I've bought three Liteon CDRW's, a 32 x and 2 x 40 x. The 32 speed crapped out on me after 14 months and the two 40 speeds are still going strong 2.25 years down the line.
Also have bought two Liteon DVD-ROM drives, one died after 15 months, the other is still OK, though it struggles with some home made DVD Movies.
Were I to buy a new CDRW now, as they've come down in price so much I'd probably go for a Plextor. Or maybe a Pioneer. But not Liteon.
What does everyone think some of the best cd-r internal drives are?
What about the brand Lite-On. They seem junky to me but what are your opinions on purchasing a new cdr drive?
Lit-eons are possibly uneven as to model. Lit-eon can and does sometimes outsource internal mechs. But, I stock Lit-eons of models with good track records here for lower-end CD-RW sales. I woudl say get a CD-RW mech and use for both, of decent grade. Some TDKs are on bigger rebates than others sometimes, though they tend to be oversped for speeds greater than 48X. They are probably between Lit-eon and Plextor. Curiously, the MSI Dragonwriter has also worked well.
Avoid Pacific Digitals unless you like the software that comes with them, they work unevenly with the more major software like Nero and EZ-CD Creator families. Some firmware revs of those are poor. they weither work excellently or gawdawfully.
I would say Plextor, TDK, or if you get a hyper-good deal on a Sony offered to you you might opt for that. Unless you are stuck for funds, then a Lit-eon might work fine for you with the software that comes with it or same publisher's (Ahead) other software. Lit-eon has had fairly recent problems with firmware.
Plextor is likeliest to work at full speed rating, they are least likely to overspeed thier CD-RWs. Lots of flaky coasters come out when you overspeed a CD-RW unless you use the media brands the CD-RW model prefers.
One other thing about media, feed a cheaper CD-RW bad media that is miscoded as to speed or of uneven quality, and you get coasters and\or CD-RW LASER RW head or motion driving damage or a CD-RW power circuitry failure or some combo. Add in overspeed, and you get a dead CD-RW drive unusually fast. Verbatim is what I use here for CD-R media, Maxell for CD-RW. I also use Nero\Ahead software and it works on my Cd-RW drives with both brands of media reliably.
I would get a burner, not just a CD-Reader drive, just in case the CD-R was a mistake or being used for an RW drive-- this is to make sure misunderstanding due to technicalities does not lead folks astray now or later.
With burners, go new. Period. Used ones usually have something wrong with them or dust built up inside, and are likely to not function reliably. Also, expect zero warranty, possibly lack of software intended to come with the device, and device-specific lower level drivers are often bundled with software as far as burning goes.
Getting the right software and lower level burning drivers after dealing could easily total more than buying new. Every time I tried this, I got a mess and ended up using the burner as a CD-R only drive or trashing the drive. I tried this twice from folks I thought were reliable. Refurbs can be as bad as used insofar as software goes.
John D.
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KwitkoSheriff of Banning (Retired)By the thing near the stuffIcrontian
edited May 2004
I've got a Lite-On CD-RW and a DVD±R/W and both are excellent performers.
I've always used LG. Good bang for the buck. I have 3 LG CDRW and on DVD+/-RW and none have failed on me...yet. Average length of operation. 1 year for the CDRW and 6mos for the DVDRW.
I just baught my first Lite-On product and it kix ass! Its a multiformat dvd burner, but the part that rocks about it is the fact that it can read and copy anything I throw at it. Especially copy protected discs, reads and writes them flawlessly. and it doesnt feel guilty in the least.
Does anyone know of a site that does reviews of the CDR media?
Best info for what your brand of burner will use is the software mfr of bundled software that came with your burner and mfr of burner's recomendations and sites that review and say what media was used for testing. Sometimes software review sites also are nioce enough to say what burners are used and what media, but most do not really outline results by burner and media within what burner is used.
If you tell me what brand and how old your burner is, maybe can get more direct links, but not all media is compatible with all burning software, first, and second not all media is compatible with all burners. Verbatim works with most of the brands I have used and lots of the burning software. A 25-pack would be good ebnough to tell, I would not buy a bulk hundred pack of anything without first testing a smaller pack of same brand and speed media.
One other thing, lots of times you will find that media that will not work at high speed will work at slower speeds, so you do not need to totally waste a small pack. Data blanks can be used for audio, but doing the opposite is not a good idea, for instance, so test burn data media blanks rather than figuring same brand will work for both and getting a big pack for data of same brand as what you have tested with just audio grade media. I actually cna burn data and audio to Verbatim data blanks, and they are about $25-27.00 per hundred locally right now, so I jusdt use those for both. These are Verbatim silver face with red Verbatim on them and imprinted lines for labelling. They take labelling with a soft tipped permanent sharpie or a CD labelling pen fine, also.
John D.-- who uses as best practice, that media is no more universally best than other than Plextor for CD burners is best. find out what is considered by other users as best for your brand. To tell you best for yours, need brand and some idea of what software came with the burner-- both. If you cannot tell me brand, but it is an HP, Verbatim works decently with most of the bundled HP burners in HP computers also. BUT, there is no one best buy in media for all burners.
