogpile search engine, and got swamped with all kinds of links...some matching but most not. I'm going blind! Is there a reputable place to order these online? (spool is fine, cost is biggest factor)

Again, my thanks... I now know all about my cd drive!
Donna

damalas wrote:Is there a reputable place to order these online?

That depends on where you live. Sources in Germany (where I live) probably won't help you much.

I don't think that Verbatim still produces 24x CDR-media (CD-RW's, yes)- it's all 48x or 52x these days. If your drive has a fairly up-to-date firmware, you shouldn't have problems with that, though.

G

When I looked at the test results using the Nero Info Tools program this is what I got:

Read Speed : 24 , 20 , 16 , 10 , 4 X
Write Speed : 4 X

So, in order to write to cds/cd-rws I need to get only 4X speed? I want to get the right Verbatim DataLifePlus discs. The 16X -24X say ultra speed. Do I have that?

I am sorry for bugging you, but I figure once I know the correct discs to buy, I will not have any problems, I hope.

I bet you are tired of me... sorry,
Donna

If those are all the available reading/writing speed, your drive is rather old. 4x writing speed has been obsolete for a long time.

Would you please post the information from the Nero Info Tool? We may be able to determine just which drive Dell put into your computer, e.g. by looking at the firmware, and give better recommendations. To do that:
- start Nero Info Tool
- click on the floppy symbol
- save the list to a file (you can uncheck "Driver" to keep it a bit smaller)
- upload the file as an attachment
or
- paste the contents in in your reply- preferably in a "code" block (between [code ] [/code ])

You have to be very careful with rewritables, because there are 4 different speed groups available for CD-RW, and older drives will not write to "faster" ones:
- 4x (normal)
- 8x-12x (high speed)
- 16x-24x (ultra-speed)
- 32x (ultra-speed+)
So if your drive can only write @4x, don't try to use faster rewritables.

G

let's see if this works..btw, I just bought this dell a year and a half ago. Tell me if this is enough info

Code: Select all

Nero InfoTool 4.03

Drive Information
------------------
Drive                      : HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4243N
Type                       : Combo Drive
Firmware Version           : A102
Buffer Size                : 2 MB
Date                       : ?
Serial Number
Vendor Specific            :  ABLBA   04/03/22   

Thanks,
Donna
Drive Letter               : D:\
Location                   : 1:0
Mechanism                  : Tray
Read Speed                 : 24 , 20 , 16 , 10 , 4  X
Write Speed                : 4  X

Read CD Text               : Yes
Return C2 Pointers         : Yes
Read CD-R                  : Yes
Read CD-RW                 : Yes
Read DVD-ROM               : Yes
Read DVD-RAM               : No
Read DVD-R                 : Yes
Read DVD-RW                : Yes
Read DVD-R DL              : Yes
Read DVD+R                 : Yes
Read DVD+RW                : Yes
Read DVD+R DL              : No
Read BD-ROM                : No
Read BD-R                  : No
Read BD-RE                 : No
Read HD DVD-ROM            : No
Read HD DVD-R              : No
Read HD DVD-RW             : No
Read HD-BURN               : No
Read Digital Audio         : Yes
Read CD+G                  : No
Read VideoCD               : Yes

Write CD-R                 : Yes
Write CD-RW                : Yes
Write DVD-R                : No
Write DVD-RW               : No
Write DVD-R DL             : No
Write DVD+R                : No
Write DVD+RW               : No
Write DVD+R DL             : No
Write DVD-RAM              : No
Write BD-R                 : No
Write BD-RE                : No
Write HD DVD-R             : No
Write HD DVD-RW            : No
Write HD-BURN-R            : No
Write HD-BURN-RW           : No
Buffer Underrun Protection : Yes
Mount Rainier              : No
SolidBurn                  : No
Labelflash                 : No
Modes                      : Packet, TAO, DAO, SAO, RAW SAO, RAW DAO, RAW SAO 16, RAW SAO 96, RAW DAO 16, RAW DAO 96

Region Protection Control  : RPC II
Region                     : None
Changes User               : 5
Changes Vendor             : 4


That's the right information! It says exactly which drive it is, so now we have to find the supported writing speeds. The Nero Info tool will give default values if there is no disc in the drive. These don't always reflect the true capabilities of the drive.

