12.1 Nero CD-DVD Speed
The program is located in the Nero Toolkit folder and is started as follows:
Start > Programs > Nero > Nero Toolkit > Nero CD-DVD Speed.
Note: The user interface of Nero CD-DVD Speed is currently only available in English!
Nero CD-DVD Speed is a benchmark program which can be used to obtain detailed information on the capabilities of your CD/DVD drives. Knowledge of audio extraction capability (Digital Audio Extraction - DAE) is particularly important for saving audio tracks on hard disk and for copying audio CDs because audio data is extracted digitally from CDs.
We cannot give any generally valid figures just for extraction from audio CDs. It is useful to know the audio extraction speed capability of the installed equipment particularly when making fast copies of audio CDs, to avoid the buffer running empty.
Detailed information on how audio extraction capability can be tested using Nero can be found in the Section ‘Verifying audio read quality'.
Nero CD-DVD Speed provides you with information on the following sectors:
Extraction speed (data transfer rate) Access time
CPU load
Quality of audio extraction (Digital Audio Extraction DAE) Spin up/spin down time
Scanning a CD for damaged sectors 1. Insert an audio CD into the CD-/DVD drive.
2. Start the program and select the desired drive by clicking on the drop down button and selecting the drive.
3. Click on the Start button to carry out the most important tests.
4. Look in the 'DAE quality' sector to find out how big the DAE value of the selected drive is. If it has good DAE capability there will be a tick in this sector. If no tick has appeared you should use another drive for digital extraction of audio files.
All commands can be reached easily via the menus. One of the things you can define using the File menu Options command is which tests are to be carried out. The changes in the settings are saved by clicking on the Apply button and the window is then closed.
More information on Nero CD-DVD Speed and Nero DriveSpeed can be found on the website WWW.CDSpeed2000.com. You will find many useful tips on using the program as well as the latest versions of the program.
12.2 Nero DriveSpeed
You can use Nero DriveSpeed to set the read speed of CD drives already installed. The program is in the Nero Toolkit and is started as follows: Start >
Programs > Nero > Nero 6> Nero Toolkit > Nero DriveSpeed.
This program is a component part of Nero because the noises it produces as drive speed increases had become louder and louder and we needed a program which could deal with this problem. If a program does not take long to load the noise level of the drive might not be an issue but with constant access to a CD this will be perceived as interference. However a brake can be installed simply by setting the read speed.
Another problem which is particularly annoying when using game CDs/DVDs arises from the shutting down of the drive motor and the slow restarting of the motor which can lead, on the one hand, to the program freezing for a short time and, on the other hand, to some drives supplying incorrect data during startup.
By using Nero SpeedDrive you can avoid this problem and define the spin down time, i.e. the empty running time, according to which the drive sets the rotation.
The "program" icon appears in the tray icon field in the task bar after startup, usually at the lower right edge of the screen.
12.2.1 Using Nero DriveSpeed
1. Double click on the program icon for Nero DriveSpeed. If you have not yet set speed parameters for the recognized drives a dialog box appears asking you to set the parameters by clicking on the OK button.
2. As the window appears click on the Autodetect button to have the speed settings of Nero DriveSpeed detected. If too many speeds (more than 6) have been detected those not required may be deleted. This is done by selecting and clicking on the Remove button. In the "Language" sector you may define the language in which entries are to appear.
3. Click on the OK button to save the settings and close the sector.
4. Define the read speed of the drive by clicking on the drop down button and selecting the desired speed.
5. By clicking on the drop down button and selecting the desired spin down time you can define the empty run time by which the drive is to set the rotation (default setting: 2 minutes)
6. In the three control boxes define whether Nero Drive Speed Will be started when the computer is booted up
Will be started and minimized
The last saved values are to be used when booting up.
7. Click on the Close button to minimize the program. This means that the program is not ended but the program icon appears in the tray icon field.
It is possible to make amendments to the possible speed settings and language after clicking on the Options button. Define DriveSpeed settings for another drive by clicking on the drop down button and selecting the desired drive.
More information on Nero CD-DVD Speed and Nero DriveSpeed can be found on the website WWW.CDSpeed2000.com. Here you will find many useful tips on the use of the program as well as the latest versions of the program.
12.3 Nero InfoTool
This tool is not always included in the Nero Toolkit and may be downloaded separately free of charge from http://www.cdspeed2000.com.
This program will provide you with very useful information on:
All CD/DVD drives or recorders installed. Amongst other things it will tell you which read and write functions the recorder supports and the modes supported when burning, such as DAO, SAO, RAW and much more.
Discs inserted Hard disks installed Burn software installed