Re: [gentoo-user] setting "using_dma" on a BenQ DVD/RW drive

[Matt Randolph <mattr@erols.com>]

Joseph wrote:

>I have tried hdparm -d1 /dev/hdd
>but it is not accepting the it.  I can not set DMA on this DVD 
>I just called BenQ and they don't support Linux; so don't buy BenQ
>products as they don't support Linux.  In example of DVD/writer it will
>become plain CD reader.
>Without DMA access the writing to CD will be very slow.
>
>  
>

I have a Plextor DVD burner in a (MS) Windows machine.  No matter what I 
did, the drive would refuse DMA mode and would default to PIO mode.  In 
Windows, the setting is "use DMA, if available," so I guess it's more of 
a suggestion than a setting.

I had put the DVD burner on it's own IDE controller to try to maximize 
throughput when copying data from the hard disk.  As it turns out, the 
DVD burner will only run in DMA mode when it is a slave to a disk that 
is already in DMA mode.  By making the burner a slave to the hard disk, 
DMA flipped on and all was well.

Maybe there is a Linux equivalent of that problem.

-- 
"Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate" - W. of O.

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