Has anyone been successful at 16X burning using any external enclosure?
Be that EW1621 or I/O Magic 16X External, or any Vendor USB 2/Firewire case with 1620 installed?


Best I can get is 12X.
Even on disc's that test 16X OK on external case using QScan.

Lets hear about it!

Currently my max speed is 12x as you found out, however I have 2 external enclosures currently winging their way to me via TNT delivery (1x dual 5.25" firewire & 1x USB2 / Firewire single 5.25"). I hope to hit 16x with one of these units & some good drivers.

I can already burst read from my DVD drive at 40MB/s so it should be easy to reach as long as everything falls nicely into place

qwakrz

could you please tell me which enclosures and from whom you have ordered ?
save me a lot of hunting for the right compatible cases for Benq 1620

The one's that have so far worked for me are

www.specialtech.co.uk, It is the USB2 / Firewire 5.25" Lightbar enclosure (Mine is Prolific PL3507 Firewire chipset). It is currently plugged into my firewire port and reports a 42MB/s transfer (again I think this is false but have not tried a 16x burn yet to check), I have not checked USB2 either but will get around to it when I get firewire working correctly

I have also purchased the 2x 5.25" firewire case they have but I am having a few problems with the Firewire interface card & getting it to talk to my unit (keeps acting funny). Its an Oxford card & it keeps loosing the firmware so I keep having to re-flash it when I adjust some settings.

I have also had luck with a USB2 only case from Belkin, however you MUST make sure it has the ALi chipset as the one I purchased didn't and it did not work correctly (quickest way to tell is to burn a DVD+RW at 2.4x and wait for a freeze), however saying this enclosure work correctly is a bit missleading as it failed to burn ANY CDRW or DVD- discs. I dont know if its my discs or the enclosure until I have time to check them in the new one.

Ill keep you posted

So its safe to assume that ALL enclosures with the Prolific PL3507 chipset will work with the BenQ DW1620. I'm planning on getting the StorTecc USB2/Firewire that incorporates the Prolific chipset on both ports.

Also, when flashing BenQ's firmware to your external enclosure, should you use the firewire or USB2 port?

I know you asked this question of qwatrz, but two other external 3507 Prolific cases you might want to know about are Plumax & Arrow Micro, USB 2/1394 Firewire cases. Available at Dealsonic,com for Plumax & Newegg.com for Arrow Micro. In any case both cases are made by same manufacture,
http://www.usmicrolab.com
dishinit

crea78,
To upgrade 3507 firmware (not BenQ), you must have drive installed in case and use USB 2 connection.
When upgrading BenWQ firmware, I found that I had problems flashing by firewire.
Strangely enough, the 1st step of the 3 to 4 step BenQ firmware conversion process to B7P9, warns against using USB to flash your drive (this 1st step is backflashing to a 1600). The last two steps do not make that statement.

I believe that I have read somewhere in this BenQ forum that some one correctly flashed their drive in one step using a .cvt file of the firmware and WinDWflash to flash the firmware. I am not sure if they used a USB connection.

When I experienced problems flashing using Firewire, I pulled my BenQ from the external case & installed it on sec master IDE on my desktop, then re-flashed and all was well. I currently have reflashed my I/O Magisc drive to G7P9 (org firmware) & have this drive installed on IDE.
My BenQ-OEM (NewEgg) B7P9 is external and its only limitation is it's inability to write at 16X. It does write at 12X, a tad slower (11 seconds) than my IDE installation. See atachments:
1st is Firwire at 21MB/s Burst 12X Burn of MCC 003= 6:28
2nd is internal IDE 23MB/s Burst with 12X Burn of MCC 003 = 6:17

how did you reflash the drive from B7xx to g7xx

nealh,
Used WinDDflash & G7M9 "cvt" file from:
http://dvdpro.club.st/firmware/BenQ_Fw.htm#1620_clone

then flashed up to G7P9 using one of the files referenced in post 44 of:
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread....0&page=2&pp=25

courtesy of Kenshin.

All flashed using BenQ on sec master IDE.
zip---zap---boom, back to original firmware.
That should do it for you.
dishinit

@dishinit: thx for the info you provided. Very helpful The BenQ drive I'm going to get soon will be the retail version & NOT OEM so will it be possible to flash the drive? I certainly hope someone has done this before, and not flashed it internally like others have done. I understand the steps to follow when upgrading OEM>Retail, but I won't have to go that route.

