horrible DVD burning speeds in k3b

hedpe · 01-06-2006, 01:03 AM

Hi all,

I have an NEC 3540A burner which can burn DVD-R at 8x (I've tested this in Windows with Nero), however when I try to burn with the same discs in linux with K3B I get anywhere from 1.5x-4x. This is horrible, it takes twice as long.

I am not sure what settings to check in k3b or how else to solve this, i've noticed others with NEC burners have this problem:
http://k3b.plainblack.com/message-bo...rner--too-slow

however I have no clue how to fix it, any ideas?

Thanks!
George

Keruskerfuerst · 01-06-2006, 04:32 AM

Do the discs have a speed of 8x?

generic_genus · 01-06-2006, 06:22 AM

Enabling DMA on your drives may help (and enable 16bit transfers for fun) using hdparm (a nice disk drive optimiser tool, may not be installed)

hdparm -d 1 -c 1 /dev/hdb

where hdb is the device of your dvd drive, DMA can be turned on in the kernel if your up to compiling your own kernel. this is under the section "Device drivers -> ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support -> Use PCI DMA by default when available", you may need to enable support for your motherboard's chipset below this setting. DMA can also be enabled at boot using lilo/grub can't remember exactly how but I did it once.

hedpe · 01-06-2006, 09:33 AM

they are 8x discs, i can burn at 8x with the same discs and burner in windows with nero

I believe DMA is already enabled:

Code:

monster hedpe # hdparm /dev/dvd

/dev/dvd:
 IO_support   =  1 (32-bit)
 unmaskirq    =  0 (off)
 using_dma    =  1 (on)
 keepsettings =  0 (off)
 readonly     =  0 (off)
 readahead    = 256 (on)
 HDIO_GETGEO failed: Invalid argument

maybe the problem lies in growisofs sinec k3b just calls that?