Background:
I bought an NEC 3500 to put in a USB/Firewire external enclosure. The internal enclosure chipset was not setting the proper DMA mode for the drive resulting in a performance bottleneck. So I ordered a new external enclosure with another chipset. Here are the results.

Test Notes:
Using Windows XP Service Pack 2. NEC firmware is version 2C8 SE. All read and write tests were run using Taiyo Yuden T02 8X DVD+R media purchased from www.rima.com . Read benchmarks were used with the TY T02 disc burned at 8x. Here is the enclosure, based on the Prolific PL3507 chipset: http://www.dealsonic.com/stpmblsmbaco2.html

First I tested the unit right out of the box, USB and Firewire Ports, both read and write capabilities. Then I upgraded the enclosure firmware to the 09/07/2004 version as provided by Beach-Hobo and hosted by Minchin. I noticed the Firewire 16X burn was a bit choppy on the new firmware, so I ran a transfer rate read on the disc and got the error you see. I then rebooted and tried a 16X write and read again.

I would say my initial conclusions are I can now get a clean maximum 16x read on Single Layer media but only a maximum 12X clean burn. Comments, questions, and suggestions to improve the situation are surely welcome.

Sorry all the pic uploads seem to destroy the post formating. :-\ I looked around for instructions on how to post multiple pics and didn't find anything.

More pics:

Last two:

Hi Beach-Hobo Here !!!!!

Looking at your test results, I might have an idea on the probem area. If you notice all your runs with Nero CDSpeed are fine at 16X. Remember all the testing via Nero is standalone. That is, if you generate a test burn it's from memory to the DVD and I bet it will be perfect at 16X.

Your burn at 16X via firewire seams to top out between 14-15X. I am betting it something to do with the hard drive to DVD interaction. Is the hard drive defragged ?, many other programs running ?, is the directory where the video files are compressed ?, and who knows what else ?????

I have no problems, but I HAVE NO OTHER PROGRAMS RUNNING, MY VIDEO IS NOT IN A COMPRESSED DIRECTORY. Works on both a 700MHz P3 and 2.8GHz P4 with no problems.....

Good LUCK !!!

Another issue, the DISCs could be fake !!!!

Glad to see you got the new enclosure Netslider It's good to see a comparison in the Prolific Chipset firmwares (original vs updated), so myself and others will see if updating is worth it or not. I'll probably stick with the original firmware myself coz I'm too scared of the consequence(s) which might happen if I do flash the enclosure.

beach-hobo, I thought the TY 8x DVD+R discs from Rima.com were authentic. I even emailed them specifying if this was true, and I got an email stating they were. Do you think with the scans the way they are, these are definetly FAKE TYs??

Also Netslider, if you can, please test your drive with different media (Verbatim 8x/16x; Maxell, or other high qlty media) and post the scans as well. I like to see how they perform in comparison to these TY discs from Rima.com Another thing NetSlider, should I leave the TEAC (DVD/CD-RW drive) as master & the NEC ND-3500A as slave or vise versa?

@beach-hobo
I just read another post somewhere that Taiyo Yuden purchased from Rima.com cannot be fake as they are a direct Grade A distributor. Don't know if this is true or not.
Hmm, I'm not quite sure what you are saying in regards to testing with Nero CD/DVD Speed. All burns were made by using the Create Disc menu option test to the blank TY T02 DVD+R. What you say about DVD Speed burning from RAM to DVD drive seems to be backed up by the fact I did not observe any Hard Drive activity during the burn. None of the test discs involved in writing or reading involved files from the hard drive. Burst Rate measured 24MB/sec using Firewire and up to the maximum of 16X in read, so it APPEARS that firewire/external enclosure should not be the bottle neck anymore. I also had all other programs closed. Further clarification or comments are welcome.

@crea78
Sorry, all I have right now are the Taiyo Yudens and I might wait until this 50 pack runs out before getting more media. So it may be a while, we'll have to see.
I'm not sure about your question regarding the settings on your optical drives. If your Teac is connected via the IDE bus and your NEC is conected via USB/Firewire, obviously the two won't affect each other at all since they are on different buses. In that scenario, set your Teac as Master if it is the only device connected to the channel and set the NEC as Master when you put it in your external enclosure. If you are talking about connecting the Teac and NEC to the SAME IDE channel then obviously one will need to be set as Master and one as Slave. As to which combination is correct? Well, that has been argued for millennia. I'd say search the forums for peoples' experiences, or more importantly test each combination with reading and writing tests.

Netslider, the TEAC will be connected via the IDE bus (internally) and the NEC via USB/Firewire inside the external enclosure. The way I understand it from what you said, neither should affect one another's performance/ However, when you said "set the NEC as Master when you put it in your external enclosure", I thought the TEAC should be Master & not the NEC since the TEAC is the primary drive which is inside the computer.

