[Slowhand] More Disc Copy Issues

[Mel Boss]

Hi all,
Sorry for the non-EC content here. I have two issues regarding making proper discs suitable for trading. The first issue is with "On the Fly" disc copying. This is the method I have ALWAYS used to make a disc copy, and I had no idea that I was breaking a commandment. I am not alone with this - most of my trading friends did the same (very reputable and well known). If there IS a problem with this method, we would not have used it, but up until lately - we did not know that this method of copying a disk produced an inferior result. Evidently, other people have similar questions regarding this method (below):
(Original Question)
>> I've never understood this one. If your software is halfway decent, 
>> it will read the disc as fast or slow as it needs to, and if your 
>> source drive can't keep up with your burner, you'll just get a 
>> coaster (buffer underrun). If it can keep up, what does it matter if 
>> the data sits on your hard drive before burning? And if your source 
>> drive is generating errors when it is ripping, then you've got bigger 
>> problems than burning on the fly.
(Response)
>Valid in principle, and valid on say my main PC which is a stripped down lean mean >machine designed for that sort of thing.  But take the average Joe's (or Jane's) PC, >loaded down with tons of dreck, games, files, you have antivirus and firewall proggies >polling, all sorts of TSR and background apps running, network connections polling, >etc. and in practice it just plain does not work for most folks.
 
So, this exchange got me to thinking again about why I have not had a problem performing "On the Fly" disc duplication. 
- First, I maintain lots of free and contiguous disc space on my PC (whenever it gets much over 50%, I make space and run a 'frag' utility). 
- Also, I have only one CD burner/drive (Samsung) and, therefore, the master's data is copied to my hard drive first in a temp directory; then, I have to load blanks.
- I don't play computer games and haven't cluttered my disk with this, nor do I run any other applications will I am copying a disc.
- At Mark's suggestion, I use Klone (gold) 700MB pro archival grade discs for my masters. They are about $1 each. I use MAM-A (650mb) and TDK (700mb) for trading. According to Mark, much of the relevence of the media has  to do with the degradation of the media over time, and he feels that Klone provides a better layer of protection on the business side of their disc.
 
I am going to do a test - run a multi-generation "on the fly" disc copy. If I don't hear a problem with the last copy, I will mail the set to anyone who is interested or has a means to compare the original to the last copy made (I think that 4 generations should do the trick). 
 
I will do it later this week, but today I want to play with the '91 Elan M100 I bought Friday night...
 
My second issue has to do with a suggestion that I made regarding a "techtip" site - or document. There are many of us who like to trade and want to trade good quality programs, but we don't have the vast experience that some of the master traders have who trade on a very regular basis. I am in awe of vastness of some of the "boot-lists" I have received from fellow slowhanders. Mark's tongue in cheek ten commandments was a start, but I think that what is needed is a comprehensive list of "best practices." The Best Practices should be based on fact and not opinion. Also, there should be some explanation - we have thrown out many acronyms and terms (DAO, TAO, On the Fly) that are not familiar to everyone. This list of 'best practices' should be a working document since technology changes, and we all learn over time new things; hence, there should be a means to share this information (tech-tips).
 
Thank you to people like Richard and Leo and DeltaNick and Mark who have been so forthcoming with their advise to me.
 
How about it? We don' t seem to be making much progress lately with cute, snide retorts other than to offend and irritate people (like me).  I think that the tone of this digest has gotten rather nasty lately, and I share in the responsibility for having proliferated some of the nastiness. I thought about unsubscribing, but when I think about the really cool people I have met (face to face) via this forum like Betsy, Jenny, Lauren, Richard, Jon, Greg and Cathy (and there are dozens more who I know virtually and hope to meet personally someday) - well, let's just say that I really appreciate the SHDigest and all the SHrs that make it so special (group hug).
Mel Boss




Mel Boss & Darlene Kasl
darmel at sbcglobal.net
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/slowhand/attachments/20040822/344c5a95/attachment.html