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Date:      Sat, 08 May 2004 23:30:33 -0400
From:      Chuck Swiger <cswiger@mac.com>
To:        anubis <anubis357@optusnet.com.au>
Cc:        w sx <wsx10010@yahoo.com>
Subject:   Re: cdrw & PIO4
Message-ID:  <409DA5D9.5030909@mac.com>
In-Reply-To: <200405090932.42291.anubis357@optusnet.com.au>
References:  <20040508171720.58100.qmail@web90010.mail.scd.yahoo.com> <200405090932.42291.anubis357@optusnet.com.au>

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anubis wrote:
> On Sun, 9 May 2004 3:17 am, w sx wrote:
[ ... ]
> Have a look at man ata.  Here is the important part
> 
> ATAPI devices are set to PIO mode by default because severe DMA 
> problems are common even if the device capabilities indicate support.  
> You can always try to set DMA mode on an ATAPI device using 
> atacontrol(8), but be aware that your hardware might not support it 
> and can potentially hang the entire system causing data loss.

While this advice was reasonable some years ago-- and to the extent that 
broken ATA hardware still exists may still be relevant now-- but please note 
that the Original Poster is trying to use a CD/RW burner.  :-)

It doesn't matter too much if you happen to read a CD slowly, but one ought to 
use DMA rather than PIO when burning CDs or DVDs.

-- 
-Chuck



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