Does anyone know how can i edit the firmware and flash it to a drive? The reason i need to know this is because my cdrw samsung 248f reads "vcd" at 8x although it can read data CD's at 48x. THis has really caused me a lot of pain. I frequently copy VCD's to my hard drive for later use. sometimes i may copy 10 or more vcd's at one time which takes more than 80 minutes at 8x. THanks.

Firmware editing is a much difficult task.
A casual so-called "hacker" will use a binary editor for making targeted changes, say change a string or a number in the data of the firmware in order to achieve a particular goal.
What you are asking for, most probably, requires access to the source code of the firmware, which is a highly kept secret by the drive or chipset manufacturer.
I can elaborate more on this, but the final dictum will be, better do not mess with firmwares!

(in reply to kryptonite)

Is that the same as the audio speed?

It might be, since VCD has no additional error correction (though it does have sector id data) - Mode 2, Form 2 ?

Is it also slow on a CD written as Mode 2 Form 1 data?

(in reply to sp)

Some older drives are reading VCD/PSX (mode2) discs at 8X or at 32X in order to be able to read them...i don' think our friend can do much here...

(in reply to Matthew)

quote:

What you are asking for, most probably, requires access to the source code of the firmware, which is a highly kept secret by the drive or chipset manufacturer.

*shakes head* Looks like he's got a riplock. Those can be changed usually by tweaking just a byte or two...

(in reply to sp)

code65536, maybe you can help here?

(in reply to code65536)

All that I was saying was that it's not as impossible of a task as it's made out to be. There is no need to obtain the source & rewrite the firmware. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as opening a hex editor and just changing one or two bytes because you first have to figure out what that one byte that needs changing is. My apologies if my reply was interpreted as saying that it's a walk in the park, because that isn't necessarily the case. I was just saying that it's not too daunting, either... sorry if I gave the wrong impression.

(in reply to emperor)

code65536, no problem , you are at this business so you have better knowledge, at least from me

(in reply to code65536)

i can read all other CD's at high speeds including audio, mode 2 form 1 cd's? only the vcd's are locked at 8x.

(in reply to kryptonite)

somebody help me to edit the firmware of this drive. i'd really be happy.

(in reply to kryptonite)