Also, that's OK about testing additional media, I just hope the discs from Rima.com are authentic, but I will probably purchase a spindle of the Fui 8x DVD+R (MIJ) from BestBuy which I know are TY. One last thing Netslider, do you recommened upgrading to the 9/7/2004 Prolific chipset FW or keeping the original? I want to have the best performance from the optical drive, but not at a cost either...

When I am talking about setting Master mode on each optical drive I am referring to the jumper on the back of each drive. Set the jumper on the Teac drive to Master and plug it into the internal IDE bus. This will ONLY affect drives connected to that channel. If you have any other hard drives or optical drives connected to the same IDE channel you will need to ensure they are set to Slave. This strategy goes for any devices connected to the Primary IDE or the Secondary IDE channel with a maximum of two devices per channel. This does not affect any drives connected via the USB or Firewire bus. For an optical drive or hard drive to work properly in an external enclosure, you generally need to set the jumper to Master on the drive for it to work correctly. This is why I said set the jumper on the NEC to Master also. My NEC came from the vendor already set to Master, so I just plugged it in to the enclosure.

Thx for the clear up Netslider. One more noobie question, how will I know if the jumper on the NEC drive is set to Master or Slave? Will it specify which one is in use (either by a switch on the back or thru Windows Device Manager. One last thing, if for some reason the NEC is set to Slave by default, how can you manually change it to Master.

Where did you see this?

Setting a hard drive or optical drive to Master or Slave mode is always done manually via jumper on the drive it self. You cannot change this setting in the Device Manager. There is a label on the top of the NEC drive which provides guidance on which position the jumper needs to be in to set the desired mode.

Thx for all your help on this Netslider. A question on the StorTecc enclosure you just purchased. Do you like the way it looks & feels -- is it sturdy & well made? Also, since the top of it is aluminum, does the heat dissapate thoroughly so the enclosure isn't too hot?

@Crockett this was confirmed through testing with Nero CD/DVD Speed. I could only burn at 8X and read up to 10X. Refer to this thread for my and other peoples experiences on this topic:

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread....0&page=1&pp=25

OK. If I'm right, there is still no possibility to read something like this "3500 runs in mwdma/pio mode"? I'd like to have a program, that shows the mode of drive in the enclosure ...

No, there is no common program that will display that information that I am aware of. There may be firmware utility programs that show it (depending on the enclosure chipset), or custom programs designed by the manufacturers themselves to show that kind of information, but nothing really you're are going to find out on the net and download.

Another nugget of information I discovered about the enclosure I purchased. Dealsonic.com displays the brand as StorTecc but when I opened the box it had a US Microlab sticker on it. I went to their web site. They appear to be the manufacturer and/or distributor of this product. More info and pictures here:

http://www.usmicrolab.com/Pages/Prod...analuminum.htm

Netslider, on US Microlab's website, they show the COMBO drive can be either Oxford 911A + CypressAT2 OR Prolific PL-3507. I know the link you gave us for Dealsonic.com lists the Prolific Chipset, but is there a chance the buyer COULD be given the Oxford + Cypress Chipset?? How do we check to see which Chipset is the one we got?

the part numbers are different for the Oxford one versus the Prolific one. Plus Dealsonic tells you that it uses the Prolific chipset specifically.

@Netslider1000

can you do a burst rate test...like to now the numbers thru this case...

Using Nero DVD Speed Burst Rate Test I get 24MB/sec on the Firewire interface.

thanks.....looks like able to hit 16x write on external..

@Netslider1000,
Damn it.... finger getting itchy.... must keep away from Dealsonics..... Oh it is getting too tempting....
Nice seeing that burn graph... looks good to me....
Let's see how long I can resist this thing.....

Netslider, how long did it take Dealsonics to ship you the enclosure from the time you placed the order? I should get a bonus check from my work in the next week or so, so that will give me enough money to save up for the NEC ND-3500A + SorTecc enclosure

I ordered it on Wednesday 10/27 and had it shipped Fed Ex ground. It arrived Tuesday 11/02.

Decided to load Liggy's Beta 8 firmware since it has a different write strategy for the Taiyo Yuden T02 discs than version 2.8C SE. Oooo, 3500 didn't like that- took a long time for it to recognize discs when first inserted. Added about an additional 30 seconds to the WinXP boot process while the 3500 was trying to read the disc. Burn at 16X on firewire port wasn't very good either. so I went back to the 2.8C SE firmware. Everything is happy again.

I came across some discussion in other threads that the quality of recent Taiyo Yuden discs may be questionable. It seems mostly on Lite ON drives, but a few people have experienced poor burns on the 3500 with TY T02's. I might see if I can get some other media to cross check the performance of the 3500 in my new enclosure.