I'm afraid I'll have to pass this on to someone else, though, because I know nothing about these particular drives. There are are other forum denizens who should be able to help you, or you could try if Google gives a useful result with HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4243N (a quick try didn't show much useful info on the first 3 pages).

In any case, I think the general information, esp. on CD-RWs, should help you to make reasonable decisions.

G

MediumRare wrote:That's the right information! It says exactly which drive it is, so now we have to find the supported writing speeds. The Nero Info tool will give default values if there is no disc in the drive.
G

I had a 4X Maxell CD-RW in the drive. I do not understand what you mean about supported writing speeds. It says in the Nero info that the Write Speed is 4X.

If I need to talk to someone else to figure out what discs I can use, what thread would I look at? I didn't know this would be so hard and confusing


Donna

damalas wrote:I had a 4X Maxell CD-RW in the drive. I do not understand what you mean about supported writing speeds. It says in the Nero info that the Write Speed is 4X.

Ah! That's why it said 4x for that disc! It can write faster with other media then- maybe your handbook (if you got one with the computer) says a bit more?

damalas wrote:If I need to talk to someone else to figure out what discs I can use, what thread would I look at? I didn't know this would be so hard and confusing


Donna

Just stay in this thread. I hope that someone else will jump in and pass on the needed info. If not, I'll do some nudging with a PM or 2.

Have to go now- got a date.

G

Thank you for all of this help. I called Dell and gave them that drive name and asked what speed it could read and write at. He said I would have to pay $39 for the answer, because my one year coverage was over.

I did a little arguing, and he finally said that it can read and write at 24X. I do not know if I believe him. But buying one disc would be a cheap way to find out if a 24X cd can be writen to on this drive.

If anyone else has been following this thread, please do jump in if you have any other info on this.

Gads! They really make you work hard to use their computer.

Donna

Hi Donna,

I don't use RWs so can't help you there.. I did some searching over at Dell and found your drive details in the links below.

Read the column to the right of "Read/Write & Rotational Speed" , scroll down to < write > and you will see the supported write speeds.

Specs. > http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/s ... /specs.htm


The whole document > http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/s ... /index.htm


Good luck with your drive/media test.

Wow, You are amazing! Thank you so much. From the info below, it looks like I can use the UltraSpeed 24X cds or cd-rws... I am not sure what CAV means, though. Very nice! I still wish I could write to dvds, but oh well, at least I can now buy the danged discs and start to store things on them

Code: Select all

CD-RW Normal Disc  4x CLV
    High speed Disc  4x, 10x CLV
    Ultra speed Disc 10x CLV, 10x-16x PCAV, 24x MAX CAV
Rotational Speed (CD-R/RW) 4x CLV: Approx. 800 - 2,020 r/min
    10x CLV: Approx. 2,000 - 5,050 r/min
    24x MAX CAV: Approx. 4,860 - 5,200 r/min


This does mean I can use 24X UltraSpeed discs, right? Phew! You hung in there all the way to the end. I appreciate it so much

Donna

well i went as far as the first 5 pages in google and came up with very little information.

the drive is HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4243N and this means it's an OEM product. this means LG makes it but doesn't sell it under its own name, provides no support, and no info on it will be found on LG's websites.

all references to it i've seen with relation to dell. apparentlyl it's a model LG makes for Dell and Dell installs it in their computers (and they're the ones who provide the support).

thanks to Bill we have the specs of the drive.
the drive can burn CD-R at 24x max speed.
CD-RW it can do both Normal (4x), High-Speed (10x) and Ultra-Speed (16x-24x).
Normal and HighSpeed is old stuff, i don't know if you'll even find any! use either 16x or 24x CDRW.

like MediumRare said, use only Verbatim media. they're excellent, a far step above others.

just in case you're interested, here's a link to download the latest firmware for this drive, version A103.
(you currently have A102).
http://support.dell.com/support/downloa ... eid=113577


----------------
wrote the above before seeing your last post...

no, you can't write DVDs, you have a combo drive which means read+write CDs but only read DVDs. if you want to write DVDs you need a DVD burner.

