Use performance monitor or task manager to check CPU usage. CPU usage should be less than 20%. 16x is quite demanding, about 20 MB/sec. Your hard drive may not be able to keep up except when reading large unfragmented files. Try putting both writers on IDE channel 1. You might have to place each device on a separate cable to write at 16x. That should not be necessary, but things don't always work as they should.

Pete wrote:
>
> "Mike Walsh" <spamscks@netrox.net> wrote in message
> news:4530E9EC.BA69488@netrox.net...
> >
> >
> > Pete wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi
> >>
> >> I have a typical P4 2.6 system with 2 IDE connectors on my motherboard. I
> >> have 2 DVD burners and 1 IDE hard disk (main system drive) on my machine.
> >> All the drives are installed and working OK but I get problems with
> >> access
> >> speeds / bandwidth when I use the burner that is on the same channel as
> >> the
> >> hard disk.
> >>
> >> I have heard that for multiple simultaneous burners it's best that the
> >> burners are on separate IDE channels. I happen to have an old ABIT hot
> >> rod
> >> 100 raid controller card and was going to hook the main IDE drive up to
> >> this
> >> so that I could have the burners connected as masters on each of the ide
> >> channels on the motherboard and no secondary devices connected at all.
> >>
> >> Does this make sense?
> >
> > This was true before dual FIFO buffers on IDE ports. It should not be
> > necessary on your system.
> >
> >> Do I need to change any bios settings to set the abit raid PCI card up as
> >> a
> >> master device?
> >
> > Configure the Abit BIOS to disable RAID. Set the system BIOS to boot from
> > SCSI. PCI ATA cards emulate SCSI.
> >
> >> Is there a better way of doing this?
> >
> > No.
> >
> >> Will the Abit hot rod 100 card be OK?
> >
> > Should be OK.
> >
> >> Will accessing my prmary hard disk through the Abit card degrade hard
> >> disk
> >> access speeds?
> >
> > I have used only Promise ATA cards, which work well with hard drives and
> > have slightly better performance than on board PATA ports.
> >
> >> Will using a card like the Abit raid controller on the PCI bus degrade
> >> other
> >> PCI or AGP devices because it may be a bandwidth hog?
> >
> > It will not affect AGP at all. On board PATA ports typically connect
> > through the PCI bus, so the hard drive will use PCI bandwidth either way.
> >
> >> Please feel free to respond to any or all of the points i have raised.
> >>
> >> Any other advice / issues?
> >
> > It should not be necessary to have each device on a different cable. You
> > probably haves some other problem e.g. DMA not enabled on one or more
> > devices.
> >
> > --
> > Mike Walsh
> > West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A.
>
> Hi Mike
>
> My drives are configured as follows:
>
> IDE channel 0: Primary device: seagate barracuda 120GB
> IDE channel 0: Slave device: BENQ 1640 DVD Writer
> IDE channel 1: Primary device: Lite-on SHM-165P6S DVD Writer
>
> There are no device conflicts or problems shown in device manager
> All drives have the very latest firmware
> DMA seems to be turned on for all drives
> I have deleted the disk controllers and drive and rebooted and nothing
> changed.
>
> The Lite-on drive
> =================
> Burns without problems
>
> The Benq drive
> ==============
> Reports using UDMA mode 2(33) PIO mode 4
>
> Problems appear when burning or reading speeds start going past about 8X on
> DVDs. It seems like the hard drive and the writer are fighting for bandwidth
> or processor time. I have heard that burning at 16X can be too much even for
> some high spec machines and assumed that this was the problem (trying to
> read an image at 16x from the hard drive while simultaneously writing at 16x
> down the same channel to the dvd writer)
>
> I am no stranger to burning DVDs and have been building PCs for years so
> normally know what I'm doing.
>
> Thanks for the help
>
> Pete
>
> Here's some info from Nero info tool
>
> Nero InfoTool 4.03
>
> Drive Information
> ------------------
> Drive : BENQ DVD DD DW1640
> Type : DVD±R/RW DL Recorder
> Firmware Version : BSRB
> Buffer Size : 2 MB
> Date : ?
