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help with an external USB writer purchase

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help with an external USB writer purchase

Postby pkd7423 on Tue Jan 21, 2003 3:43 pm

To all,

First post.

I need to buy a CDRW, external and USB. Older PC, small footprint, no internal room. Ports must be USB not USB2.

So far my research turns up:

HP CD-Writer 8230E and

Iomega Zipcd (31475) I believe is the product number.

Do you all have any suggestions?

Also, while I'm at it what would be a good media brand for both CD-RW and CD-R?

Thanks,
PK Davis
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Postby Ian on Tue Jan 21, 2003 4:05 pm

Do you have room in your PC for a PCI USB 2.0 card?
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Postby cfitz on Tue Jan 21, 2003 4:06 pm

USB 2.0 is backwards and forwards compatible with USB 1.1, so there is no need to confine your search to older external CD-RW drives that only have USB 1.1 interfaces. I would suggest investigating Plextor, LG, Yamaha and LiteOn drives.

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Postby pkd7423 on Tue Jan 21, 2003 4:15 pm

Ian,

Yes, I believe I do have an extra PCI slot. I think you are going toward saying, put in a PCI/USB 2.0 card so I can get faster throughput?

Cfitz

Your saying I can get the faster USB 2.0 models....but won't I be limited by the USB 1.x capability?

Can you all suggest some model numbers?

What about media?

Thanks,
PK Davis
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Postby cfitz on Tue Jan 21, 2003 4:31 pm

pkd7423 wrote:Cfitz

Your saying I can get the faster USB 2.0 models....but won't I be limited by the USB 1.x capability?

Yes, absolutely. And the OS is supposed to warn you, when you hook up a USB 2.0 device to a USB 1.1 sytem, that you aren't getting the optimal performance out of your peripheral. But you will be limited by USB 1.1 rates anyway if you buy an older USB 1.1 CD-RW drive (not to mention being limited by the slower burn speed of the older drive if you ever upgrade your computer or decide to use your drive with another computer that has USB 2.0 support). Also, you will have to plug the USB 2.0 drive directly to your root USB port rather than a USB 1.1 hub (you might be able to hook it to a USB 2.0 hub that then hooks to your USB 1.1 root - I'm not sure).

Certainly if you can fit a USB 2.0 adapter card that would be your best bet. I had assumed from your original post that such a move was out of the question.

pkd7423 wrote:Can you all suggest some model numbers?

Just go to the manufacturer's web sites and look for the latest, fastest USB drives. Yamaha's is the F1. I don't have the other model numbers at my fingertips.

pkd7423 wrote:What about media?

Check the media compatibility thread:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=6005

Anything that works well in an internal version should work just as well in an external version. The only differences are the cases and the interfaces, not the internal guts that actually burn the CDs.

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Postby taxman150 on Tue Jan 21, 2003 5:58 pm

If you do go the USB 2.0 route and don't find an external burner that you like, consider putting an internal drive in an external USB 2.0 enclosure. I too was looking for a USB 2.0 external burner, but didn't think the Plextor was worth the money given the media compatability issues. I also didn't really like any of the other brands on the market for the price and really wanted a 52X Liteon drive.

With the kind assistance of many in this group, I bought a Buslink (Liteon) 52X24X52 internal burner and installed it in an external aluminum enclosure last night. The installation process was very quick and the burner is working great so far. With XP, I didn't need any drivers, but the enclosure came with a driver disc for other operating systems. I ended up spending about $105 total between the drive and the enclosure, which was well worth it in my mind considering I can always use the enclosure for another drive if I want.

Just another option to keep in mind if you become as discouraged as I was regarding the price and quality of external USB 2.0 burners currently on the market.
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Postby cfitz on Tue Jan 21, 2003 6:44 pm

Good tip, taxman150. Here is the link to your thread in case pkd7423 is interested:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=8601

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Postby j_c_hallgren on Tue Jan 21, 2003 6:54 pm

:roll: I am in the same situtation...only diff is that I bought a unit Sunday (Digital Research = I/O Magic = BenQ => yuk!) BEFORE I knew about this site! However, I can easily return it to Best Buy as it was open box. And I plan to! My research since has uncovered a likely option for me...MicroSolutions unit 232010...$180....BUT...with a $20 MIR and my $20 Discover cashback award becoming a $40 Staples gift cert and a $20 Staples gift card from a prior rebate, it will only be $100! You may want to see if the Discover option applies...

They (MSol) have a very nice customer serv 800# (I tried it) and a well done web site...compared to most others...units are mostly LiteOn...she said..others are LG or Mitsibushi(?)...no BTC or BarQ...

