Home News Reviews Forums Shop


The merits of two DVD-ROM/DVD+/-RW drives

DVD-R/W, DVD+R/RW, DVD-RAM

The merits of two DVD-ROM/DVD+/-RW drives

Postby astrodonkey on Thu Nov 28, 2002 1:10 am

Hello all,

I've seen comments before to the effect that it is advantageous to have a dedicated DVD-ROM drive in addition to a separate DVD burner. Apparently the reasoning is that you don't want to burn out the motor on the more expensive DVD burner, and just use the DVD-ROM drive for ripping or copying DVDs.

With the price of DVD-ROM drives so cheap this isn't a big problem, but is this really a common mentality? The trouble is, I'd like to be able to burn CDs too, so the first thing that comes to mind is a combination DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive, which I presume is more expensive than the straight DVD-ROM. I already have a CD-RW drive (but no DVD-ROM), but I really don't want three separate drives hogging my case, when in reality the drive I'm looking at buying (Sony DRU-500A) supports DVD reading, writing, and CD burning all in one.

Can I have some opinions on this? What sort of setups do the rest of you folks have?

Thanks in advance.
astrodonkey
Buffer Underrun
 
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Nov 28, 2002 1:03 am

Postby cfitz on Thu Nov 28, 2002 1:16 am

This is just my personal opinion, but I say if you want to live with just one drive then go for it. If (and there is a chance I am being overly optimistic here) DVD burners progress like CD burners did, you will be buying a replacement for your Sony in a year and half not because it has failed, but because there are new drives that are faster, cheaper and generally much better overall than the current state-of-the-art Sony. Of course, this depends somewhat on how heavily you plan on using the drive.

So, how heavily do you intend to use the drive?

cfitz
cfitz
CD-RW Curmudgeon
 
Posts: 4572
Joined: Sat Jul 27, 2002 10:44 am

Postby dodecahedron on Thu Nov 28, 2002 1:21 am

also depends on WHAT you want to do with your drives.
if you'll be doing a lot of CD burning but little of DVD reading, then stick with the CD-RW drive. if you'll be reading the DVDs a lot but only rarely burning CDRWs, get a DVD-ROM drive (to read both CDs and DVDs) and use the DVD burner to burn CDs too.

BTW, you are correct about combo CDRW/DVD drives being (relatively) more expensive than CDRW drives.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the land of Mordor, where the Shadows lie
-- JRRT
M.C. Escher - Reptilien
User avatar
dodecahedron
DVD Polygon
 
Posts: 6865
Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2002 12:04 am
Location: Israel

Postby glock20rocks on Thu Nov 28, 2002 3:50 pm

TCComputers.com has the new Samsung 32x12x40x12 combo for $89, which isn't too bad.
glock20rocks
 


Return to DVD Writers

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Majestic-12 [Bot] and 5 guests

All Content is Copyright (c) 2001-2024 CDRLabs Inc.