CD-DVD drive hogs explorer - very annoying

[darkguset]

Ok, we all got these supercomputers of today with dual cores, dual VGAs, etc etc etc...
The desktop on Windows XP has been very responsive and everything runs fast... EXCEPT for when you put something in your IDE CD or DVD ROM drive! Explorer freezes for a few seconds until the drive spins up and reads the contents. And that is all good, until you come across a bad CD or DVD, in which case Windows takes forever to read and hogs Explorer for the same time. I can run any application, or do whatever i like, except access any of my drives because Windows is still fighting to read the damn media.

I don't know if it is the same with native SATA CD-DVD ROM drives, but this thing is very annoying!

Is there a way to "disconnect" the drive while it is accessing the disc, and when it's come to a decision as to wether it can read it or not, then "talk" back to Windows? So that the poor user does not have to wait 3-12434 seconds, even on his latest hardware machine. It is just a pitty...

 

[g-paw]

Have you tried updating the drives firmware? Have you tried a different drive or that drive in another machine? Possible the drive is going bad. Fortunately, you can get a good DVD burner for about $30, e.g., Samsung or Lite-On

 

[darkguset]

Oh it is not the drives my friend, it is a brand new drive, with the latest firmware and it happens with all PC's not just mine. Put a crap disc in your CD-ROM and try opening explorer... see what i mean?

 

[Zoron]

There's only one solution: don't use crap discs. Even drives on DVD players sit there and spin if they can't read the disc. Optical drives are extremely slow compared to modern hard drives and other devices... there is no way to speed them up and there is no way to temporarily disconnect them. It would take more time to disconnect and reconnect that it would to just sit there and wait.

 

[darkguset]

Exactly my point! Why should my super computer that doesn't make me wait for anything else any more, make me wait for a stupid disc?
Microsoft could program windows the following way: I can open up explorer and use all my other drives while the DVD drive is coping with the disc until the DVD drive makes a decision wether it can read the disc or not, and then Windows gives a result wether you can access that disc or not. Why oh why does the whole explorer have to wait for a DVD drive! I haven't tried it on Vista yet, but my guess is that it will be the same...