writing speed issue with dvd+rw-tools

[Jon Wilson <jon@phuq.co.uk>]

I'm trying to burn some data onto a DVD-R disk in an NEC-1300A drive. 
The media is off low quality (as is the drive!) and burning at 4 speed 
gives me coaster after coaster. But grwoisofs seems to ignore my 
attempts to burn at 1x or 2x speed. Burning at 1-speed onto quality 
DVD-RW media works fine. Should I expect growisofs to ignore my speed 
override? I have tried "speed=1", "speed=1.0", "speed=", etc. Help! 
Well, help until my quality media arrives, anyway!

Details follow:

[jon@portnoy jon]$ dvd+rw-mediainfo /dev/hdc
INQUIRY:                 [_NEC    ][DVD_RW ND-1300A ][1.09]
GET [CURRENT] CONFIGURATION:
 Mounted Media:         11h, DVD-R Sequential
 Media ID:              Yi Jhan 001
GET [CURRENT] PERFORMANCE:
 Write Performance:     3.9x1385=5408KB/s@[0 -> 0]
 Speed Descriptor#0:    00/0 R@7.8x1385=10816KB/s W@3.9x1385=5408KB/s
 Speed Descriptor#1:    00/0 R@7.8x1385=10816KB/s W@2.0x1385=2704KB/s
READ DVD STRUCTURE[#10h]:
 Media Book Type:       25h, DVD-R book [revision 5]
 Legacy lead-out at:    2298496*2KB=4707319808
READ DVD STRUCTURE[#0h]:
 Media Book Type:       25h, DVD-R book [revision 5]
 Last border-out at:    2298496*2KB=4707319808
READ DISC INFORMATION:
 Disc status:           blank
 Number of Sessions:    1
 State of Last Session: empty
 Number of Tracks:      1
READ TRACK INFORMATION[#1]:
 Track State:           invisible incremental
 Track Start Address:   0*2KB
 Next Writable Address: 0*2KB
 Free Blocks:           2297888*2KB
 Track Size:            2297888*2KB
                                                                                                         

                                                                                                         

                                                                                                         

[jon@portnoy jon]$ growisofs -speed=2.0 -Z /dev/hdc  -graft-points -R -r 
-l -J [files]
[...snip...]
/dev/hdc: "Current Write Speed" is 4.0x1385KBps.
[...snip...]
                                                                                                         

                                                                                                         

                                                                                                         

[jon@portnoy jon]$ hdparm -i /dev/hdc
                                                                                                         

/dev/hdc:
                                                                                                         

Model=_NEC DVD_RW ND-1300A, FwRev=1.09, SerialNo=
Config={ Removeable DTR<=5Mbs DTR>10Mbs nonMagnetic }
RawCHS=0/0/0, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=0
BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=0kB, MaxMultSect=0
(maybe): CurCHS=0/0/0, CurSects=0, LBA=yes, LBAsects=0
IORDY=yes, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
DMA modes:  mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 *udma2
AdvancedPM=no
* signifies the current active mode
                                                                                                         

[jon@portnoy jon]$ hdparm -v /dev/hdc
                                                                                                         

/dev/hdc:
HDIO_GET_MULTCOUNT failed: Invalid argument
IO_support   =  0 (default 16-bit)
unmaskirq    =  0 (off)
using_dma    =  1 (on)
keepsettings =  0 (off)
readonly     =  1 (on)
readahead    = 256 (on)
                                                                                                         

                                                                                                         

[jon@portnoy jon]$ uname -a
Linux portnoy.phuq.co.uk 2.6.3 #1 SMP Sat Feb 28 16:54:05 GMT 2004 i686 
Pentium III (Katmai) GenuineIntel
GNU/Linux


# (Thanks to Andy et al, for very good, open code)