Posted by Mike S. on 06/11/07 13:25

In article <f4jicf$os6$1@reader2.panix.com>,
Mike S. <retsuhcs@xinap.moc> wrote:
>
>In article <f4i5mb$ae7$1@aioe.org>, Dubious Dude <Shifty@eyes.com> wrote:
>>I have an old laptop that I want to do selective backup on. Rather
>>than using a 2nd hard drive to mirror the current drive, I'll reduce
>>risk by backing up to DVD so that I can distribute the info over time
>>and over DVDs. The problem is that it only has USB 1. The laptop can
>>take CardBus, however, which can apparently provide USB 2
>>connectivity. I compared DVD speeds to USB 2 speeds:
>>
>> http://dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#4.2
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#USB_signaling
>>
>>Apparently, the 60MBps of USB 2 is often not realized. Typical speeds
>>are upto 10-20MBps, and more often at 3MBps. However, 8-16x DVD
>>speeds range over 10.57-21.13MBps; this really pushes the upper limit
>>of practical USB 2 speeds, and is an order of magnitude above the
>>typical 3MBps speed. In practice, has this been a concern?
>>
>>If so, what is a better solution?
>>
>>If not, what is a recommended drive and CardBus?
>>
>>My system is a Dell Inspiron 8000 running Windows 2000.
>>
>>I intend to use Roxio or Nero to burn the DVD-Rs, sometimes
>>multisession, sometimes single session (in the lingo of CDs that I got
>>familiar with). This allows me to read them in standard CD readers
>>without application-specific software.
>>
>>I decided against DVD-RAM because it seems less supported, and more
>>expensive. If the error correction offsets these disadvantages, I'd
>>be interested in hearing your experience.
>
>A Cardbus USB2 host controller is the only practical way of adding i/o
>that could be used to burn DVD's on your old laptop. Even though real
>world throughput is often short of the spec, you should not hesitate for
>theoretical concerns. After all, it's pretty much your only choice. USB1
>does not have the throughput for even a 1X DVD burn.
>
>I'd think twice about using multisession on anything other then DVD-RW
>which is, of course, not an archival format. Multi-session DVD's are
>problematic on OS versions before Windows XP; and even then there is
>always the possibility that you may only "see" the first session at some
>critical moment.

Sorry for the typo: that should be DVD+RW; not DVD-RW.

One additional thought; it MIGHT be possible to find an internal DVD burner
which will replace the internal CD drive in your laptop. Another mine
field though; especially with regard to physical compatibility (especially
the faceplace).

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