Cd-rw drive

[Die Alive 0]

I want to replace my old HP 8x4x32 CD-RW drive with something alot faster.  I see in today's paper a LG 40x12x40 CD-RW drive for only $189.99 Candadian ($121.05 US or 133.49 Euros or 83 pounds).

-Is LG a good maker of CD burners?

-Is there any cds that can take a 40x burn speed yet?

-Should I go for a slower 32x or 24x or will those just be obsoliet soon?

Help me out guys, the sale ends next week.

-=Die Alive=-

[Hilandor 1]

i bought a plextor 24x burnproof cd writer pretty cheap, ive copied over 100 cds without any problems whatsoever.

An on the fly copy takes under 2 minutes every time

and anything else ive put to cd hasnt taken over 5 mins ( that i can remember)

definetly a good buy

[FetishFool 0]

Good thing you asked at these forums.  I know more about CDRWs than anyone in the world.  

If you want a burner that can copy all your copyrighted games perfectly, get the Lite-On 40/12/48.

It can be snagged for around $100 US.

It's not very good when it comes to reading, but you have your regular CDROM for that.

Here's a review of it by Ian @ CDRLabs.com:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.php?reviewid=109

Ian is the most respected and known reviewers in the CDRW business.  If says it's good, then everyone buys it.

Lite-On 40/12/48

Highs:

-Writes at 40x!

-Very good data transfer speeds with all types of media. Can read pressed and CD-R data discs at 48x and CD-RW discs at 40x.

-Rewrites at 12x.    

-Excellent DAE speeds. One of the fastest drives available.

-Low seek times.  

-Features Lite-On's Smart-Burn and Smart-X technologies.

-Good media compatibility. Can write at 40x with a large selection of media.

-Supports UDMA 33.

-Has a large selection of writing speeds between 40x and 8x.

-Includes Ahead Software's Nero Burning Rom 5.5.

-Very affordable.  

Lows:

-The drive does not support the Mt. Rainier format out of the box. This was an advertised feature!

-Fairly loud when reading and writing CD's.

-Even though it has a maximum writing speed of 40x, it's not much faster than some 32x writers.

-The drive created a lot of errors when extracting audio from scratched and dirty CD's.

-The documentation needs to be better.

If you want something that can replace your CDROM as well as be a CDRW, then Yamaha's CRW3200E is what you're looking for.  It can be snagged for around $250 US.

This burner gets a straight 10 out of 10 in all catagories from everyone that' s reviewed it.  But it comes at a very high price.

Here's Ians review @ CDRLabs.com:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.php?reviewid=79

Yamaha CRW3200E

Highs:

-Fastest 24x writer currently available.

-Includes Yamaha's Audio Master Quality Recording technology.

-Good data transfer speeds with all types of media. Can read

-CD-RW media as fast as other types.

-Low seek times.

-8MB buffer. Coaster protection or not, a large buffer is nice.

-Fast DAE speeds.

-Features Yamaha's SafeBurn recording protection system.

-Supports new CD-MRW (Mount Rainier) format.

-Officially supports UDMA 33.

-Includes Ahead Software's Nero Burning Rom 5.5 software suite.

-Very slick looking blue/purple LED.

Lows:

-The drive is louder than some others when reading CD's.

-More expensive than some other 24x writers.

I say stay away from Plextor.  They make great SCSI burners, but their last 2 IDE burners were very sub-standard.

[Warin 0]

LG makes great drives. I've been selling and using them since the good old days of 4X burners being the latest and the greatest.

I find them generally more reliable than Lite-On, and less expensive than Plextor.

Just remember, that price is AFTER the thirty dollar mail in rebate (at least if you're looking at the same ad that I am) and Future Shop can often be pretty tough to get a rebate from. But it's still a smoking deal.

[Hilandor 1]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (FetishFool @ May 08 2002,18:08)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I say stay away from Plextor.  They make great SCSI burners, but their last 2 IDE burners were very sub-standard.<span id='postcolor'>

i never had a problem with mine at all its an IDE and im very pleased with the results its also under heavy use for normal cd rom reading for games etc and no probs.

[Die Alive 0]

First off, thanks Fetish Fool for that site, it truelly is the headquarters for CDR resources and info.

I won't be doing any software copying, mostly backing up files from my HD and making the occasional music mix cds for my use.  I've chosen to go with the LG as advertised, mainly because they were a major sponsor at a film festival last year and the film festival would of been in money trouble if it weren't for them sponsoring it.  And I got off the phone with a few stores and they don't have the Lite-On burner anywhere, they going to get it soon, but they say it wouldn't be at that price. (189.99 after rebate).  

Yes, it's at Future Shop that this deal is at, and I'm going today to buy it.  I've done a fair number of deals from them that have the mail in rebate and sometimes, they took so long that I've forgotten what I was getting the refund for.

-=Die Alive=-

[FetishFool 0]

http://www.newegg.com/app....ry=1336

The Lite-On 40x12x48 is selling for $83 US online here.

About $110 US after Over-Night shipping costs.

@Hilandor:  The Plextor 24x CDRW isn't bad.  But the Yamaha 24x equivelant is better in almost every way.  That's why Plextor released it's 40x CDRW so early.  Plextor didn't even fully test it before releasing it.

Then Lite-On released it's 40x CDRW and blew the Plextor equivelant away.

Plextor lost a lot of credibility after that.

[Die Alive 0]

I'm also going for a new 52x Rom drive, is the ASUS the best out there or is there other that's better?

-=Die Alive=-

[Major Fubar 0]

Best software (IMHO):

File backup: Nero Burning ROM

CD Copy: CloneCD

Don't know about CD-RW, but my Asus MB and Asus Video Card have both been fantastic...

[FetishFool 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Die Alive @ May 09 2002,04:04)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I'm also going for a new 52x Rom drive, is the ASUS the best out there or is there other that's better?

-=Die Alive=-<span id='postcolor'>

If you're looking for a CD-ROM only drive, then they're all basically the same.

LG makes a great 52x CD-ROM drive though. And at a great price. I've seen them for as low as $20 US.