CD-ROM Tool Copyright ©1999-2002 Naiobrin Software ***Please use word wrap to read this document*** This readme file is basically a text-only version of what is on the CD-ROM Tool website, and is not always as up-to-date as the website. To see up-to-date instructions with illustrated examples, and a list of compatible drives, please visit the CD-ROM Tool website at http://cdromtool.hopto.org Introduction ============ A few years ago, CD-ROM drives were slow, and everyone was looking for a way to speed them up. Now, they are excessively fast, and it's causing some problems. Noise, vibrations, and short spindown times plague most modern drives. For quickly transferring large chunks of data, this is an acceptable trade-off, but those who wish to stream audio and video from a disc are often left disappointed by poor performance and distracting noise. With many drives, it is possible to set the read speed to a value lower than the maximum speed. This makes the disc spin slower, reducing mechanical noise. Many also let you set the spindown time to a value higher than the default. This makes the disc stay spinning and ready to access data for longer spans of time. Unfortunately, most CD-ROM drive vendors do not give you the programs you need to change these settings. That's where CD-ROM Tool comes in. New in this version (11/26/02) ===================================== -CD-ROM Tool now comes in two flavors. CD-ROM Tool ASPI requires an ASPI layer to communicate with the drives, and can be used in Windows NT/95/98/ME/2K/XP. CD-ROM Tool SPTI, which can only be used in an NT-based version of Windows such as 2K or XP, does not require ASPI or any other helper software to commmunicate with the drives; however, the SPTI version is still somewhat experimental. -Gave the CD-ROM interface code a makeover. -Fixed a bug in the Automatic Set portion of the program. -Hopefully the ASPI drive detection code is finally 100% correct. -Added speed verification to the "Send Drive Data" window to prevent bogus speeds from being reported. (New in 08/22/02) --------------- -Improved ASPI code. CD-ROM Tool can now use Adaptect's ASPI layer, Nero's ASPI layer, and possibly others. -Improved the speed detection algorithm. The speed detection process can now be aborted by pressing the "Abort Detect" button. -Added door locking and unlocking functionality. Thanks to Dmitry Mesheryakov for suggesting the addition and putting together the locking routines. -Added a "Send Drive Data" feature that can send data about the users CD-ROM drives to the website in order to help the compatibility list grow. -When the application is minimized to the system tray, right clicking on the icon now summons up a menu that lets the user quit the program, quickly see the status of the drives, and set the drives to a new speed or spindown. (New in 10/24/01) --------------- I have redesigned the program. New things include: -A hopefully less haphazard layout. -If you have multiple drives, you can use the "Periodic Set" and "Set-On-Insert" features on all drives simultaneously. -You can easily hide the splash screen on startup. (New in 05/05/01) --------------- -Added "periodic-set" feature. -Added speed management. -Added minimize to system tray functionality. -Splash screen can be suppressed with command line option "-h". (New in 01/30/01) --------------- -Added "set-on-insert" feature. Thanks to Rob Wheeler for help in developing it. -Added the ability to start with a particular drive selected. -Added the ability to start minimized. (New in 01/25/01) --------------- -Added ASPI instructions for Windows 2000 -Removed the experimental freeze feature along with continuously-updated drive readings. (New in 04/21/00) --------------- -Fixed some problems with the new detection algorithm. Thanks, Andrew Matsukow. -Added information about ASPI under NT (hadn't even noticed it was missing; thanks, Petr Riha). (New in 04/14/00) --------------- -Double clicking on "Maximum Speed" now sets the drive to its maximum speed. -Default speed detection tolerance has been increased. (New in 04/11/00) --------------- -This readme file -Improved speeds detection algorithm. -Detected speeds are now stored between sessions -Current speed and spindown time are now updated every second -Quickset feature allows you to quickly set your drive's speed/spindown -Experimental "freeze" feature -A cool new icon (that was the fun part) Windows NT/2000/XP Users ======================== CD-ROM Tool uses ASPI drivers to send commands to your drive. These drivers are included in Win95/98 (and ME, maybe? Does anyone know?), but not in Windows NT/2000/XP. I know of two options you have for installing ASPI on your system: -Use Adaptec's ASPI layer. You can download the install program here. -Use Nero's ASPI layer. As of August 2002, CD-ROM