See this link for info on Cheatcodes: http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Cheat_Codes

The one you want is dma. At the boot prompt before Knoppix continues booting, type "knoppix dma". You can add any other desired cheat codes at that time as well. Then just hit "enter" and Knoppix will continue to boot with dma enabled. It can have profound effects on optical and hard drives. It is off by default, but some hardware requires it to be enabled.

Just wondering why your XP drive can only be read in Linux? To clone a drive, Ghost should work well. There is a bootable version that should do the trick, or a program such as Acronis True Image. Most recent versions (after about 2001) would support NTFS partitions. I have used both programs to clone drives for multiple PCs in a corporate environment. They can be configured to support external drives/burners. These programs would certainly be faster than what you have been trying so far.