Hi, I just bought a new DVD drive for backup today. It's a "Retail Plus DVD +/- RW" Burner. It's written on the box that it's 16x speed for DVD+/-R. However, today, after I install the drive. I use Nero Express to burn it. But the maximum speed is only 4x???!?!? what happen? Also, the device name is: "TOSHIBA CD/DVDW SD-R5372". Why? Isn't it call "retail plus"? And why the max speed is 4x instead of 16x? Do I need to configure my Nero?

What media are you trying to burn to? A lot of DVD disks have limited burn speed and the system detects this and prevents burning faster than the media will allow. Does it really matter whether windows calls it a "RetailPlus" or "Toshiba" ? Does that affect it's performance? Maybe "Retail Plus" is just some marketing name for a drive that was manufactured by toshiba anyway. In the Automotive world they call that Badge Engineering. Same factory different badge. I used to have a signature but it disappeared and I just couldn't be bothered writing another so please feel free to ingore this.

Ok. Well, I try burning a image. It give me only 4x max speed. Also, I try to put some data in it. Normal data. like files, avi videos, rm videos. etc...It also give me 4x. speed. Why? I check my DVD disk, it's "up to 8x". I'm using Nero 6.

Go here: ftp://beybladesite@ftp.members.lycos.co.uk/Speed.bmp You can see that the max is 4x. THIS IS ONLY TRUE for Double layer writing. However, I'm writing on normal DVD-R. Also, if you look at "type" it shows: DVD+_R/RW DL recorder. So, is that mean it is always in DL mode? But hey, I'm burming normal DVD-R. You see the problem?

Your link needs a user id/password. I'also use Nero6 but I use it manually rather than in Express mode. When setting up a burn in the Burn tab i simply get the option of setting burn speed at "Maximum" or at 1x or 2x Was trying to look at the Help file in Nero but it seems I am missing that component. Will see if I can download the helpfile. I used to have a signature but it disappeared and I just couldn't be bothered writing another so please feel free to ingore this.

Ok, here is the link: http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a293/vmvictorvm/Speed.jpg

As near as I can tell, Nero is supposed to automatically detect the available burnspeed options of whatever drive it finds. If you cannot reset the burnspeed using the down arrow next to that box then I'm stumped. In mine the speeds for both read and write show as 40x and no other options come up in the dropdown menu. I know for a fact that I do not burn DVD at anything like 40X. Mine is a single layer only burner however so I have no idea whether the fact that yours is DL is causing the reduced speed limit. I used to have a signature but it disappeared and I just couldn't be bothered writing another so please feel free to ingore this.