I just got a BenQ DW-1620 (stock firmware for now - B7C9) for Xmas and its installed in an ext. enclosure. I used a TDK 4x RICOHJPN-RO1 for Nero to "Create A Data Disc". The process went very well, and everything seemed to be going fine until I did the Nero "Disc Quality Scan." For some strange reason when I do the Disc Quality scan, I get a straight line instead of a curve. The speed NEVER goes above 1x and it seems there are ALOT of spikes which aren't typically normal.

This is my very first DVD-RW drive so I'm not too familiar with the technical side of things. My drive is set to Master and all the connections are hooked up correctly. Windows detects the drive without any problems, but the problem is only minor. However, I would like to see how well the discs perform in terms of quality. What are the causes for a straight line graph compared to a curved graph which is normal. Should I change some settings in Nero or even Windows to be able to fix this problem?

Any insights would be helpful.

I'm currently using Nero CD-DVD Speed 3.55 so could it be the old firmware (B7C9) causing the problem. I've decided NOT to upgrade to the latest firmware in case I have to RMA this drive.

any help on this issue will be much appreciated

Are you sure you have the drive connected to a USB 2.0 port? USB 1.1 would slow it down a ton.

I only have USB2 ports on my laptop computer, and at the moment, the drive is connected via the Firewire port. I'll try switching over to USB2 and see what happens.

USB2 - I'm getting 20mb/s
Firewire - 21mb/s

** Also I can burn up to 12x using Taiyo Yuden on DVD programs such as CloneDVD2 and Nero.