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Cat Chaser Joined: 23 Oct 2000 Posts: 556 Location: USA

I need to get one of these and I figured you guys should be able to tell me all the info I could possibly need, including where to go to read up on this stuff myself!
I hear I should be able to get something really nifty for a few $$... thoughts? good stories? bad stories?

Thanks!!

Butt Sniffer Joined: 24 Oct 2000 Posts: 1545 Location: USA

I have a Memorex 2x2x4 IDE and it has never given me a bit of trouble. Have had it for 3 years now and it still purrs along. I have burned a good 150 + cd's with it.
I hear that plextor is a good brand also. 12x10x32 has got to be totally amazing.. Burn a 650meg data cd in like 6 min or less!! Tongue Smile

I see a lot of refurbished Yamaha's on ebay so that kinna tells me that it's not a real reliable unit to purchase. I will soon be in the market for a SCSI burner so i'll keep track of all the posts in this thread..
[Insert Brains thoughts here][ Very Happy

]LOL

One there can only be
and i'm not it. ò¿ò

Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2000 8:54 pm Post subject:

I just recently bought the plextor 12/10/32a based on the reviews i've read.
I haven't had much use for it lately but it is fast.
http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/pipreviews/0,8827,258909,00.html

My HP 8100 4x Stopped working on me. Sad Smile

Butt Sniffer Joined: 24 Oct 2000 Posts: 1545 Location: USA

Wow i just read at Plextors site that that drive only has a 2MB buffer. The 8x4x32 has a 4MB buffer. But the 12x10x32a has "Burn Proof Technology"

Quote:
From Plextor
PlexWriter 12/10/32A comes built-in with a new technology called BURN-Proof, eliminating buffer underrun errors. Buffer underruns occur when the source drive is not able to provide the data fast enough for the CD writer to record at higher speeds. This causes the data buffer to become empty, which brings the "burn" to a screeching halt, turning your CDs into coasters.

BURN-Proof not only compensates for slower source drives, but also allows the PlexWriter 12/10/32A to be used for multi-tasking. You can now do other things on your PC--like sending email, or Web surfing--while burning flawless CDs.

Sounds intresting. Now you can do other things like the SCSI drives supposidly let you do.

One there can only be
and i'm not it. ò¿ò

Cat Chaser Joined: 23 Oct 2000 Posts: 556 Location: USA

Thanks everyone. Im hearing a lot about this Plextor one as I look around... I wanted to stick with HP but I guess I will keep checking!

Cat Chaser Joined: 22 Oct 2000 Posts: 769 Location: USA

Definitely go with the Plextor 12/10/32...it ROX!! We have one at work and have never had problems with it. We've had problems with HPs and the earlier versions of the Plextor, but the 12/10/32 works flawlessly so far.

~Raistlin

DILLIGAF!!!

Big Dog Joined: 20 Oct 2000 Posts: 3689 Location: USA

Brains thoughts: (are few and far between Evil Smile

)

I prefer SCSI.. becasue if you have a sweet SCSI controller, and you invest in a small SCSI drive too(5-10 gig), you can move your image, or files, or whatever down to the SCSI drive before you burn, and once you start burning the SCSI card will handle alot of your "communications overhead" leaving all of your IDE stuff free to be usefull. That's if you want to be able to use your computer while you're burning.

on the other hand, since I have dual cpu's, i went cheap this time, and got an IDE drive (I also have 3 ide controllers for a total of 6 connectors for a max of 12 ide deviecs, and I'm only using 4 devices.... NOT using either of the highpoint connectors on my BP6)

IF you go IDE, you need a decent speed CPU (p2 400 with atleast 96 meg of ram in my opinion) and you should look for drives with more cache on them.(my drive has 8 meg)

my preferences are Yamaha, Ricoh, Plextor, HP... in that order for SCSI
for ide Plextor, Yamaha, HP, then Ricoh

I would base my final decision on SUPPORT though. If you look at the Supported/Recommended writers for each of these programs:

http://www.goldenhawk.com

http://www.blindwrite.com

http://www.nero.com

you'll see a clear preference for certain drives. Research the drives, and see which ones have the most Cache but still fall into what you're willing to spend.