CAV means Constant Angular Velocity, it's a method of burning CDs and DVDs.
for 24x CD speed you have either CAV or ZCLV, CAV is better IMO so it's good that the drive does this.

you don't need to worry about it really.
just get you some Verbatim CD-RWs and go!

just get you some Verbatim CD-RWs and go!

Happiness is not only getting all the info, but after reading your post, going over my entire laptop with a magnifying glass and finding an 'Ultraspeed' logo stamped onto the front left of the combo drive. There is no way I could have seen it without the magnification.

So, here I am about to order some CD-Rws and CD-Rs! YAY!

You said the following:

Normal and HighSpeed is old stuff, i don't know if you'll even find any! use either 16x or 24x CDRW.

If it can handle the 16X-24X CDRW's is there some reason I would want to buy the slower speed ones? Are they more accurate, cheaper?

Donna

might be cheaper.
but looking at the pack of Verbatims i have, it says 16x-24x. it's the same media. if the drive can do 24x they'll do 24x, it the drive can only do 16x they'll do 16x.
i don't even know if there is such a thing as 16x only CDRW. maybe was long ago but now i kind of doubt it.

See- I told you other friendly people would jump in to help...

dodecahedron wrote:Normal and HighSpeed is old stuff, i don't know if you'll even find any!

Normal and Hi-speed are very much present in stores here.

The only reason for using anything but 24x CD-RW is if you have to exchange data with someone who can't write to the faster media. This was common 2-3 years ago, but not so much today. Writing @4x is excruciatingly slow.

That the UltraSpeeds are labeled as "16x and 24x" is because (I think- am not certain) you can't write to the UltraSpeed media at slower speeds than 16x. Some drives can write to high-speed @16x- but don't try that. Just go for UltraSpeed.

G

I just wanted to thank you all, especially MediumRare, who put up with my endless questions and managed to do it without making me feel like too much of an idiot You are amazingly patient.

I will let you all know when my combo drive has it's maiden 'writing'

Again, many thanks
Donna

MediumRare wrote:Normal and Hi-speed are very much present in stores here.

my bad.
have'nt bought a CDRW in a long time.
still have 6 High-speed CDRWs. don't use them much any more.
also have 10 Ultra-speed CDRWs. hardly ever used them!
also have 10 Ultra-speed+ CDRWs. don't use them much any more either.
the Normal-speed CDRWs i had i threw away a while ago...

good luck, damalas.

Damalas, hi. Sorry for noticing the thread this late. I have a 4241N on my laptop back home. It has some issues with Verb 24X CDRWs at 24X.. coasters. Latest FW as well.. I'd recommend 16X max on them.

CD-Rs on the other hand seem to work well.. Moser Baer, Taiyo Yuden, CMC, Prodisc, old 8X Maxells (!), Sony, Acer.

Bhairav wrote:Damalas, hi. Sorry for noticing the thread this late. I have a 4241N on my laptop back home. It has some issues with Verb 24X CDRWs at 24X.. coasters. Latest FW as well.. I'd recommend 16X max on them.

Oops! After all these posts, I figured we had it figured out. I already ordered them and they are on their way. I got Verbatim DataLifePlus CD-RW 16x-24x Ultra Speed (25 pk). I hope like heck that they work!

*fingers crossed*
Donna

I just wanted to update all of you who helped me! The verbatim 24X discs arrived, and I just used my first 2 yesterday. They worked great and I am a happy puppy!

Again, many thanks