> Serial Number : 9JB5U150F251942198PP
> Vendor Specific : 9JB5U150F251942198PP
> Drive Letter : F:\
> Location : 0:1
> Mechanism : Tray
> Read Speed : 48 X
> Write Speed : 48 X
>
> Read CD Text : Yes
> Return C2 Pointers : No
> Read CD-R : Yes
> Read CD-RW : Yes
> Read DVD-ROM : Yes
> Read DVD-RAM : No
> Read DVD-R : Yes
> Read DVD-RW : Yes
> Read DVD-R DL : Yes
> Read DVD+R : Yes
> Read DVD+RW : Yes
> Read DVD+R DL : Yes
> Read BD-ROM : No
> Read BD-R : No
> Read BD-RE : No
> Read HD DVD-ROM : No
> Read HD DVD-R : No
> Read HD DVD-RW : No
> Read HD-BURN : No
> Read Digital Audio : Yes
> Read CD+G : Yes
> Read VideoCD : Yes
>
> Write CD-R : Yes
> Write CD-RW : Yes
> Write DVD-R : Yes
> Write DVD-RW : Yes
> Write DVD-R DL : Yes
> Write DVD+R : Yes
> Write DVD+RW : Yes
> Write DVD+R DL : Yes
> Write DVD-RAM : No
> Write BD-R : No
> Write BD-RE : No
> Write HD DVD-R : No
> Write HD DVD-RW : No
> Write HD-BURN-R : No
> Write HD-BURN-RW : No
> Buffer Underrun Protection : Yes
> Mount Rainier : No
> SolidBurn : Yes
> Labelflash : No
> Modes : Packet, TAO, DAO, SAO, RAW SAO, RAW SAO 16, RAW
> SAO 96, RAW DAO 16, RAW DAO 96
>
> Region Protection Control : RPC II
> Region : 2
> Changes User : 4
> Changes Vendor : 4
>
> Disc Information (F:\)
> -------------------
> Type : no disc inserted
>
> Drive Information
> ------------------
> Drive : LITE-ON DVDRW SHM-165P6S
> Type : DVD-RAM Recorder
> Firmware Version : MS0P
> Buffer Size : 2 MB
> Date : 2006-06-07
> Serial Number
> Vendor Specific : 2006/06/07 17:12
> Drive Letter : E:\
> Location : 1:0
> Mechanism : Tray
> Read Speed : 48 X
> Write Speed : 48 X
>
> Read CD Text : Yes
> Return C2 Pointers : Yes
> Read CD-R : Yes
> Read CD-RW : Yes
> Read DVD-ROM : Yes
> Read DVD-RAM : Yes
> Read DVD-R : Yes
> Read DVD-RW : Yes
> Read DVD-R DL : Yes
> Read DVD+R : Yes
> Read DVD+RW : Yes
> Read DVD+R DL : Yes
> Read BD-ROM : No
> Read BD-R : No
> Read BD-RE : No
> Read HD DVD-ROM : No
> Read HD DVD-R : No
> Read HD DVD-RW : No
> Read HD-BURN : No
> Read Digital Audio : Yes
> Read CD+G : No
> Read VideoCD : Yes
>
> Write CD-R : Yes
> Write CD-RW : Yes
> Write DVD-R : Yes
> Write DVD-RW : Yes
> Write DVD-R DL : Yes
> Write DVD+R : Yes
> Write DVD+RW : Yes
> Write DVD+R DL : Yes
> Write DVD-RAM : Yes
> Write BD-R : No
> Write BD-RE : No
> Write HD DVD-R : No
> Write HD DVD-RW : No
> Write HD-BURN-R : No
> Write HD-BURN-RW : No
> Buffer Underrun Protection : Yes
> Mount Rainier : No
> SolidBurn : No
> Labelflash : No
> Modes : Packet, TAO, DAO, SAO, RAW SAO, RAW DAO, RAW
> SAO 16, RAW SAO 96, RAW DAO 16, RAW DAO 96
>
> Region Protection Control : RPC II
> Region : 2
> Changes User : 4
> Changes Vendor : 4
>
> Disc Information (E:\)
> -------------------
> Type : no disc inserted
>
> Interface Information
> ---------------------
> Adapter 1
> ---------
> Description : Primary IDE Channel
>
> Driver
> Description : System32\DRIVERS\atapi.sys
> Company : Microsoft Corporation
> Version : 5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)
> Description : IDE/ATAPI Port Driver
>
> Attached Devices
> Description : Master: ST3120023A
> Type : Disk Drive
> DMA : On
> Description : Slave: BENQ DVD DD DW1640
> Type : CD-Rom Drive
> DMA : On
> Autorun : Off
>
> Adapter 2
> ---------
> Description : Secondary IDE Channel
>
> Driver
> Description : System32\DRIVERS\atapi.sys
> Company : Microsoft Corporation
> Version : 5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)
> Description : IDE/ATAPI Port Driver
>
> Attached Devices
> Description : Master: LITE-ON DVDRW SHM-165P6S
> Type : CD-Rom Drive
> DMA : On
> Autorun : Off
>
> Software Information
> --------------------
> Operating System : Windows XP Home Edition (5.01.2600 Service Pack 2)
> Country : United Kingdom
> Language : English
> ANSI Code Page : 1252
> OEM Code Page : 850
> DirectX : DirectX 9.0c
>
> Hardware Information
> --------------------
> CPU : Intel Pentium 4 2600 MHz
> Bus Speed : 100 MHz
> Motherboard : MICRO-STAR MS-6701
> System : MEDIONPC
> BIOS : Phoenix 6.00 PG
> Memory : 1024 MB
> Sound : Realtek AC97 Audio
> Video : MEDION RADEON 9600 TX Secondary (Omega 3.8.291)
>
> ASPI Information
> ----------------
> System ASPI : ASPI is installed and working properly
>
> WNASPI32.DLL : 4.71 (0002) 45056 bytes July 17, 2002
> ASPI32.SYS : 4.71 (0002) 16877 bytes July 17, 2002
> WINASPI.DLL : n/a 4455 bytes July 17, 2002
> WOWPOST.EXE : n/a 3535 bytes July 17, 2002
>
> Nero ASPI : ASPI is installed and working properly
>
> WNASPI32.DLL : 2.0.1.74 164112 bytes November 02, 2004

--
Mike Walsh
West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A.