DVD burner is suddenly burning slow? Slow DVD / CD burning driving you crazy? Having a bit of a burning issue? (video, data, isos, anything). Drive used to work fine but starting to take a long time to burn? Every burning program having the same problem? The burn always succeeds, but always takes a long time? Well this guide will show a solution to help fix that.
What’s the main cause?
One of the things that causes your drive to burn slow all of a sudden is that you previously had put in a dirty or scratched disk & your drive light was flashing on & off for a while trying to read it before you ejected it. When your drive accesses a bad disk like that for a period of time it can go into PIO mode which is slow. DMA mode is faster than PIO mode.
As Microsoft states: Windows will turn off DMA mode for a burner after encountering errors during data transfer operations. If more that six DMA transfer timeouts occur, Windows will turn off DMA and use only PIO mode on that device.
What’s DMA mode?
Direct memory access (DMA) is a feature of modern computers and microprocessors that allows certain hardware subsystems within the computer to access system memory for reading and/or writing independently of the central processing unit.
What’s PIO mode?
Programmed input/output (PIO) is a method of transferring data between the CPU and a peripheral such as a network adapter or an ATA storage device. In general, programmed I/O happens when software running on the CPU uses instructions that access I/O address space to perform data transfers to or from an I/O device.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Go to Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager>IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers.
- From there, right click on each of the channels and choose ‘Properties>Advanced Settings’. All drives should be DMA mode. The ‘Current Transfer Mode’ for Hard drives is usually DMA 4-6 and DVD burners DMA 2-4, DVD ROMs usually DMA. If you see any in PIO mode, that can slow things down.
- If you find a PIO mode drive, changing them back may be easy or complicated. First see if you can change them in that window using the drop down menu.
- If not, uninstall the channel the drive is on and let the OS reinstall it. This will usually take a reboot. This will not damage any files on the computer. Now your burner should be back to normal. Check the drive settings again when computer restarts & burn your files in peace.
VIDEO TUTORIAL
More information:
Other ways to fix a slow burning DVD drive:
- Update its bios or firmware. You get these files from the manufacturers website.
- Close all other open programs & your anti virus or firewall program.
- Make sure drive(s) that hold what your burning has at least 14% free disk space.
- Defragment your hard drive(s).
Burn, Cd, Dvd, Fix, Guide, Slow, Troubleshoot, Windows
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damn, my prayers been answered, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is an awesome way to troubleshoot my slow burning dvd drive. I just change back from PIO to DMA mode, my burn process flies with no body business.
@yloon: Glad my video helped and your burn process is flying!
Thank you!! This solved my sister’s computer problem! It works like a charm. Instead of burning at .070x It’s burning at around 12x again! \^.^/
Thanks a bunch, solved a very frustrating problem for me.
Been burning DVDS for many months with the same setup then suddenly I’m getting 1x burn speeds and the drive light flashes slowly rather than staying on steady as it always has.
I had no idea that windows could or would change the transfer mode and leave it that way.
Thank you! I found that doing the uninstall was the best and easiest way to do this!
my god your tips saved me and I will book mark your page ,thank you very much god bless you.
@qsxwdc: Glad I could help, thanks for leaving feedback
Thank you! It worked. My drive is a lot faster now.
How to make it so it never happens again, no matter how many errors? Microsoft’s “fix” doesn’t work (and is supposedly included in WinXP SP2 anyway).
hello..
i too have the same problem …
1)i have got dvd’s read/write both the operations very very slow…
2)when i play music video already present in the hard disk …it runs with some disturbance like it is scratched or something…
i m using win SP2…is driver get affected from virus…?
Thanks for supplying such a helpful bit of information for those of us that are not as computer savvy.
Thank you , information very helpful!!!
drives are faster now
Drives Hp and Lg
Thanks for the info.
Your fix worked just as described.
Cheers
This had happened to me on my desktop before and I found the fix for it. This time, it happened on my laptop burner and I’d forgotten the technique (blush) to fix it - but fortunately found your site. Thanks for the refresher course.
Now … the big unanswered question(s). First, what is it that causes a the IDE channel to revert to PIO mode? And secondly, is there a way to prevent it from happening in the future - before it happens?
Thanks again.
@AlecWest: Glad I could help
This happens especially when you put a bad / dirty disc in and it keeps trying to access it, so what happens is it times out and then goes into the PIO slow burning mode.
To prevent this, make sure the discs are clean
Hi JGG,
You haven’t answered bk’s question? any idea? a have the same issue!!!
@bk & @JH: I believe the issue of playing things from hard drive and its still slow you may need to defragment your hard drive and make sure it has more than 20% free before you do. That may be why things are sluggish when playing from it, if its not that then maybe some more ram, Please give me computer specifications.
THANK YOU, YOU HAVE SAVED ME FROM A LOT OF TROUBLE, FROM BURNING DVD’S MANY THANKS
THANK YOU, YOU HAVE SAVED ME FROM A LOT OF TROUBLE, FROM BURNING DVD’S MANY THANKS
u r awesome!
Magnificent ! I would like to insert a illustration to illustate your great article, but I don’t understand how to do ? Can someone assist me ?
My settings are already set at DMA. This has not helped at all. My Windows Media Player is taking ages to burn CD’s. About 10 minutes to even prepare and analyze one song. I need some help on this immediately… Help me!!