Tool can use Nero's ASPI layer to communicate with your drives. For those who don't know, Nero is a CD burning software package that can be found at www.ahead.de. When you have installed Nero, you will find a file called "wnaspi32.dll" in the Nero directory. To use Nero's ASPI layer, copy this file to the same directory in which you put CD-ROM Tool or put it somewhere on the path so CD-ROM Tool can find it. Does anyone know of any other ASPI implementations that work with CD-ROM Tool? If you do, please let me know. A Word on Compatibility ======================= I have tried to make CD-ROM Tool versatile enough to work with a variety of hardware. However, please keep in mind that commands for setting the read speed and spindown time are an optional part of the CD-ROM specification; drive manufacturers are not required to implement them. If your drive is not made to respond to these commands, then CD-ROM Tool isn't going to work with your drive. Manufacturers almost never indicate whether they've chosen to include this functionality or not, so the best way to find out is to give it a try. As for DVD drives, CD-ROM Tool may be able to control the way the drive behaves when it's reading CD-ROMs/Rs/RWs, but I would not expect it to control the way the drive behaves when reading DVD-ROMs. Any control CD-ROM Tool has over the speed at which a DVD drive reads a DVD is just a fluke. I do not own a DVD drive, let alone one that allows DVD speed changing, so I haven't yet been able to add that functionality. I maintain a compatibility list of drives known to work (or not work) with CD-ROM Tool. Please send me your results and help the list grow. Installation ============ After you download CD-ROM Tool, unzip it in the folder of your choice. If you're using the ASPI flavor, you might need to install ASPI. There is no stupid installation program. If you want to remove CD-ROM Tool from your computer, just delete it. If you want to move it to a different location on your computer, just move it. You will need to create shortcuts yourself if you desire them -- CD-ROM Tool can help you with this. How to Use CD-ROM Tool ====================== The Drive List -------------- The listview box at the very top contains a list of all CD-ROM devices found in your system. Select the drive whose read speed and spindown time you'd like to change. Read Speed (main tab) --------------------- The maximum speed and current speed of each drive are shown in the second column of the Drive List. These readings are reported directly from the drive. A drive's current speed is updated whenever you: -Select it in the Drive List. -Try to change its read speed (see below). -At regular intervals if you have its "Refresh readings every X seconds" option checked. Thus, it is usually a good indication of the speed at which your drive is currently set. Before you can change the read speed of your drive, CD-ROM Tool needs to know what it is capable of. Go ahead and press the "Detect Speeds" button. You'll see a progress bar fill up as the detection progresses. This process can take as little as a few seconds or as long as a few minutes to complete, depending on the drive, so please be patient. If you wish to abort the process, the "Abort Detect" button will allow you to do so. When it's finished, you should find the speeds that your drive is capable of in the pulldown box. If you think CD-ROM Tool should have detected more speeds than it did, you may wish to increase the Tolerance and retry the detection, or even manually enter speeds using the "advanced" tab (providing that you know exactly what your drive can do). Some drives support many speeds, and others will not let you change the speed at all. If CD-ROM Tool will not list your drive's maximum speed in the pulldown box: I've seen this happen more than once, and my opinion is that it happens because of drive design details. The drive says one thing about its maximum speed; then, when you tell it to set its speed to maximum and ask it what its current speed is, it tells you another thing. For instance, the NEC CD-ROM DRIVE:28D3.03 reports its maximum speed as 40x. However, when the drive is commanded to change to its maximum speed, the current speed then reads 17x. If CD-ROM Tool does not detect your drive's maximum speed, then you may have such a drive. A Theory on the Above Phenomenon: Many drives are CAV (constant angular velocity) drives, or will operate in a CAV mode when set to certain speeds. This means that the disc spins at a constant rate, and the actual read speed varies depending on what part of the disc is being read (reading near the outer edge of the disc is much faster than reading near the inner edge in CAV mode). [For instance, the ASUS CD-S340 advertises itself as a 34x Max drive. It can attain a maximum spee...
Kot_Maciek