Hey All, I need some advise about backing up some stuff from my old PC to transfer to my new PC. I will be using a Plextor 708A DVD Burner - 8 Speed. I took a sample of my MP3s and found that about 480 of my songs would fit on a blank DVD. Each song averages around 3:30. This would be a total of 28 hours of music. If burned at 8X, wouln't that take 3 1/2 hours to burn? If so, that would put a lot of stress on the burner. Especially if you needed more than one disc. Is this correct, or flawed logic? Lastly, I read that movies should be burnt no faster than 4X. What speed would you recommend to back up my other stuff, ie. programs, games, documents, etc. Thanks in advance
It's flawed logic (at least partially.) It will probably take 15 minutes. To try to explain, you can only put 20 or so songs on a CD-R if you convert the mp3s to cd audio. (This is what you do when you burn mp3s onto a cd for your cd player.) One Audio CD-R = ~20 songs In contrast, you could fit about 140 mp3s on a CD-R if you keep them as mp3s. One CD-R = ~140 mp3s Now... both examples use the same kind of CD-R, and the same amount of data: 700MB. The reason the songs on the first CD take up so much space is because when mp3s are converted to CD Audio, they get bigger. The CD player needs extra data to be able to play it. In contrast, an mp3 player (on your computer, or otherwise) is "smart" enough to add that extra data itself. That's why mp3s are considered small. I hope this helps.
It takes me about 15 min, 20 tops to burn a full DVD, either video or DVD ROM with me 4X Pioneer burner, so a 8X should be about 8 or 10 minutes tops.
