|
If you own a Mac clone (a PowerCenter Pro was used to write this) or have a non-Apple CD device, you've no doubt had to deal with the issue of using a third-party CD driver package. When you first set up your machine, this is a great solution. Alas, with the variety of CD devices coming out these days (CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW) you may eventually run into problems, just like your author did after acquiring a new CD-RW drive… The drive was not immediately visible to CD-ROM Toolkit, but a driver update and a reboot took care of that problem. Unfortunately, Toast (CD authoring software from Adaptec) would consistently fail with a Result Code -50 when trying to process an Audio CD. A search of FWB, the author of CD-ROM Toolkit, came up with a recommendation that basically says to disable their driver to avoid problems. A search of the Adaptec site resulted in a specific solution to this problem, namely to try CD-ROM SpeedTools. Going to their site, the time and boot limited demo was downloaded and installed. A subsequent Audio CD writing experiment was successful! But there is more to this package that helps make it a winner and a fantastic Monday's Mac Gadget. The interface for the Cache Control is simple, with only two selections, Directory Cache and Streaming Cache. Configuring a large Directory Cache can help avoid unnecessary seeks for directory information, a major hit when using generic packages. Tuning the Streaming Cache can help playback of audio and/or video data. Although the meager number of settings may appear to be a drawback, the performance of the driver under different applications didn't seem to need any tweaking or optimization. This is sometimes necessary with other driver packages. The less decisions one has to make, the better, right? There are additional applications included with the package. There is a Cache Monitor application, which shows various cache performance statistics, useful if you want the optimum cache size for your particular configuration. There is also a CD Audio Player, in both black & white and color, that offers a comprehensive control panel for all CD operations. The CD Audio Player will also let you transfer CD audio to a disk file, suitable for later playback. For those who have specific compatibility needs, or those who want to get optimum performance out of their CD device, CD-ROM SpeedTools is definitely worth a look. Useful Links
Only Two Important Settings
Discover Specific Cache Statistics
You Also Get a Spiffy CD Player
|
