Dual DVD Burners

MichaelS wrote on 10/13/2003, 7:06 PM

Does anyone have experience using dual DVD burners. The system I would use is a 3.06 HT w/1g RAM. It currently houses a Sony DRU 510A. I would install a second matching drive.

Are there any problems or concerns that I should be aware of?

Thanks

Comments

jester700 wrote on 10/13/2003, 9:15 PM

Only one drive on an IDE channel can be accessed at a time, so there may be problems. I can burn CDs on 2 drives on the same channel at 16x without issue (and with a third - a Sony 500a - in a firewire case). But faster than that and the burnproof systems kick in after several minutes.

So, it would seem that 2x might be on the edge of this kind of transfer. Of course, this might not apply, depending on how system dependent it is.

I would try putting your burner on the same channel as your "feeding" drive. If there are no problems, I suspect you'll be fine putting the second drive on the other channel.

Of course, you can always add the second drive in a firewire or USB2.0 case; I'd bet that would work without issue.

MichaelS wrote on 10/13/2003, 9:49 PM

Thanks for the tips.

ArmyVideo wrote on 10/13/2003, 10:10 PM

You could also get a PCI IDE card to keep your second drive on a seperate bus. I did this for for my extra HD and it works perfectly.

farss wrote on 10/14/2003, 12:17 AM

You will probably not be able to something like DVDA to burn two at once if that's what you want to do but if you also had a reader you can use the Veritas software to copy from one DVD to two at once.

craftech wrote on 10/14/2003, 7:35 AM

I think that Veritas Record Now Max will allow you to burn two at once, but I haven't tried it. Why don't you call them and ask them?

John

jester700 wrote on 10/14/2003, 7:44 AM

Another PCI card is a great idea; maybe the most elegant solution if your current config gives problems.

Nero allows 2 drives also.

MDVid wrote on 10/14/2003, 9:08 AM

I have 2 DVD burners, one internal, the other firewire. I know of an individual who uses up to 6 external burners. You just need a burning program that will support it. (Record now Max, maybe Nero).

JTH

Jsnkc wrote on 10/14/2003, 9:35 AM

Yeah, if you get Record Now Max, have 2 identical drives on seperate busses then you can successfully burn 2 discs at the same time. Works for 2X really well, haven't tried a 4X yet.

GaryKleiner wrote on 10/14/2003, 10:53 AM

>You will probably not be able to something like DVDA to burn two at once <

I have successfully run two instances of DVDA and burned two of the same project at the same time.

Gary

Jsnkc wrote on 10/14/2003, 10:56 AM

Also you can build yourself a DVD Duplicator relatively cheaply if you already have the 2 burners. I just made a 1to 1 4X standalone duplicator for about $150. There are places that sell barebone kits with the case and the controller card and all you have to do is stick in a couple burners and you have a duplicator.

travel_addict wrote on 10/14/2003, 3:45 PM

Do you have any links to these kits you're talking about?
Paul

Jsnkc wrote on 10/14/2003, 3:57 PM

This is the one I got: (it was only $149 when I bought it a few months ago)
http://shop.ily.com/P_843.htm

And here is the page that shows all of them:
http://shop.ily.com/c_75.htm

They have bigger cases that hold more drives and controller cards if you just search around the site following the links on the left

MichaelS wrote on 10/15/2003, 6:41 PM

Thanks for the advice!. I installed a second PCI card along with a second burner today. Using Nero as the copy program, the system worked great!

BJ_M wrote on 10/15/2003, 7:46 PM

i use prassi with up to 6 pioneer burners on firewire -- though now i ussually only have two connected plus a duplicator - still all on firewire along with many many drives and a laird convertor ..

prassi duplicator version has some extra features for this as well as setting up multiple jobs in a batch run ..