The Nero API uses a lot of memory when burning to a DVD. This results in 'blue screen' system crashes when the system memory is low.

My PC has 128MB RAM, 800MHz AMD Duron processor, running Windows XP (fully patched with SP2). These exceed minimum requirements for both Nero 6 and XP.

I am developing an application that backs-up directories to DVD. When I tried to process large directories (approx 400 files, 2GB data), the app would crash predictably at a certain point. I found that the same happened when I used the NeroCMD example program.

I have spent the last 7 days upgrading Nero, upgrading DVD firmware, replacing DVD hardware and testing NeroCMD on different PCs. Here is what I found out:

• NeroCMD requires about 200MB memory in order to process my directory
• Setting a large page file does not prevent the crashes.
• When NeroCMD is running on a faster machine (e.g. 3200Hz hyperthreaded P4, 1GB RAM), it does not crash.
• Error messages are not generated in the crashes.

The memory is being allocated as a result of calls to NeroAPI functions such as NeroCreateIsoTrackEx. It looks like Nero is prioritizing it's own thread to such an extent that other system drivers are squashed out, causing the crashes.

So, Nero employees, please can you advise us:

1. How much memory is really required?
2. Does the amount of memory required depend on the number of files to be copied?
3. When can we expect an update that (for example) warns if the system doen't have enough memory and exits gracefully?

Until then, I think I'd better deploy this on massively overspecified PCs...

Andy