Slow CDROM access...

[heljy]

...on my ibook 600Mhz.

I tried copying a divx file of about 200MB and it takes about 10 mins!!

Playing back of the file from the cdrom is choppy too.

Why is that so? Is the cdrom on the ibook really slow?!?

BTW, how do we see how much ram we have on the system?

[rtgwbmsr]

RAM Check:
Apple Menu (Upper left hand corner) > "About this Mac"

It'll tell you the processor speed and how much RAM.

About the slow file transfers; I don't know. If the CD and HDD are on the same bus/channel/cable (which I think they are) it would be slower. Laptop HDDs are slower anyway. It takes 7 mins for me to move a 535 MB file from one partition of my HDD to another on my upgraded PowerBook (20 GB Fujitsu Drive).

FYI = HDD is Hard [Disk] Drive

[Kintaro]

I thought HDD was "Holy Data Destroyer"

[heljy]

I have experience having both the hdd and the cdrom on the same channel before and have no problems(at least on my PC and my Wintel notebooks)

For the ibook, it got so annoying that I have to copy the divx file from the cd to the hdd to be able to watch it properly...

I have the cdrom drive, anyone with the dvdrom or the dvd/cdrw drive have the same problem?

[psyjax]

quote:Originally posted by heljy:
I have the cdrom drive, anyone with the dvdrom or the dvd/cdrw drive have the same problem?

No.

BTW, for good playback it is allways advisable to copy files to the HD first. It is not necissarly the computers fault as media files can be fragmented across the surface of a CD. It might actually be the quality of the burn.

The other case is that you may have an older iBook.... no.... I have watched media on the first gen clamshell iBooks with no problems. I would sauy it's the CD.

[Zombie9920]

quote:Originally posted by psyjax v6.9 /Dave:


No.

BTW, for good playback it is allways advisable to copy files to the HD first. It is not necissarly the computers fault as media files can be fragmented across the surface of a CD. It might actually be the quality of the burn.

The other case is that you may have an older iBook.... no.... I have watched media on the first gen clamshell iBooks with no problems. I would sauy it's the CD.

Thats funny, I watch video files files from CD all the time. It doesn't matter wether I use my 52x CD-ROM, 32x12x40 CD-RW or 16x DVD drive, the playback is always smooth.

On modern Intel and Via chipsets it doesn't matter if you have your CD drive on the same IDE bus as the hard drive becuase the chipsets handle each channel independantly(meaning that using a PIO mode or ATA-33 CD drive will not hurt the performance of your ATA-100/ATA-1333 hard drive).
Of course, Apple is way behind in chipset and  processor technology so it doesn't surprise me that a slower drive will actually slow down a faster drive on the same channel in a MAc. This used to be a problem when ATA-66 first debuted for the PC because the chipsets at the time did not sort out transfer modes independantly(meaning back then a slower drive would actually hurt the performance of a newer drive). That was like 5 years ago though. Chipset makers fixed this issue quickly(in new revisions of thier old chipsets and in new chipsets). x86 technology evolves quickly though, Apple's technology always seems to lag behind with modern times.

[ November 13, 2002: Message edited by: Zombie9920 ]

[psyjax]

As I said, I have watched media on CD's using older iBooks. Infact, the first gen iBooks. I had no issue, this is the only reason I blame the burn. Has nothing to do with hardware quality.

EDIT: Case in point, I have an .rm of a full length anime fansub. I have watched it on my comp, and my friend's PC. My comp at the time had a 4x CD Rom, his was x16. In eather case, the movie choped when you watched it off of the CD, but was cool when you copied it to the HD.

Till this day I have to copy that file to my HD even though I have 24x CD ROM.

[ November 13, 2002: Message edited by: psyjax v6.9 /Dave ]

[Zombie9920]

quote:Originally posted by psyjax v6.9 /Dave:
As I said, I have watched media on CD's using older iBooks. Infact, the first gen iBooks. I had no issue, this is the only reason I blame the burn. Has nothing to do with hardware quality.

EDIT: Case in point, I have an .rm of a full length anime fansub. I have watched it on my comp, and my friend's PC. My comp at the time had a 4x CD Rom, his was x16. In eather case, the movie choped when you watched it off of the CD, but was cool when you copied it to the HD.

Till this day I have to copy that file to my HD even though I have 24x CD ROM.

[ November 13, 2002: Message edited by: psyjax v6.9 /Dave ]

Can't you pop a drive in that Mac that is capable of reading a CD at 40x or faster? Faster than 40x isn't really a good thing to have since faster than 40x drives can cause CD's to explode(I have a 52x CD-Rom but I never use it..I opt to use my burner that reads at 40x).

[psyjax]

quote:Originally posted by Zombie9920:


Can't you pop a drive in that Mac that is capable of reading a CD at 40x or faster? Faster than 40x isn't really a good thing to have since faster than 40x drives can cause CD's to explode(I have a 52x CD-Rom but I never use it..I opt to use my burner that reads at 40x).

Ya. I have an external 40x burner   , it sound's like a lawnmower, but it burns freakin fast.

As far as internal, I know they exist for towers, but don't know about laptops.