DVD & CD writer drives typically have a burn speed differential of 2 to 10 seconds between the fastest and slowest drives upon completion, since electronic products allow a 5% tolerance in production. Based on that fact, a 52X CD only duplicator should have minimum 32MB up to 64MB for the best performance and reliability at a reasonable expense. Since DVD/CD duplicators copy DVD's which have significantly larger storage space (4.7 up to 8.5GB compared to 700MB), they require a much higher memory buffer size. A 18X DVD duplicator should have minimum 128MB up to 256MB for the best performance and reliability at a reasonable expense. The more writer drives a duplicator has, the larger the memory buffer should be to accommodate for the greater time differential between drives.

BEFORE you purchase a duplicator, make sure the vendor gives you a clear description of the buffer memory provided. The duplicator should have a minimum of 32MB to 64MB buffer memory for CD only duplicators and 128MB to 256MB buffer memory for DVD/CD duplicators. Some companies may try to understate the importance of the buffer memory or claim that 64MB is more than enough. This statement is false. Those companies are either ignorant of the true nature of the memory buffer or unable to provide a larger one, so they try to discredit the value of a larger memory buffer.