VERY slow file transfer from DVD to Desktop

[OvenMaster]

I use DVD+RW to back up my data. When I actually needed to retrieve some of this data from discs, my DVD writers spin very slowly, make all sorts of noises and the file transfer speed from the disc to my Desktop is less than 100KB/sec. These are a mix of web pages, text files, .jpegs, .pdfs, etc.

My chipset drivers are up to date, and DMA is enabled in Device Manager (IDE mode). AHCI mode makes Windows Explorer hang. What am I missing? If I ever need to totally rebuild my system from backups, I'll be here for months.

Added info: When dual-booting into XP Home SP3, the DVD drives spin up fast, and the transfer takes 6 minutes, 5 seconds. 526MB divided by 365 seconds = 1.44MB/sec

 

[OvenMaster]

Okay, never mind. Turns out this is a known issue with 7. Even Teracopy and WinMend File Copy don't help.
Looks like I'll be using XP long into the future if I ever have to transfer lots of small files from DVD backups.
Now I know why burnt file verification using Burnaware Free took longer than the actual burn.
I'm wondering if M$ has fixed this in Win 8?

 

[OvenMaster]

Googling this issue shows that it was a big deal back in 2009 and 2010 when Wiindows 7 was first introduced. I'm assuming there was a fix and I missed it. Any help here would be appreciated.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Dunno, I never had issues copying bunches of files off a DVD on Win 7.
For the sake of trying again I just tried offloading files from my AIO win7 installation disk, and the speed was around 3-4 MB/s. And I have a LG DVD burner that was bought before XP SP2 and runs fine in any OS I tried.

Googling with your DVD models yelds another guy with similar issues and has some troubleshooting you may want to try.
Probably BIOS options.

I'd think there are some compatibility issues, can you try with another DVD drive?

Also, try using FastCopy as well.

I have the sneaking suspicion that you may have to buy new drives though.

 

[OvenMaster]

The guy with my model of DVD drive had audio problems. I don't.
Using FastCopy, file transfer took 10 minutes, 53 seconds, with an average speed of 805KB/sec.
The drives work perfectly when booted into XP Home SP3. They are only 14 months old.

I tried copying the files using a Vista Home Basic SP1 Toshiba laptop. Windows Explorer hung on "Calculating..."
This is not a problem with the DVD drives or my BIOS. It's a widespread, known bug in Vista and Windows 7.

I am looking for a fix or patch, because the problem was most prevalent in 2009 and 2010.

If this bug can't be fixed, then I will either need to stop using Windows 7 (what good is making backup discs if you can't read them?) and revert to XP Home SP3, or dual-boot with Win 7 and XP forever, using XP to actually be able to copy data files.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

The guy with my model of DVD drive had audio problems. I don't.

how do you think it works playing music from a CD? Data is read from that disk in real-time and worked on by the media player. If read speed sucks big time, like your case, audio playback is distorted.
Which is some evidence for the disk drive model may be flawed.

This is not a problem with the DVD drives or my BIOS. It's a widespread, known bug in Vista and Windows 7.

There are tons of people using CDs and DVDs here and none has your issues, so it's not that widespread as you may think from googling.
There were some issues, but only for a relatively limited amount of drives, which means it is a weird device compatibility issue. It does not qualify as bug.
Yes, substance does not change, the drives don't talk well with Windows 7 (and Vista) what changes is that none at MS is going to to fix it as it affects too little people to be worth their money investigating and fixing.
If you notice, in 2011 and 2012 the amount of people having issues is back to normal levels (very rare), which means the issues were mostly ironed out with newer disk drive models by the device manufacturers.

If this bug can't be fixed, then I will either need to stop using Windows 7 (what good is making backup discs if you can't read them?) and revert to XP Home SP3, or dual-boot with Win 7 and XP forever, using XP to actually be able to copy data files.

I'm very sorry man, but I know no other way to fix this than buying a new DVD burner/player/whatever.
You can ask what DVD burners others here recommend, so you will buy one that you are sure will work fine (my burner is waaay out of production).

