Combo drive dead? Now what?

[BigSammy]

Recently I awoke to a combo drive that wouldn't burn or read discs any longer. It's a Samsung SM-348B Combo. The day before I had successfully burned two audio discs. Windows tells me the drive is connected and working properly. Explorer shows it as the proper drive letter. However, when I put any kind of CD or DVD or CD-R in it, all I get is some clicking noise. No spinning sound or anything. I tried to use a lense cleaner, thinking there was dust involved, but that hasn't worked. I tried removing the hardware and letting XP pick it up upon reboot. I tried rolling the system back to a previous restore point. Still nada. I think it's dead, but I'll know it when someone who has faced this issue before says to me "it's dead."

So while I'm saddened that I'm losing a piece of my machine, I'm pysched for a shopping trip to newegg. I've narrowed down my choices to the Pioneer DVR-108 OEM version and the Lite-On SOHW-1213S. The Pioneer doesn't appear to offer software and speed is not a big concern to me, since my players like to use things burned at slower speeds anyway. On the other hand, the Lite-On SOHW-1213S doesn't burn as fast, nor does it have dual-layer capability (what's that for?), but it includes software and is significantly cheaper.

I've always had good luck with Lite-On CD-RW drives. Are there any quality concerns with the DVD burners?

As you can tell, I'm a newb when it comes to these issues. I mainly want a DVD burner to archive my files more efficiently and to burn home videos of the kids. (If you're feeling really kind, you could suggest a nice program to organize information on a DVD...)

BigSammy

[hoxlund]

you can go with pioneer, im gonna upgrade to there 109 when it hits

[BigSammy]

Well, I'm an impatient person and I went with the Lite-On based on my previous good experience with the brand and the price, plus the fact that all the benefits of having the Pioneer seem wasted on me. Newegg was only selling the OEM Pioneer and that seems like a somewhat lesser machine than the full retail version based on some other posts around here.

thanks and wish me luck.

[MediumRare]

Well, I'm an impatient person and I went with the Lite-On based on my previous good experience with the brand

I'm sorry I didn't see this earlier.

I have a SOHW 1213S and cannot recommend it at present. It's OK at 8x, but not with all media. I have not written a readable disc at 12x. The quality of CD-burning is not what I'd expected either (C1 mean ca. 3.7 on TY media!). It has "reading issues" in that the BLER scans (PI/PIF with KProbe or CDSpeed) are unrealistically high at CLV (e.g. 4x). It is an excellent reader- but that's not why we buy a burner. Even the newest firmware (TS0D) has not fixed these issues completely. I'm hoping that future upgrades may fix that- or that a cross flash with 1633S or Sony 710 fw may help.

But at present, you'd be a lot better off with a Pioneer.

G
(Who loves his LTR 48246S)

[BigSammy]

OK, I'm officially dismayed.

I'll talk with newegg about an rma/exchange for the pioneer. I'm not so worried about 12x burning. My sammy was 48x capable, but I burned at 16x so my car player could read the discs reliably.

I am, however, concerned about ripping and being able to make quality burns (at any speed). Every videographer I use burns their work to DVD so I can edit and reburn (which means I have to rip it first).

Is there anyone -- ANYONE -- having a good experience with the Lite-On? Is everyone having a great experience with the Pioneer? Should I do a poll? (just kidding)

[uknown1234]

pio 108 seems to be doing very good and there realy isn't much difference in terms of quality from the retail version versus the oem. more than anything, the difference is the software bundle with the retail version.