I mention the software because, I'm sure some people like to "back up" their game cd's. and it would really suck to go out and spend $200 on a drive, only to find it won't do what you want it to do.

and in case anybody's curious, i've owned 1 cd-r, and 2 cd-rw's in the last 5 years:

first: JVC-XRW 2010 2x2 complete POS. but i got it for $400 when all other cd-r's were like $700. and after i get a PCI Adaptec SCSI controller, and more than a few repairs from the manufacturer, it did what i needed... until copy protection came along.

2nd: Ricoh MP6200S 2x2x6 this drive kicked ass for quite a while (until MMC3 standards became mainstream last year) and i still have it.. it's going to go into one of my crappy machines soon, and will serve as my data archiving drive, because it's SCSI, and it'll be in a machine that i'm only using for "remote operations" (stuff I set the machine to do unattended.)

current: Acer 8432A 8x4x32 This drive is IDE with 8 meg of cache. This drive was pretty cheap too ( got it for 179 i think , this summer) the downside, is that the firmware on the drive doesn't follow the MMC3 guidelines exactly

it's a pretty good drive, if all you want to do is backup files, but it's not the best drive if you need to back up your diablo2 play disk (to prevent it from getting all messed up at lan parties you take a copy, and leave your original in a safe place)

There is NO spoon !
-Brain

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2000 1:09 pm Post subject:

I have a Mitsumi drive(Forget the model number). It is a 4x4x24 with a 2MB Cache. It pretty well takes over my computer when I burn something(Although the other day I burned a music CD with SETI running with no problems!!). The nice thing about this drive is that I got about six monthes ago for $200CDN($140US), and it is supported by clonecd which makes perfect game copies. If only I were rich, then I would go scsi. ** looks whistfully at the ceiling for a few minutes ** Sigh.

"Environment is everything - The Lion may be king of the jungle, but you airlift him to Antarctica and he is just some Penguin's Bitch" - Dennis Miller

Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2000 9:27 am Post subject:

Since Raistlin and I work together I won't reiterate what he said since it is very true, but Plextor support for us has been shit. It was only one incident but you never know. The drive is the best though and I would never bother with a SCSI burner again. SCSI is a pain in the ass if it doesn't work right and why bother with adding another card when the IDE Plextor 12/10/32 will do it all and yes burn an entire CD in less than 6 minutes!

Rover
"...She went to the cupboard to get her poor dog a bone,
when she bent over Rover took over and gave her a bone of her own!"

Cat Chaser Joined: 22 Oct 2000 Posts: 769 Location: USA

Quote:

It is a 4x4x24 with a 2MB Cache. It pretty well takes over my computer when I burn something

One more thing about the 12/10/32 is that you can access the same drive (say on a network) and it will not crash the burn process. I've played games and much more while buring. Nothing has crashed it yet. Absolutely AWESOME!!

~Raistlin

DILLIGAF!!!

Cat Chaser Joined: 22 Oct 2000 Posts: 769 Location: USA

Well, before I get ragged I spelled the word "burning" wrong and typed "buring" in my last message. Just wanted to catch it before anyone else.

~Raistlin

DILLIGAF!!!

Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2000 1:43 pm Post subject:

Quote:
Well, before I get ragged I spelled the word "burning" wrong and typed "buring" in my last message. Just wanted to catch it before anyone else.

You could have just edited it ... then no one would have had to know.

Eagles may fly, but Weasels don't get sucked into jet engines!!

Butt Sniffer Joined: 24 Oct 2000 Posts: 1545 Location: USA

HEHEHHEHE "Busted" [ Sticking out Tongue

]

Dunnosquatt is my name,
tryin to figure out this shi* is my game.

Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2000 5:48 am Post subject:

Hey all, here's a review on that drive you're talking about

http://www.pcmonkey.net/Hardware/plexwriter12/

SDGR406

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2000 8:15 am Post subject:

I have used 2 drives. Creative Labs 4224e for home, a HP 8200 at work. The Creative works fine for burning anything except copies of Playstation games. It came with Nero Burning Rom which is great. I also use Adaptec EZ-CD creator with it (to burn audio cd's, the program is so easy to use). I have had good success with this CD-RW drive, but I know there are faster ones out there. The HP at work is real nice. It can copy Playstation games no problem. It comes with Adaptec EZ-CD Creator. These drives have come down in price lately. I would definitly recommend the HP drive.

-Geekboy

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