 

[OvenMaster]

This makes no sense to me at all.

XP was released in 2001.
7 was released in 2009.
My burners are from 2011.
I can't see how burners from 2011 are "incompatible" with an OS from 2009, yet compatible with one from 2001.
Put "slow file copy windows 7" into Google and see how many results there are. I'm far from alone in this.
I swear, Windows 7 is pi$$ing me off more in six months than XP ever did in eight years.
Thanks anyway.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

it's all down to device controllers and hardware design of that particular disk drive. If they used oldish stuff and design it's possible, as DVD burner controllers and components aren't exactly a very dynamic/expanding market requiring constant innovation to stay on top. More often than not, a "new" model has just a different front panel than the "old" model. It's not the first time I had to swap a disk drive just because it acted strange on win 7 but was fine on Linux and XP.

I didn't say you are alone, just that the amount of people having issues is too small for MS to feel like fixing it. Even if you count all the results, you aren't going to get more than 1000 or so people total. That's a drop in the ocean for them as they sell to hundreds of millions, and thus it's an issue only the device's manufacturer can fix (with next models anyway).

Your best bet is imho buying a new drive, as that's a relatively rare issue.
Don't blame too much Win7 for this, as the one really to blame is Samsung for selling crappy hardware.

Btw, why you have Aero off? Aero offloads most of the GUI work to the GPU, improving CPU performance (this is noticeable on weak systems like mine or yours).

 

[OvenMaster]

I also forgot to mention that this also happens with a Vista Home Basic laptop with a DVD burner in it. Burn a disc with a lot of files, then be unable to read it.

I have Aero off because I'm used to the Win95 GUI and can't stand the "modern" look. Also, my GPU is integrated on my motherboard... no separate video card.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Vista was basically a horribly buggy Windows 7 (until SP2 anyway). If it does not work on Win7 then it's not going to run on Vista either.

An integrated GPU is still a GPU (by definition), a HD4250 is able to run Aero without any issue (GPUs are ridicolously more powerful than CPUs of their same generation, but are way less flexible and need stuff to be coded in a specific way to run it).

I was forced to abandon XP as I need to be able to do techsupport, so I must orient myself in Win7's standard GUI, and I must say that now I prefer it over XP.

 

[OvenMaster]

Okay, got it. The problem is a known kernel/OS issue:

Extremely Slow CD/DVD/HD Read/Write/Copy Performance - Microsoft Community

"Hi all,

I was finally contacted by a Microsoft Research Engineer--this is the title of his position according to what he told me after I inquired from him--late last night, more than twenty-four hours after our scheduled arrangement, regarding the issue. He was very forthcoming and open about the issue, admitting the problem to be an OS kernel/code issue and that it would be addressed by Microsoft as soon as his research team can come up with an operating system patch which would then be made available for installation, publically. He also acknowledged the seriousness of the problems associated with this issue. However, as he described it and because of the complexity of the issue and the solution involved, he was unable to give a timetable before the patch is made available. He said, it might take a week or two, or as long as a month before we hear of any solution."

This was in 2010. We're still waiting.

 

[OvenMaster]

Oh, and just for the fun of it, I did try a few Aero themes. I could not find a way to make programs' Menu Bar area totally opaque so I would not see Desktop icons, I could not change the color or font on the Taskbar to match other GUI items, and I could not totally turn off ClearType (which gives me a splitting headache).

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Yeah, like I said, they have little incentive to make it happen from their side (as there is the hardware side as well). If ALL dvd players had that issue, then you'd see them redirecting all their staff to find a solution asap before their HQ is overrun by angry mobs with torches.

As for your aero issues, this is for trasparency, the color can be changed from the same panel and should affect both taskbar and the upper part of the window, and this is for cleartype, although you probably just need to re-calibrate it as it depends from the screen.

In general, just googling will yield you a wealth of tutorials to tweak the heck out of Win 7.

 

[OvenMaster]

Thanks very much.