I just baught my first Lite-On product and it kix ass! Its a multiformat dvd burner, but the part that rocks about it is the fact that it can read and copy anything I throw at it. Especially copy protected discs, reads and writes them flawlessly. and it doesnt feel guilty in the least.
Same here, except mine's just a CD-RW, not DVD. I haven't really done testing to see which types of media works best with it, but I haven't received any failures yet. But I usually get memorex or verbatim, just in case.
Comments
Also have bought two Liteon DVD-ROM drives, one died after 15 months, the other is still OK, though it struggles with some home made DVD Movies.
Were I to buy a new CDRW now, as they've come down in price so much I'd probably go for a Plextor. Or maybe a Pioneer. But not Liteon.
Lite-On burns the fastest, can burn the largest variety of discs, and generally has a low failure rate.
Plextor is the most reliable, more expensive, can burn a large variety of discs, and has a very low failure rate.
That said, if I were to buy a new CD-RW today, it'd be a Lite-on.
Lit-eons are possibly uneven as to model. Lit-eon can and does sometimes outsource internal mechs. But, I stock Lit-eons of models with good track records here for lower-end CD-RW sales. I woudl say get a CD-RW mech and use for both, of decent grade. Some TDKs are on bigger rebates than others sometimes, though they tend to be oversped for speeds greater than 48X. They are probably between Lit-eon and Plextor. Curiously, the MSI Dragonwriter has also worked well.
Avoid Pacific Digitals unless you like the software that comes with them, they work unevenly with the more major software like Nero and EZ-CD Creator families. Some firmware revs of those are poor. they weither work excellently or gawdawfully.
I would say Plextor, TDK, or if you get a hyper-good deal on a Sony offered to you you might opt for that. Unless you are stuck for funds, then a Lit-eon might work fine for you with the software that comes with it or same publisher's (Ahead) other software. Lit-eon has had fairly recent problems with firmware.
Plextor is likeliest to work at full speed rating, they are least likely to overspeed thier CD-RWs. Lots of flaky coasters come out when you overspeed a CD-RW unless you use the media brands the CD-RW model prefers.
One other thing about media, feed a cheaper CD-RW bad media that is miscoded as to speed or of uneven quality, and you get coasters and\or CD-RW LASER RW head or motion driving damage or a CD-RW power circuitry failure or some combo. Add in overspeed, and you get a dead CD-RW drive unusually fast. Verbatim is what I use here for CD-R media, Maxell for CD-RW. I also use Nero\Ahead software and it works on my Cd-RW drives with both brands of media reliably.
I would get a burner, not just a CD-Reader drive, just in case the CD-R was a mistake or being used for an RW drive-- this is to make sure misunderstanding due to technicalities does not lead folks astray now or later.
John D.
Cheers, Beastie.
Exactly what he said. I think they're great drives.
Deal or go new?
With burners, go new. Period. Used ones usually have something wrong with them or dust built up inside, and are likely to not function reliably. Also, expect zero warranty, possibly lack of software intended to come with the device, and device-specific lower level drivers are often bundled with software as far as burning goes.
Getting the right software and lower level burning drivers after dealing could easily total more than buying new. Every time I tried this, I got a mess and ended up using the burner as a CD-R only drive or trashing the drive. I tried this twice from folks I thought were reliable. Refurbs can be as bad as used insofar as software goes.
John D.
Best info for what your brand of burner will use is the software mfr of bundled software that came with your burner and mfr of burner's recomendations and sites that review and say what media was used for testing. Sometimes software review sites also are nioce enough to say what burners are used and what media, but most do not really outline results by burner and media within what burner is used.
If you tell me what brand and how old your burner is, maybe can get more direct links, but not all media is compatible with all burning software, first, and second not all media is compatible with all burners. Verbatim works with most of the brands I have used and lots of the burning software. A 25-pack would be good ebnough to tell, I would not buy a bulk hundred pack of anything without first testing a smaller pack of same brand and speed media.
One other thing, lots of times you will find that media that will not work at high speed will work at slower speeds, so you do not need to totally waste a small pack. Data blanks can be used for audio, but doing the opposite is not a good idea, for instance, so test burn data media blanks rather than figuring same brand will work for both and getting a big pack for data of same brand as what you have tested with just audio grade media. I actually cna burn data and audio to Verbatim data blanks, and they are about $25-27.00 per hundred locally right now, so I jusdt use those for both. These are Verbatim silver face with red Verbatim on them and imprinted lines for labelling. They take labelling with a soft tipped permanent sharpie or a CD labelling pen fine, also.
John D.-- who uses as best practice, that media is no more universally best than other than Plextor for CD burners is best. find out what is considered by other users as best for your brand. To tell you best for yours, need brand and some idea of what software came with the burner-- both. If you cannot tell me brand, but it is an HP, Verbatim works decently with most of the bundled HP burners in HP computers also. BUT, there is no one best buy in media for all burners.
Memorex or Imation.
Look here.