Windows XP slow in accessing CD/DVD Drive

[gonaads]

O.K. here's the problem. The Windows machine at work is running XP Home Edition. CPU-Z screen shots of Motherboard, Processor and Memory are attached. Every time we access the CD/DVD Drive it takes anywhere from 8 to 10 seconds to access. We basically use it to access info from our Alldata program (Automotive Database for Estimating, Service/Repair and Labor). Once you have accessed the drive and are constantly looking for info on the disk it works fine. If you stop for a length of time without accessing the drive or if you minimize it then access it after a length of time it does the same thing again. It is not the Alldata program because I have tested by using other disks that may have data and/or images on it. The System has been this way for quite a while (long long time). The drive is a Sony DVD-ROM DDU1615, the drive is only 9 months old (previous drive died). I have checked connections at the M/B and the drive. I have checked the drivers for it and ran the Troubleshooter to see if there were any problems what so ever and found nothing. Yes the machine is old, but this should not cause this delay in accessing the drive. One thing I have thought that could be causing the problem is the size of the DVDs that have the info for the Alldata program. They range from 2.xGB to almost 8GB of information (some of the disks are dual layer). Now my thinking has always been that it (the drive) takes a while to access the info on the disk and put it into cache and the auotplay thing and any other things that go on, and since we switch out disks depending on what info we need it could be that. But I then start to doubt it. We had the info copied onto an external USB drive with 120GB capacity (14 DVD Disks) but it seemed to be the same thing when it comes to accessing the info. Defreg-ing the USB drive was a pain as it took way too long to do. Also copying everything over was taking forever being USB 1.1 and all. Just to damn slow. So we went back to just switching disks when needed. Yeah yeah, my boss is too cheap to go out and buy a 200GB HDD but I think it would be a waist since this machine's hardware is so old.

Anyway, if anyone has any ideas or tests that I can run, please post.

 

[Aprox]

I dont understand how a DVD can hold 10GB of data, Dual layer discs (DVD9) can only hold;

9.4 × 1,000,000,000 = 9,400,000,000 bytes / 1,073,741,824 = 8.75GB

Not counting the CDFS that takes up a portion of the capacity like any file system does.

So, not that I'm doubting you... but maybe your discs have read errors? Also, I have had issues where drives are slow to respond and I have fixed it either by replacing the drive itself, replacing the IDE cable, or updating the firmware. So, maybe give one of those options a try or even bring a drive from home that you know works and see if it makes a difference.

Edit - Also, since it sounds like its in a shop environment have cleaned the lens? Its very possible that its dirty and having a tough time reading the discs.

 

[gonaads]

I checked the largest disk and it's actually just shy of 8GB. Also the smallest are about 2.3-2.5GB.

Now the cable could be. Gonna have to look through my stuff at home for another one. There are no cables here. There is no new firmware for this drive (tried already). And again this drive is only 9 months old and it was this way before. Then when the previous drive died we, well I, thought that was why it was always slow to access. Then we replaced the drive and it was still the same.

Now is there any situation with the cables for CD/DVD drives? Such as UDMA 33 or UDMA 66, like there is with HDD. I really don't remember if there is or not.

 

[Aprox]

Ok, that sounds more like it. To be honest though I was hoping it was actually reporting that high. It would be a dead give away that the drive or media was bad.

Has it been slow since the day you got it? If not, then it could be a case of the lens getting dirty. Also, the media could still be damaged and the drive reads it slowly but manages to fix the errors so you don't see any signs of corruption. So, the next question is... is access from all the discs slow or just some?

 

[gonaads]

Machine is old, has been slow since before this last DVD ROM drive was installed 9 months ago. It is slow with all media. You place a disk in the drive and it takes the time I said in original post. Then it works fine as long as you are accessing it constantly/continuously. But you let it sit for a time and it lags.

 

[LeeJend]

Image a typical DVD to the HD and use isobuster (nero, etc) to play it. If it comes up fast on the HD then it's a data transfer issue with the drive. That could be the MB IDE, a windows setting, an old drive getting flaky, dirty lasers, dirty DVD, etc.

If you can't image it then there is some kind of copy protection scheme that may be taking a long time to validate at first use. I've seen this on some games.

Yes, there is a cable thingy with DVD's. They need to have the 80 pin cables becasue they are high speed devices using UDMA. If you use a 40 pin cable they will run at the lower dma rates.

 

[gonaads]

Also to note we have cleaned this drive numerous times and it's still slow to access. Now I could also use the Disk Copy tool that is included with the Alldata Database program and just copy over one DVD (a small 2.3GB one) then access it and see how it do.

 

[Aprox]

Is there any way you can try these disc's at home on a more up to date computer? That would be a sure fire way to check and see if the computer is just to damn old to handle it.

 

[LeeJend]

Making a fresh disk is a good idea to try, but unless there is visible damage to the disk surface it is unlikely the media is the problem.

If you can, try the disk image trick to see if it's a software issue or hardware.