Autodetection of CD/DVD-ROM drives

Using the Autodetect CD-ROM option, Nero attempts to identify the specific properties of the CD/DVD-ROM drive by sending commands to the drive and checking the data returned by the drive. However, this process does entail some risks, as there are no definitive standards for the commands used to control CD/DVD-ROM drives. Sending unsupported commands to a CD/DVD-ROM drive can cause the computer to crash. For this reason, we recommend that you close all other programs and save important documents before starting the autodetection process.

  1. From the Recorder menu, choose the Autodetect CD-ROM menu item. A dialog box appears which contains a list of the CD/DVD-ROM drives not currently supported by Nero, from which you can select the drive you have.
  2. In addition you can also set the CD/DVD-ROM bus type. If this is already set either to SCSI or to IDE, you should only change this setting if you are sure that it is wrong, as Nero takes the information from the CD/DVD-ROM driver and therefore, it should be correct. If you have an IDE CD/DVD-ROM drive, the 'Commandset' list box contains only one line, and the setting can therefore not be changed. This is because IDE drives are more standardized than SCSI CD-ROM drives. If you have a SCSI CD-ROM drive, you should only change the setting in the 'Commandset' list box, if it is 'unknown' or if the autodetection process has already failed. Otherwise it is highly probable that Nero has already selected the correct setting.
  3. Now put the Nero CD into the CD/DVD-ROM drive to test the drive. For the autodetection process you must only use this CD. If you use a different CD, the detection process will definitely fail.

    Important: If you are running a demo version of Nero, you can download a CD image file from our website www.nero.com. You must then burn this image onto an empty CD using the Burn Image command from the File menu. (Please do NOT drag this file into an ISO compilation.) You can then use the CD you have burnt in the autodetection process.

  4. Wait for a short period until the drive has analyzed the CD. You can normally tell that the analysis has finished when the light on the front of the drive stops flashing. If the Nero installation program starts, you must cancel it immediately, because you have already installed Nero. The Nero installation program will start if you have activated the Windows option 'Auto Insert Notification'.
  5. Now click on OK. Nero will now attempt to analyze the CD/DVD-ROM drive. You can follow the progress of this in the status dialog box which appears. If after a few minutes there are no more changes in the status dialog box and your computer no longer reacts when you click with the mouse, this means that the autodetection process has failed. In this case you will probably have to restart your computer and enter different drive parameters in the first dialog box which appears in the autodetection process. If the process continues to fail after several attempts, you will find below information about what you can do.

    When the CD/DVD-ROM drive has been successfully detected, the audio and data read speeds which have been measured will be displayed. These values may not correspond exactly to the values given by the manufacturer, as they are dependent, amongst other things, on the type of data (audio or data) and on your system environment. In particular, the audio read speeds are generally significantly slower than the data read speeds.

    If the audio read speed is below 150 KB/sec. (this corresponds to 1X speed) or if the entire audio line is grayed out, you will unfortunately not be able to make fast copies of audio or mixed mode CDs, as all recorders expect to receive data at a speed of at least 1X, but your drive can only read audio data at a slower speed or not at all. The only solution to this problem is not to make fast copies of audio or mixed mode CDs.

  6. Nero now asks you whether you want to save these CD-ROM settings. If you answer yes, Nero will save the parameters and you can use your CD/DVD-ROM drive straightaway as the input device for fast copies or for saving tracks. You should therefore choose Save detected CD-ROM settings.


Home Previous Next