Wonder why the NEC ND-3500 can write up to 16X while the BenQ can only do 12X. Another thing, the NEC is more "compatible" with ext enclosures. This was just posted at the NEC forum: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.ph...64&postcount=1

** I like the BenQ drive alot, but the NEC seems more 'tempting' for external use. The ND-3520 might be coming out soon so kind of stuck which to get.

dishinit > I pm'd you and that's what i figured you did

crea78, If you are getting the Retail version, not OEM, Not Rebadge, but the retail version with the B7xx firmware, you are good to go using official BenQ flash over USB 2.
Happy upgrading!

Important question (at least to me that is)... is it possible to flash a DVD-RW drive in an ext. enclosure using the WinDWFlash tool with a firmware using the .cvt extension?

So dishinit, is there a slight possiblity to flash the BenQ drive externally even though I'm getting the retail version? I definetly know for a fact my parents WILL NOT let me intstall this drive into their desktop just to upgrade the firmware.

crea78, When upgrading B7xx firmware, "you are good to go using official BenQ flasher over USB 2"

I have not tried using the WinDWflash program over my USB 2 connect. Anyone who can answer crea78 on this?

That's good to hear if the official BenQ flasher certainly does work using the USB2 connection. Then there is no need to worry about the other way (WinDWFlash).

Thanks dishnit...kinda wish I knew I could have gone directly from G7xx fw to B7xx fw directly....without flashing first to 1600 and then then to 1620...only reason is one extra flash and you never know what can happen...

thanks again...

BTW is the WinDWflash a recovery flasher like the liteon flasher mtkflash(this is a dos tool)

Is it safer to flash a drive in SAFE mode or do most ppl not do this?

crea78,
I just flashed one of my BenQ 1620's from B7P9>B7S9 using USB 2 connection and normal XP, SP 2. Flash successfully completed.
However if you have apprehensions, then flash in safe mode.
dishinit

dishinit, is it necessary to use SP2 when flashing a drive. Right now I'm just using SP1 at the moment. I ordered the CD for SP2 from Microsoft coz my computer was having problems installing it for some reason

crea78,
Actually I have read some posts about conflicts with DVD+-R/RW drives and SP 2.
I myself have had no problems.
I suggest to Upgrade your drive firmware 1st, then use the drive for awhile befor installing SP 2. That should give you a base reference point to judge for yourself if there are any conflicts.
dishinit

Whoops
How to delete post?

Ok, DONT flash your drive using FireWire if you have an Oxford chipset, It dont work. If you have the Prolific chipset it seems to work ok but I have had 1 failure.

USB2 however is fine & will always now connect my external case up using USB2 to flash it.

BTW the prolific chipset seems more stable than the Oxford chipset I have here. (Put my old PX-708A and 40GB HDD in the dual 5.25" case & the DW1620 in the USB2/FireWire enclosure)

qwakrz,
I had the same "Failed Flash" message when I attempted to flash my BenQ-OEM by firewire, yet when I checked in DVDInfoPro, it would show correct upgraded firmware so I would continue through B7P9.

What finally clued me in that something was amiss, was that QScan would not run on Firewire flahed firmware (due to upgrade flashing & no testing of drive in between). Gave message of "Incorrect firmware" installed.
I then installed the BenQ-OEM internally on sec mas IDE, backflashed with WinDWflash & started over. Then reflashed with org. B7P9 & had successful flash. Drive performs identically to IDE installed & upflashed BenQ-I/O Magic rebadge now at B7S9.


qwakrz,
Nice to hear your opinion of the Prolific chipset, I would agree.
dishinit

[quote=dishinit]qwakrz,
I then installed the BenQ-OEM internally on sec mas IDE, backflashed with WinDWflash & started over. Then reflashed with org. B7P9 & had successful flash. Drive performs identically to IDE installed & upflashed BenQ-I/O Magic rebadge now at B7S9.

What is this B7S9 firmware?

I have flashed back and forth from "G" to "B" firmaware using WinDWFlash and the CVT files in my external USB 2.0 Tecwind Thunder-X enclosure without problem (done it at least 6 times). Got the files from the link below.

http://dvdpro.club.st/firmware/BENQ_FW.htm

I use Decrypter for movies and Shrink to make an ISO image, then Decrypter to Burn ISO image to BenQ in external enclosure. I decrypt to my external 80 hd and use shrink to make ISO image on 80 hd and then burn the ISO image from one external to the other. I use Verbatim DVD+R 8x IJP (ink jet printable) or Taiyo Yuden DVD+R 8x IJP. On Nero Quality test I get between 96 and 99 all the time.

SETUP:

AOpen AX4SG-UN
1 GIG MEMORY (2-512gig matching pair)
WD GD SATA 120 gig drive internal
AOpen 48x Combo CDRW/DVD-ROM primary master
WD 80 JB in external USB 2.0 enclosure (Tecwind)
BenQ DW1620 in external USB 2.0 enclosure (Tecwind)