Best DVD+-RW Wanted
I have loads of stuff and I am not backing any of it up because frankly it would take years and too-many CD's to back it up to 80min CD-R's, so, I am looking for basically the best DVD-RW you can get, but not extremely expensive....
It would be nice to get something that has + and - compatability. Though is RAM compatability worth it?
Cheers,
NS
It would be nice to get something that has + and - compatability. Though is RAM compatability worth it?
Cheers,
NS
0
Comments
Sony probably has the best +- DVD drive.
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=51446
Doesn't look too bad to me, shame it isn't 8x but the price isn't bad either.
NS
EDIT: Better - http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=52649
The money is right and it will more the likely drop again. The dual compatilibility is worth it.
As AJ said, leave DVD-RAM to the dead pile. It's not worth bugga all unless someone offers you a fabolous deal on 20+ RAM cartridges...
Should work out well.
NS
Google
to
http://www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/archive/t161462.html
to
http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdwriters.php?DVDnameid=83&Search=Search&list=0
to
http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdwriters.php?DVDnameid=83&Search=Search&list=0#featuresandcomments
And if you read through it, at the end where people are actually using the new Firmware for the 500A they are getting good results.
Links to the files -
Patch to convert from DW-U10A to DRU500A
http://mitglied.lycos.de/dru500a/DW-U10A_to_DRU-500A.zip
Newest Sony 500A Firmware
http://sony.storagesupport.com/dvdrw/downloads/Firmware2F/500a_20g.zip
Hey, I thought this was a thread to find ME the best DVD-RW :rolleyes2
NS
NS
On a fast box, a CD burn can take 3 minutes, and you can prezip archives of folders and note dates on CD. For programs, back up only the archives or original CDs, and where you get scratched CDs look up a SkipDR MD on the web. About 10 minutes to restore a fairly badly grunged up CD with that tool, but keep CD wet with distilled water spritzing or you WILL buy lots of new polishing\descratching wheels and use the buffing pad for a long time.
With Verbatim 48X CD-Rs available at $24.00 a hundred here (including tax) in Florida, I never bothered with DVDs. An 8X DVD burn is equivalent to about a 64X CD burn, but most boxes cannot keep buffers full enough for long enough to burn that fast. and a scratched DVD results in much more data lost without a SkipDR MD.
So for now I use a fast burner on a fast box, and HD carriers that are IDE cold swap in a pair of HD housings per box (carrier\housing kits I use are about $25.00 US shipped right now, trays\carriers less than $10.00 each shipped, HD additional). Other alternative is a USB 2.0 HD housing, and back up to HD which is faster than burning to CD or DVD as DVDs are typically NOT UDMA 100 or 133 and HDs ARE that fast-- so, you can back up to HD faster, keep five copies of data only on HD and wipe oldest when do newest. Unless you are mailling copies of large volume things around you do not need DVDs, and license issues of that are your responsibility (no implications intended at all, just fact statement-- software folks go after distributors first, end users unless large volume collectors last.).
John.
John.
New LG Electronics DVD burner is a great bet.
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,112742,00.asp
Just got this yesterday in my e-mail. Good price too. Hope this helps.
NS
Anyone?
NS
But when it comes to compatibility with dvd movies, thats where the media does matter
I don't know. I paid 30 bucks a pop for the first two dvd-rams I bought. And the media on ebay isnt so bad considering you can rewrite it 100,000 times. These are nothing like dvd'd You can format the disk with fat32 and just copy **** to it. You don't have to burn anything unless your making bootable iso's or something. Its like having removeable hard disks. I just bought my third one and paid like 75 bucks for it cause it burns regular dvd-r's also. So its dvd-ram ais the same size perside as dvd-r's whcih is easier to find software to cut ya iso's.... they have new multiburners on ebay all the time that burn dvd-ram, dvd-r and dvd+r rw's and the whole deal and cd's also now for like 125 to 150.
I am making bootable XP install dvd-rams where its all automated and installs all the service packs, hot fixs, media player, dx9, driver updates including raid etc.. Answers all the quaestions including serial numbers etc....Office XP and a sh*Tload or other apps all on athe first boot and install and its cool cause I can keep playing with the format and burning it to dvd-ram untill its really locked down and right. I would of wasted PILES of dvd-rs getting this down, let me tell ya.... Then I cut dvd-r's off of it if I want but just keeping them in dvd-ram format isnt so bad really. My old cheap ones only get 2.6 gb space per side unlike the newer ones but for 25 to 30 bucks??? Its holds enough for what I use it for. I also have 4mm, 8mm and DLT tape drives on the system to so its not like I am hard up for backup choices.
DVD-ram writes like a hard disk from the rim inward. With cd's and dvd's you burn from the inside out. So when you make smaller dvd's its on the faster part of the drive. And its so cool to just format it from explorer like a normal drive with fat32.
If all you wanted to do was backup crap they are tons better then normal dvd's. I don't own a dvd-player to play movies and stuff and don't own a dvd-player to play movies on for the TV so.... I just use them to back **** up. I got one for like 26 bucks with two cartridges. And hopefully you guys are better then me but I am damn hard on cd's. I leave them laying all over the place and get them scrathed up and ruin them all the time. And yes I have an electric disk doctor at this point to repair the stinkers too....and the dvd-rams are in a cartridge. All protected from my usuall torments....Its really hard to screw one up. You can remove the disk from some of the cartridges and then just play it on a normal dvd-rom if you burned it like a normal dvd too.
I bought five 4.7gb dvd-rams for the new burner in two seperate auctions that ran me about 16 bucks each time. I think it was. So its more expensive ( about 3 bucks a pop ) but you can reuse them for friggin ever too. And you can get 9.4gb double sided ones if you want.
I will alwasy keep these old cheap ones on the servers here for moving stuff around and backing it up etc.. best buy I ever made. I watched two sell today for under 30 bucks and almost bought another for last computer here at the house so I could install XP from the dvd-ram to it.
You can not appreciate the coolness of dvd-ram until you have one. They are awesome and I am buying used ones for 25 and 30 bucks too. Not the newer faster ones. They of course read dvd-roms, dvd-r's and cd's also. Even my 30 dollar ones.
Tex
NS
Same formats as the Sony, but Pioneer has clasically featured better set-top compatibility.
You'll want to use +R for, uh, games.. And -R for movies.
//EDIT: DVD-RAM is not dead, and won't be for a while. It's almost become the DAT tape's modern contemporary. Businesses were using tape backups long after the rest of the world had stopped using them due to volatility and whatnot. The rest of the world may ignore DVD-RAM, but it's invaluable for business use due to its inexpensive nature, high capacity disks, and ease of use.
Interesting choice........
NS
I have used TDK and Verbatium 4X +discs and it will burn them both at 8X ....That is 4.7 gb in about 7-8 minutes. I am really happy with this drive. I bought it when it was first available and paid too much. Newegg has it for $235.00now I know it is expensive but it is plextor.
Just my 2cents
Scott
The cheapest I can find it is £192 ($327) at Dabs.com over here, which is an insane price to pay for a Writer. I payed £120 for my first CD-Writer, but I am not sure if I am prepared to pay over £190 for another one....
NS
If you can't find them in the UK eBay you acn alwasy buy it in the US and I will ship to you in the UK
There are a ****load of new ones that say 8x. Is it this model?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2759664734&category=44956
Thats a pretty big discount from your pricing.
Tex
I have been put off buying things from the US because if something goes wrong like my motherboard has then I need to contact the manufacturer and faffing about with US companies is going to cost a fortune.
NS
Sony DRU510A