CD-RW

[Keith]

Hi all and a happy new year

I am in the market to purchase a CD-RW and am at loss regarding what I should be getting. There are those that are being pitched at the under £100 bracket to the more decent "Burn-proof" ones at the near £200 prices.

My requirements are:-


I need an internal one, IDE and something that will not make me end up having blank CDs as coasters!

Assuming that the majority of you will make me get one around the £100 mark, what software could I use to avoid the coaster syndrome? Software such as CloneCd or Nero? Please advise me on this as I don't want to fork out for something that costs near £200 when a £100 one (with the software) can do just the job!

I have got nearly 30 blank CDs waiting to be rolled off the production line and also money burning a back hole in me pocket!!

Many thanks

Keith aka Jonah

[NumbNutz]

For once, I haven't got an answer :{ but if you goto the TFC Forum (http://faster.wireplay.net/forumdisplay.php?forumid=119&daysprune=) and post the question for the atention of Earthwalker, I'm sure you'll get an answer.

[Boycee]

WHAT ever u do, get one with burnproof.....it is soooo good, u can do anything u want whilst burning, i have never had a coaster thrue buffer underrun (as u would expect if its burnproof)and only 1 coaster ever (my fault :)).

I have a IDE Plextor 12x 10x 32x Burnproof.

But i guess, if u don't have the money for burnproof, then u'll have to get one without.

[Jp]

You didnt mention if you have dvd at the moment, if not i'd recommend a dvd/wre-riter combined, theres some good ones out at the moment and will save you money in the long run?!

[Keith]

Thxs for the replies so far

No I don't have DVD atm and not reallly interested in such unless prices drop by which time the recordable versions of that will be out. I sooner have a burn-proof CD-RW for the time being.

[Calzor Suzay]

I'll second the burnproof recomendation too but as there new'ish to the market they tend to be more expensive than normal burners. I've got the scsi version of what Boycee has :E

[[BA]Mo]

Yamaha have a new burner out, the 2100 models I believe. 16x10x32 or something with an 8mb buffer(hahahah 8mb omg!). You do pay a premium for Burnproof when you can a similar speed/faster drive for a fair few pounds less. It all depends if your willing to leave your comp alone for all of the 5-10 minutes it takes to burn a full CD?

You could prob get an 8-speed for 50quid less than the burnproofies...they take what, 12 minutes for a whole cd and aslong as you dont bugger about for 12 minutes dont burn coasties. I see BP as an insurance that you don't need...gimme the Yamaha...GIMME!! :E

(p.s. I'm prepared to play with cd-rw till I set my cd-rw's up perfick, and reboot before I burn..close all apps etc etc....shoot, go get a BP ;))

[[BA]Mo]

Software? Just use the stuff that comes with it. Whether it be Nero(me use) or Adaptec's offering, they both vlelly g00d. DirectCD and InCD(?) are both UDF packet writers and can only be used on cd-rw. Allow you to manipulate cd-rw like floppies. Kinda.

If yer pc is moderately old-ish, just fork out for the BProof...will no doubt save you a few 50p cd's. ;)

[Maxim UK]

I replaced my old x2 speed with the Plextor 12/10/32A burnproof and its great writing disks in 6 mins. I think the burnproof feature gets more important the faster the drive and how good your other hardware is. If you have a fast system then it is less important.

If you intend to make "personal security backups" :) of games then you will need to use CloneCD as the protection on most games will defeat the usual software in a lot of cases. Not all CD writers support this program as it uses a different method of accessing the disk.

Visit the CloneCD site to make sure that any drives on your shortlist are supported if this is important to you.

[werewolf_bite]

sorry way OT

I love your sig Maxim:D