Why does burning a cd take so long?

[chuchichan2524]

I have a Powerbook G4 with a Superdrive. Why does it take so long to simply burn a few files onto a CD? It goes through a copying phase and then a burning phase. It seems to take maybe 10-15 minutes to burn a few pictures. Am I doing something wrong or is this how the Superdrive works?

 

[mad jew]

What are you burning? If it's a music CD then it'll take a little while to convert all the music with the time depending almost entirely on your processor.

The copying part implies that data CDs are burning slow too. Check Activity Monitor to see if there's a process using up an extraordinary amount of resources. Also, does the drive read disks at normal speeds? What app are you using to burn them all? Is it different for different apps (Finder, iTunes, Toast or whatever)?

 

[Eidorian]

Make sure you're not using slow media either. It sucks burning CD-RW's at 4x. Ugh...

 

[OutThere]

Using the Finder is notoriously slow, as it has to copy to the CD, and then burn the CD. Try a program like Toast, or if you prefer something cheap or free you can try

Disc Burner

or Firestarter

which both work quite well in my experience.

 

[treblah]

Verifying the burned disc also takes a good bit of time so I always uncheck that step.

 

[killmoms]

Also, what version of OS X are you using? Integrated burning has been improved in Tiger, although it still could be quite better.

 

[wnameth]

if you are using good media (proper speed) then you could possibly have a defect Superdrive, it isn't really common, but it does occur, for instance at my COOP (apple store assistant technician) today, i tested a powerbook that had a bad drive, if yours is still under warranty, then it will be free to replace.