Latest firmware for TDK VeloCD 48/24/48B (4800B)

[Reg-da-Ripper]

version S7S7 (from 11/18/2002)

version S7S8 (from 12/23/2002)

Improvements with version S7S8:

• Improved media compatibility
• Support for the TDK 90-min. CD-R
• Improved the write strategy for 24x CD-RW.

[BuddhaTB]

Thanks for the update.

[BuddhaTB]

I just upgraded my drive to S7S7, but just noticed a big problem. Under Nero, the only write speeds I have are 48x, 8x, and 4x. Does anyone know how to fix this problem? Or should I just flash my drive back to S7S5 until the bugs in this firmware get fixed?

I'm running Nero 5.5.9.17

[dhc014]

This probably isn't a firmware bug. Either you need to wait for the next version of NERO or justwait a while.

[Fuct]

It could be because the firmware is meant for the TDK Cyclone as opposed to the TDK VeloCD... just a thought. Don't know if that makes a difference or not... however, on the U.S. site, the only available listed firmware for the VeloCD is S7S5. I don't see why an S7S7 update shouldn't be available in the next few days (weeks) though.

[Ian]

It could be because the firmware is meant for the TDK Cyclone as opposed to the TDK VeloCD... just a thought. Don't know if that makes a difference or not... however, on the U.S. site, the only available listed firmware for the VeloCD is S7S5. I don't see why an S7S7 update shouldn't be available in the next few days (weeks) though.

The hardware on the CyClone and veloCD are the same. But yeah, if you want to be safe, wait for it to show up on TDK's US website.

[cedpar]

can you get your hands on the firmware for the new tdk drive? the 52x?

[BuddhaTB]

Would there be any problems flashing my drive back to S7S5?

[Reg-da-Ripper]

BuddhaTB: There shouldn't be a problem with flashing your burner back to the previous firmware version.

I just flashed my burner to this version. Nero InfoTool will only show three write speeds if the drive contains no media. If you have media in the drive, you should see all available speeds with respect to the media. (Update: Nero and Nero InfoTool showed all of the available read and write speeds for me.)

I tested this upgrade; I burned the same image file (699 MB) to three 48X-rated CD-Rs: Imation (CMC), Verbatim DataLifePlus (Mitsubishi Chemical), and FujiFilm (Taiyo Yuden). SMART-BURN was enabled for all three burns. I used DAO and had all disks finalized.

(Update: I found out that the Fuji CD-R in my original test was rated at 40X. I did another test with the 48X-rated Fuji.)

For the Imation and the Verbatim, I was able to set the speed to the maximum (48X). For the Fuji, SMART-BURN detected the maximum speed to be 40X (that's because *this* Fuji CD-R was only rated at 40X maximum).

None of the media reached 48X in writing. Both the Imation and the Verbatim peaked at around 47X; then, SMART-BURN kicked in, dropped the speed to 32X, and completed the writing at a lower speed. Both the Imation and the Verbatim produced error-free burns.

The 40X Fuji wasn't as fortunate. Since SMART-BURN determined the maximum to be 40X, I burned the data at that speed. Like the burns with Imation and the Verbatim, it never reached the maximum set speed (it made it to 38X); SMART-BURN would intervene and complete the writing at a lower speed (never lower than 32X).

(Update: The 48X FujiFilm (Fuji) peaked at around 46X; then, SMART-BURN kicked in, dropped the speed to 32X, and completed the writing at a lower speed. However, it did produce an error-free burn.)

Now here is where it gets interesting (to me at least): The burn on the 40X Fuji produced more errors than did the burns on either the Imation or the Verbatim (which were zero for both). Shocked, I ran the test on another blank 40X Fuji. I had fewer errors on the second burn, but errors were still present. (I ran ScanDisk and the CD Quality Test for all three burns.)

I'll try to run some more tests as time permits. But it seems that Verbatim finally produced a blank CD-R that will work with a Lite-On burner at the maximum-rated speed (or close to it) and not produce any errors.
(Update: The 48X FujiFilm (Fuji) produced an error-free burn as well; however, the maximum speed was much lower than the Verbatim's maximum speed.)

Maybe I should flash mine back to version S7S5.

(Update: After discovering my mistake, I think I'll stick with version S7S7. In addition to the error-free burns with the 48X-rated media mentioned above, I was also able to get an error-free burn with the RiTek-manufactured Maxell 40X at 48X.)

[BuddhaTB]

I flashed my drive back to S7S5 last night. I just burned something on Nero and all have all the write speeds back I think. However, Nero now shows the TDK drive as only have 3 read speeds at 4x, 8x, and 12x. I think there's something wrong with Nero in which it won't show all the read speeds.

[Reg-da-Ripper]

Bump.

A new firmware version, S7S8, was added to my first post on this thread.

[dhc014]

Yep, we're still waiting for the 52x TDK firmware though