Samsung External DVD Writer Very Slow

[AfxTwn]

Hi, I have just built a new computer and have a NZXT H440 case which doesn't allow for internal ODD's to be installed so I have bought an external Samsung SE-208GB drive and connected to a USB 2.0 port. I have been ripping audio CD's into iTunes with it but it is very slow at importing the music. I read the review of the drive on your website and it says you can get up to 24x read speeds but I am barely achieving more than 8x for some reason. Does anyone know why this is and if there is a fix for it? I am using Windows 7 HP 64 bit. Thanks.

[Ian]

Have you tried running a benchmark with something like CD Speed to see what the performance looks like?

[AfxTwn]

Hi, no I haven't tried that as I was going off the review posted on this site where the author used that program to test the speed. I can download a benchmark program but I'm not sure it's really necessary seeing as both the drive's manual and the review suggest a read speed of 24x is possible.

[Ian]

True, but the benchmark software will give you an idea of whether or not the problem lies with the drive or iTunes. If you can rip at 24x in the benchmark, then iTunes is doing something odd.

Also, keep in mind that 24x is the maximum. For tracks on the inside of the disc, the speeds will be considerably less.

[AfxTwn]

I just did a test using Opti Drive Control and was surprised by the results (I don't know how to add an attachment of a screenshot of the test results). Anyway, the average speed was 13.95x, start 9.07x and end 18.57x. This was done with a standard pressed audio CD in the drive for an album from this year as I know some older CD's are slower anyway. I didn't get anywhere near the maximum even with the end speed and the average was still slower than I expected. Having said that, the speed from the test was a lot faster than when using iTunes where I get an average of 5.1x so I'm not sure what's going on.

I just read a few reviews of the drive on Amazon and some people are saying this drive needs a Y-USB cable to provide enough power for it but that this is only necessary if you don't have USB 3.0. I am using the supplied mini USB to normal USB cable and have connected it to a USB 3.0 port but haven't seen any difference in speed when compared with using a single USB 2.0 port. Just wondered if using a Y-USB cable could have any bearing on speed?

[Ian]

Not really sure what to tell you. I did some Googling and there seem to be a lot of people in the same boat as you when it comes to ripping with iTunes. Do you have error correction enabled in iTunes?

I don't think that a Y-USB cable will make a difference. The drive is capable of faster speeds when tested ODC so its probably not a hardware issue.

[AfxTwn]

Hi Ian, thanks for your help. No I have made sure error correction is turned off. I'm also doubtful about the Y cable as the issues people have when needing one are to do with the drive just spinning up and down again due to not enough power from a single USB port but I don't have that issue as the drive works fine, just slowly. Perhaps it is more of an issue with iTunes but I have tried using a few different bits of software (WMP, Cyberlink Power2Go, EAC) and the speed doesn't improve much. I don't know what's going on. I'll see if I can find a USB 3 drive but I don't know if that will work either really.