DVD drive speed?

I'd like to know how to figure out how fast I can burn DVD's on my DVD +/- RW drive...it came already installed in thiis laptop, and it doesnt say how fast it is in any of the paperwork, or on the compaq website

is there a test out there I can use for my DVD drive? or how would I find that out? I want to to get the fastest possible DVD R/RW's I can use on my drive, and not get it faster than I can burn it

thanks all so much, again, sorry for so many stupid questions

[Ted]

Originally Posted by LastHonestFool03

I want to to get the fastest possible DVD R/RW's I can use on my drive, and not get it faster than I can burn it

If I'm not mistaken, the speed rating of the disc can be faster than the burn rate of your burner. I know CDRs work that way, I assume DVDs would be the same, but I don't burn DVDs so I could be mistaken.

Post the model of your drive and I'll see if I can find out it's specs. If you don't know it, then maybe I can find something with the model of the laptop.

There are also programs that you can run to get you the specs, but I can't remember the name of the good one off-hand - CDRoller maybe?

You can also try BelArc Advisor. I don't remember if it gives the drive speed or burn speed though, but it does give a lot of other useful info about your system. It's free.

I'm on a Compaq Presario R3430US, I don't know the model of my drive, I how would I find that out?

I know I can buy a higher speed DVD R, but that would cost more more, and I wouldn't be using that extra speed, so I want to buy the highest speed I can burn at

I'll check that program out now, thanks for your help

okay cool, that program is awesome man, thanks for that

it didn't give me the drive speed, but it did give me the drive model, so maybe you can look it up liek that? or give me a source to look it up?

here's the model # that program gave me : HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GWA-4080N [CD-ROM drive]

thanks for all your help

[Ted]

Originally Posted by LastHonestFool03

I know I can buy a higher speed DVD R, but that would cost more more, and I wouldn't be using that extra speed, so I want to buy the highest speed I can burn at

That makes sense. Like I said, I don't do DVDs so I wasn't aware that the high speed ones cost more. Thanks for the info

I have something I have to do. After that, I'll see if I can find your speed from that model number. In the mean time, try going into the Device Manager and seeing what the model there is. It may give a little more info (I know it won't give the speed though). It may also be identical to what BelArc reports. I never bothered to figure out where BelArc gets its info from because I rarley use it anymore. I now use a commercial program to get system info.

[Ted]

Ok, this is all I could find out:

The vendor ID is HL-DT-ST. It's an 8x burner speed. One source said it was a Hitachi drive (I'm not sure about that one) and a couple others say it's an LG (Legend).

All sources say 8x though. Some say you may not get 8x, but I suspect that is a problem with their system and/or software and not the drive. If it's rates at 8x, it has to be capable of that.

thank you so much man! you have no idea how much you helped me out

BTW, whats it mean by Hitachi and/or Legend? thats just who makes it, right, that wouldn't matter when buying DVDs to burn, correct?

thanks man, you made my day

[Ted]

Yes, those are manufacturers. That won't matter when purchasing discs. I just gave you that info because that's what I found. Don't take it for being too accurate though. I couldn't verify it. If you really want to know, you can probably contact Compaq and ask them.