iBook 800 MHz CD-RW will not write at maximum speed; Workaround

A large group of users are reporting that the CD-RW drives included with some of the newly shipping 2002 iBook models (officially referred to by Apple as the Opaque iBook 16 VRAM, and iBook 32 VRAM) are not capable of burning discs at full speed. Michael Kummer writes:

"On my new iBook 800 Mhz/12.1" LCD with a Sony combo drive, I am unable to burn CDs with more speed than 4x, not the promised 16x - under Toast the entries more than 4x are greyed out."

There are two flavors of combination DVD/CD-RW drives included with the new iBooks: a Sony CRX 820e and the Toshiba SD-R2212. Both drives are advertised to write CD-R discs at 16x speed, and CD-RW discs at 8x speed.

The problem seems to affect both drive models, disallowing Toast to burn at any speed higher than 4x, in either CD-R or CD-RW mode. Disc read speeds do not seem to be affected.

UPDATE: We have confirmed a workaround that applies to at least some iBooks. MacFixIt reader Jason found:

"It is all a matter of when and how you insert the disc. If I insert the CD at the last minute and then hit record while the drive is still spinning up, I can select the 16X speed in Toast. Otherwise, I am limited to 4X."

Apparently, inserting the media only a few seconds before pressing "Burn" bypasses the media speed check in Toast, and allows the burn speed to be set at 8X and 16X instead of the 4X speed, to which a number of new iBook owners are limited.

Feedback on this issue? Drop us a line at late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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