Collecting information on Cd-rom drives (readers), like jumper settings and any problems with reading burnt disks.

See:

• AboutThesePages

Contents

Notes

All cd-rom drive (reader) pages will be prefixed with "CdDr" -- cd-rom burner (writer) pages (See CdRomBurners) will be prefixed with "Cdw".

Index to Other CdRom Pages

To add additional CdRomDrive pages, simply create a new page using a name prefixed with "CdDr"nn...

• Page Title: Summary

• CdDr-MediaTestDisks: A list of the cdrom disks that I use to test cd drives for `media sensitivity`: noname silver/silver (the ones I bought no longer have any other identifying...

• CdDrCyberDrive24X: Cd Rom reader: Cyber Drive 24X Does not read burnt CDs: silver/silver black/black See: AboutThesePages CdRomDrives Contributors () RandyKramer...

• CdDrMitsumiFX140-12X: Mitsumi FX140, marked 12X/16X (not sure what that means) FCC ID: CRMC FX140S2 typical date: April, 1997 burnt disks that can`t be read: noname silver/silver...

• CdDrToshibaXM-5302B-4X: Cd rom reader: Toshiba XM 5302B 4X The T0/T1 jumpers are for testing the drive (at the factory only?) The PRV/ALW jumpers (prevent/allow) are for (auto) ejection...

A Table of CD-Rom Drives and Various Media

I'm beginning to think a table will be more useful than all these pages, so ...

An additional word about testing: I am getting the opportunity to test a lot of used drives as a volunteer for LVCFK. Notice I said used drives — it is more than possible that the results in this table reflect the results on partially defective or deteriorated drives. When I get results based on testing new drives, I will add the word "New" to the name of the drive in the table.

Legend:

for Media:

• Pressed: A professionally mastered "pressed" CD — I won't even include a column for this — if I find a drive that won't read a pressed CD I will assume the drive is defective, and probably won't test any further. (There is a chance that I may find a drive that works with some burnt CDs and not with a pressed CD (because I test with burnt CDs first), but I will still consider that to be a defective drive unless I have the opportunity to test multiple drives of the same model number and get the same results.)
• CUSA B/B: Comp USA 16X Black CD-R 700 MB, 80 minutes
• NN S/S: The particular batch I'm testing came from Best Buy and had a brand name of some sort on the box, I threw the box away before I recognized any problems
• PNY S/S: PNY silver/silver
• Nas S/S: Nashua silver/silver
• Mem B/B: Memorex black/black
• Mem S/S: Memorex silver/silver
• Ric G/B:Ricoh gold/blue
• Pre S/S: Precision (silver/silver) 700 MB, 80 minutes, CD-R, 40X — I was amazed the first time I tried these — after burning I could hardly see the "ring" representing the burnt area, but when I tried them in some CD drives that I had been having trouble with, they were read fast and flawlessly — I've since found at least one drive that has trouble with them.

Results:

• yes: disk read OK, may or may not have tried booting
• slow: disk read, but seemed slow (like many retries or something?)
• nb (No Boot): disk appeared to read OK (or possibly slow?), but a computer, capable of booting from a CD, would not
• no: disk could not be read
• nt: Not tested

Notes:

1. All burns, unless otherwise noted, were done on my Acer 6204 (??) CD-ReWriter.
2. In some cases, the drive was able to read the disk, but not boot from it — I suspect that the drive was reading rather slowly from the disk and a time out occurred during the boot process. (Most testing done was not by booting — a boot test only happened after a read test if, for example, I tried to do an install with that drive.)
3. Some problems reading or booting from a high speed CD drive seem to be due to a timeout problem. I hear the drive accelerate and decelerate several times, and then the read or boot fails. Now that I'm using Linux, I should look up and memorize (on WikiLearn) the command to set the drive to a slower speed — it might help.

For accuracy in filling in the table, make new entries at the top of the table, then move them to their alphabetical place.

Media	CUSA B/B	NN S/S	Pre S/S	PNY S/S	Nas S/S	Mem B/B	Mem S/S	Ric G/B	Notes
	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt
	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt
	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt
	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt
	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt
	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt
Creative CD822E, 8X	no	yes	yes	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt
Creative CRE-BTB, 4X	no	no	no	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt	Works with pressed disks — defective?
Cyber Drive 24X	no	no	no(?)	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt	Read some burnt disks, forget which, retest
Mitsumi CRMC-FX400, 4X	no	nt?	yes	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt
Mitsumi FX140, 12X/16X	nt	nb	nt	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Toshiba XM-5302B, 4X	yes	nt	no!	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt
NEC CDR-1400A, 4X?	yes	yes	yes	nt?	nt?	nt?	nt?	nt?	ATM, can't remember anything it couldn't read
Wearnes CDS-2420, 24X	slow	nt	yes	nt	nt	nt	nt	nt

Contributors

• () RandyKramer - 11 Mar 2003
• <If you edit this page: add your name here; move this to the next line; and include your comment marker (initials), if you have created one, in parenthesis before your WikiName.>

Page Ratings