@JD: You need to uninstall your DVD drive as shown in the video and it will work, not just setting to DMA, Please watch full video
I have set my DVD burner to DMA when available, but it still is showing as currently running PIO. I removed it and rebooted so it would reinstall. It went back to PIO only, so I changed it back again…still no luck
When I copy a dvd movie, it takes more than an hour and finally after the burning when i open the movie, first few minutes are okay! Then others are not playable. Also other burnings are slow too. Please, help me!
Hi there.
found the information very helpful but still got some confusions.
i am using Dell D60 Core 2 duo and TSST corp CDDVDW- TS L632H DVD writer.the main problem is the slow burning speed i.e 1x 1490 KB/s and it almost takes 1-1.30 hours to burn data of 4.3 GB. i have just updated the system bios and according to your steps i found ( DMA if available).
Still no improvment. what to do
@Jani: How old is your laptop and how long have you been experiencing this burning problem?
Also did you uninstall the channel drive as I show and wrote in this tutorial? Thats the last resort when trhe drive is still burning slowly
u r awesome!
Thank you so much! You just made my day
Good work and thanks for that!
Awesome web-site from Maurice Kuhlmey
thnx so much… made my day.
Your the man!
hi dude thanks very much this was the familiar problem while using in windows 98 but now with lil bit carelessness i have spent too much time on dvd burning thanks for reminding those days
as #27 Jani February 11th, 2011 Here stated have the same trouble have the same TSST corp CDDVDW- TS L632H DVD writer. and slow burn I also tried the DMA thing and reinstalling ata Channels, Have the sound problem (cracking)from any mp3 from the hd as it afects something with the speed of cpu or something, Have enought hd free space the cdu is 4 core cpu, have 4 gbs ram w7 it has the same problem any burning app ,and 3 diferent drives I think i will end formatting? Thanks For any help on this
thank u. u saved me lot of money.
@Luis: Your drive may be done for, since all else fail3d you may need to purchase a new one or try the drive in another computer.
@tebby: Im glad
Brilliant!
It was taking me two hours to burn a DVD.
Now it takes 8 minutes.
This is probably the best advice ever!
@Sylvia Denning: Glad I could help, Thanks for leaving a comment.
Again first burning aftar 3 month…
Thank you…
Thank you so much. You have made my day. Burning dvds back to normal speed..
Thanks for the great fix. I burn the occasional beat-up DVD’s my kids bring home from the library so that they can actually watch them. Both my desk-top and laptop had developed the slow burn issue and I just thought I wore out my laser lenses burning movies. What normally would take 20 minutes was taking almost 60 and the drive was not keeping up with the DVD minimum burn speed such that the burned movie skipped also. Found this link today and both my machines had the problem. Just one thing to note is that I had to un-install the device as it would allow me to change it from PIO to DMA but after the re-boot it would default back to PIO. Once I un-installed and after the reboot I had to go back in and change it from PIO to DMA. I did a 2nd re-boot and it is defaulting now to DMA. I had to do the above on both my machines. Both are running XP Professional SP3. I was actually looking at purchasing a replacement drive for my laptop before I Googled “Slow burning DVD drive”. Thanks again.
@Kevin: I am glad I could help
Thanks for the info on having to reboot twice on XP SP3, it will help others as well 
Dear JGG
many thanks, and to kevin also. i nearly didn’t read his post but the dual reboot fix worked for me- so im reposting it for others-
“one thing to note is that I had to un-install the device as it would allow me to change it from PIO to DMA but after the re-boot it would default back to PIO. Once I un-installed and after the reboot I had to go back in and change it from PIO to DMA. I did a 2nd re-boot and it is defaulting now to DMA.”
so dont lose patience. IT FRIGGING WORKS!..
when you do get a fix like this.. it can change the gloomiest of days!
@szar: I am glad me and kevins methods has worked for you, thanks for sharing your experience! Yes finding a solution can make a gloomy day full of sunshine! LOL
Many thanks for helping lots of people with their Laptop problems. It’s aggravating to see that malware is even now a big issue these days.I guess it’s correct that training is still the most effective solution to helping people cure their problems.
Wow. I have the same problem. My system’s primary IDE channel changed to PIO mode & it is not changed by me. Ultimately i uninstall & reboot it, finally it working.
Lots of thanks
rebooted, uninstalled twice still no joy . . always goes to dma . . still no joy . .no idea what to do . . . .was gonna reinstall software wot do ya think? ? ? ? ?
It is great information thank you!
THANKS to you for your wonderful concept which is real solve my problem.
Out of 4 opts 3 are set as dma and one is set to pio. So changed it to dma., reboot and checked options again., now all options show dma only. Started freshly burning new dvd it took me same time i.e two hours. (My laptop resources are good.)
@New: Try another reboot and see what happens, also make sure you have a good amount of space on hard drive before you burn again or another option defragment your hard drives and then burn as some burners use cache space from hard drive
Thank you, quite nice post.
Thank you!
yup!!!!!!!!!!!!, it worked.. i’ve uninstalled it. 1 request sir, Do u have any setting for usb pendrives transfer speed. my transfer speed is too slow!
Thank you so much. Burning dvd back to normal speed. Was easy to fix .. hard to believe something that easy took me 2 months to find it… Took 2 hours to burn a DVD.. Thanks again!!