Even though the actual installation of a DVD/CD rewriter is pretty straightforward, I do like to give you one tip. BTW, if this is getting too technical for you, just skip to "Software Installation" below.
When it comes to storage devices, there are two ways they can transfer data to and from your computer: by using
"PIO Transfer Mode" or by using
"DMA Transfer Mode". PIO mode is by far the slowest of the two and in this mode, your storage device will
never be able to reach its full speed - or even come close to its full speed for that matter. Now for some obscure reason, whenever you install a new DVD/CD rewriter in
Windows XP the transfer mode will default to PIO, meaning your rewriter will be as slow as a snail in a puddle of oil. Manually setting the transfer mode to DMA does not help since XP will set it back to PIO the first change it gets. There's only one way to get XP to set the transfer mode to DMA and get it to stick. Follow these instructions carefully:
- Open your Control Panel and double click the System icon
- Click the Hardware tab
- Click the Device Manager button
- Click on the [+] to the left of IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
- If you installed the drive on your primary controller, double-click Primary IDE channel else double-click Secondary IDE channel
- Click the Advanced Settings tab and verify one of the two devices is indeed set to PIO Mode
- Click the Cancel button
- Right click the IDE channel you had chosen earlier, and choose Uninstall
- Click OK in the message box that appears, the IDE channel will now be uninstalled and removed from the list
- Right-click IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers and click Scan for hardware changes
XP should now reinstall the IDE channel and set the transfer mode to DMA.
Software Installation
Before you can burn any DVD or CD with the drive, you will need some kind of burning software. The LG GSA-H20L comes with
Nero Express 6, which is a stripped, wizard-like version of
Nero Burning ROM 6. If you already have Nero installed on your computer, and the LG is supported by it and it also supports LightScribe, then you don't need to install Nero Express. If you have Nero installed and it
doesn't support the LG nor has it LightScribe installed, then you
do need to install the supplied Nero Express. You don't have to worry that your current full-fledged Nero version will be overwritten by a feature-challenged Nero Express. Nero's installation program is quite smart and instead of overwriting your current Nero installation, it will upgrade it and add support for the LG and LightScribe. Neat, huh?
In conclusion, I encountered no problems whatsoever installing both the hardware and software.
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