Not finalized on my choice yet but looks good....the included PC card will do 12x or parallel port @ 8x or USB 1 @6x...USB 2 = 48x

I did NOT know of this brand until I saw post on this board! THANKS

My local CompUSA has them in stock for same $180...
Last edited by j_c_hallgren on Wed Jan 22, 2003 5:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
Quite new to this CD-RW stuff!
With my Micro-Solutions BackPack 232010 (LTR-48246S) unit...
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Postby UALOneKPlus on Tue Jan 21, 2003 11:34 pm

I purchased a Teac USB 1.1 4x4x6x CD-RW over a year and half ago, from CompUSA. This drive was rock solid, and almost every CD-R and CD-RW I burned on it with either my laptop or 5 year old desktop seemed to be perfect. In fact I did a surface scan on a few discs last night burned by this CD-RW and it came out near perfect, a year and a half later!

I highly recommend Teac if you can find one... If you can't, I might unload mine...
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Postby cfitz on Wed Jan 22, 2003 12:14 am

Teac used to make some very fine burners, but they seem to have ceded the market to the upstarts like LiteOn over the past year or so.

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Postby pkd7423 on Wed Jan 22, 2003 5:58 pm

To all,

That's a great idea on the enclosure for an internal drive purchase.

I'm thinking of going with the Yamaha external CRW-F!ZUX. It's USB 2.0. After the rebate it's around 160.00. I'm thinking I won't get a pci card yet and just see how sloooow it is.

I really like the DiscT@2 technology that will burn the label on the cd.

Speed is really not and issue with me....reliability is though.

What is the opinion here on using the Yamaha 2.0 USB on the 1.x USB? How slow will it really be and will it be reliable?

Also, does it mean I can step down on the media since I won't be writing that fast....or is that not a factor? I might have the wrong concept about media.

I figure I can always get a pci card...for what .....about ~30.00

Thanks,
PK Davis
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Postby Ian on Wed Jan 22, 2003 6:07 pm

The Yamaha will be limited to about 4x/4x/6x on USB 1.1. Not fast at all.

Yeah, USB 2.0 PCI cards are pretty cheap. Just keep in mind that unless you're running Windows XP, you'll need to buy a card from a manufacturer that has drivers for 98SE, ME or 2000.
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Postby cfitz on Wed Jan 22, 2003 8:06 pm

pkd7423 wrote:Also, does it mean I can step down on the media since I won't be writing that fast....or is that not a factor? I might have the wrong concept about media.

When you can get the tops in media - 48x Taiyo Yuden - in 100-packs for $8 (on sale at BestBuy), why bother going lower?

pkd7423 wrote:I really like the DiscT@2 technology that will burn the label on the cd


Please remember that the "label" goes on the same side as the data (it actually is data, specially arranged to be visible to the human eye), not on the reverse side where labels traditionally go. Thus, the label takes up space that you would otherwise use for data, reducing, potentially significantly, the capacity of your disc. Those promotional pictures you see with big, beautiful labels just aren't practical.

I estimate that in this example, about 70% of the disc's capacity is devoted to the T@2 label, with only 30% left for actual data. That means you would only have 210 MBytes of an 80-minute, 700 MByte disc available for your data:
Image
(from http://www.yamahamultimedia.com/yec/tec ... a2_01.asp# )

You have to decide for yourself whether or not this is practical.

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Postby pkd7423 on Thu Jan 23, 2003 10:19 am

Point taken on the labeling cfitz thanks for the heads up. I didn't even realize that.

So, sloow writes if using the F1 on USB 1.x...... :(

High price ~160...... :(

Labeling not as attractive as I once thought...... :o

I'm still thinking about doing the Yamaha F1 :D

That said, do you think it will be reliable using it on the slower USB port?

What would most of you guys do? Get a manufactured external or get the enclosure and purchase an internal like taxman150 did?

I plan to move it back and forth between 2 computers in my house. Mine and my sons. He'll be cutting music I'm sure....and I will be using it to backup certain directories etc....

Thanks,
PK Davis
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Postby taxman150 on Thu Jan 23, 2003 1:34 pm

In case you didn't see it, Ian posted on the Hot Deals Forum yesterday that Dell had some sales going on cd-rw drives, including the Plextor and Yamaha externals. See this post:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=8807

The 5% coupon code expired yesterday, but the price after rebate is still a low $141.32 on the Yamaha external and $118.20 on the Plextor external (after rebate) with free shipping. The 10% off deal expires 1/27.

That is a pretty good deal on a Plextor external. Best Buy also just dropped their price on this drive to $159.99 and is offering a $30 rebate. If you find one of the 10% off coupons that Best Buy put in various magazines at the end of last year, you'd get an even better deal and could have it in your hands today.

See my post here regarding the 10% off coupon from Best Buy in magazines:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=8313
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Postby pkd7423 on Thu Jan 23, 2003 3:39 pm

Thanks for the tips taxman150!!!

I checked Dell and think I'll buy it from there.

Bestbuy on the web still has it for 199 and my local store says 199 and they are only giving a $20 rebate. Yamaha's rebate small print says don't try to get a $30 rebate if you purchase from Costco or Bestbuy.

Apparently these stores have their own rebate policy. Or maybe they make $10 off everybody that buys from them..... :evil:

Thanks,
PK Davis
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