11.7 Installing and Configuring a CD Writer
In general,
installing
and configuring a CD writer requires the same steps detailed in the
preceding chapter for CD-ROM drives. There are, however, some
considerations peculiar to CD writers:
For ATAPI writers, it is good practice to
put the CD writer on a different channel from the source device(s).
On a typical PC with a hard drive, a CD-ROM drive, and the CD writer,
make the hard drive Primary Master (PM), the CD-ROM drive Primary
Slave (PS), and the CD writer Secondary Master (SM). This allows you
to record CDs directly from CD-ROM or from an image stored on your
hard drive. If the PC has a second hard drive, set that drive to
Secondary Slave (SS), and do not attempt to record CDs from it. If
the PC has an ATAPI tape drive, set it to SS. Attempting to record
from a source located on the same IDE channel as the writer generally
works properly with recent systems and high-quality CD writers, but
often leads to problems on older, slower systems and with inexpensive
or older model CD writers.
If you have IDE bus mastering (DMA) drivers installed, remove them
from the channel to which the writer connects, unless the drive
manufacturer specifically recommends using DMA for its drive. We have
frequently encountered problems with ATAPI writers on DMA-enabled
channels, even when the writer was recognized by Windows as a
DMA-capable device. Conversely, make sure DMA is enabled if your CD
writer manual recommends doing so. Many CD writers faster than 16X
require DMA mode for proper operation. If you are installing a CD
writer that requires DMA mode and it shares a channel with another
device, make sure the second device also supports DMA and is
configured to use DMA. If the second device operates in PIO mode,
that forces the channel to operate in PIO mode, which may render the
CD writer unreliable or nonfunctional.
SCSI writers coexist
well on a host adapter shared with low-demand devices or those that
will not be used while a CD is being burned, but you
may have problems if you connect the burner to
the same SCSI bus that supports hard drives. We have several SCSI
systems with hard drives and CD writers connected to the same SCSI
bus, and have never encountered a problem with that configuration.
But we have received enough reports from readers who have had
problems putting a hard drive and writer on the same SCSI channel
that we believe this may sometimes be an issue. It's
okay for a writer to share with scanners, tape drives, Zip drives,
and similar devices. But if you encounter problems sharing the
channel between your hard drive and writer, install a second
inexpensive SCSI host adapter to support the writer and other
non-hard disk SCSI peripherals.
When you install a SCSI burner, never depend on the SCSI drivers
supplied with the operating system. The bundled drivers are fine for
hard disks and low-demand peripherals, but often have bugs and
missing features that cause problems with CD writers. Download the
latest drivers and ASPI files for your SCSI host adapter from the
manufacturer's site.
Writing CD-R discs—and more so writing CD-RW
discs—generates considerable heat. If possible, mount the CD
writer above other drives to permit that heat to dissipate, and mount
it in a drive bay with unoccupied bays above and below it
(particularly above it). If you will frequently burn two or more CDs
in quick sequence, install a drive cooler. PC Power & Cooling
(http://www.pcpowercooling.com/)
makes the best ones.
Some CD writer manufacturers recommend specific registry tweaks or
configuration changes to the operating system to support their drives
optimally. Although we would never discourage anyone from following
the manufacturer's advice, our experience is that
these changes have little benefit on high-end (fast CPU, lots of
memory, SCSI, Windows NT) systems, but are worth implementing on
low-end (slow CPU, minimal memory, ATAPI, Windows 9X) systems.
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