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LG GSA-H10N read ability?

PostPosted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 12:57 pm
by Pilgrim
I'm building a new system and buying this drive: LG GSA-H10N which after reading the online reviews should meet my meagre needs. Now, I have never owned a DVD drive nor even used one so I'm a "virgin" when it comes to this. Could someone please help me out by answering the following questions?:

1) Will this drive be able to read CD-RW discs that have been already formatted with Mt. Rainier and InCD?

2) Would it be wise to immediately update the firmware to whatever is the latest version? What benefits would that bring?

3) NEWBIE question #3 . . . is there a chart or an article somewhere that lists what the different kinds of DVD media are and the use of each? I'm totally ignorant of what all this DVD -/+, RAM, etc., etc.. is all about.

THANKS!!

Jeff

PostPosted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:46 pm
by Bhairav
Hi Jeff:

1) Yep.

2) Upgrade to JJ11 from tdb.rpc1.org, it has UDMA4 capability and autobitsetting for +R discs. Also, you can remove riplock with ala42's MCSE.

3) Google it. + and -R/RW are the basic DVD recordable formats, while -RAM is a special type of recordable DVD, with much better rewriteability and defect management. Tradeoff is that not many DVD drives can read -RAM discs.

PostPosted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 12:16 am
by Pilgrim
Thanks for the reply.

I saw another thread that announced the firmware upgrade for this drive and downloaded it. However, it is an ".exe" file, which leaves me in the dark again. Years ago, when I flashed my Liteon CD-RW, there was a ".bin" file and I had to use a floppy to do the update in DOS. So, what do I do with this "GSAH10N_JL11.exe" file? Of course, I'm assuming since I don't even have the drive yet, that it will need to be updated.

And, I did find a great site that had a full explanation of all the various types of DVD media. I'll have to reread it a few times before it all sinks in. Image

PostPosted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 6:17 am
by dodecahedron
hi there Pilgrim, nice to see you again.

1. yes, but i don't know if you'll need the InCD Reader to be able to read those Mt. Rainier CDRWs.

2. yes. but i'm not sure you should update to JJ11, you might want to stay with the official LG JL11 (JJ11 is a hacked firmware).
you should read up a bit on it, a few thread at CDFreaks, learn what the differences are.
here's one topic (with links to the original unhacked LG firmware)
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=183031
if you want the hacked firmwares here they are:
http://tdb.rpc1.org/#GSAH10N

the "GSAH10N_JL11.exe" sounds like the original LG firmware (unhacked).
you just double-click on it, that's all.

PostPosted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 11:39 am
by Pilgrim
dodecahedron wrote:hi there Pilgrim, nice to see you again.

1. yes, but i don't know if you'll need the InCD Reader to be able to read those Mt. Rainier CDRWs.

Actually, I visit this board most every day . . . just don't say much. hehe I'll read up on the "hacked" firmware update but most likely I'll stick with the "official" update. And thanks for revealing the "secret" to updating the firmware with the ".exe" file. Almost seems too easy compared to what it used to be like, although it wasn't all that bad before.

Perhaps I should post my question about the Mt. Rainier formatted CD-RW media in the Nero forum? Craig might know for sure about this one. I'll still be using Nero 6 and the latest InCD, or whatever comes with the drive, else I'll install my own copy of Nero 6 if it doesn't come with it. The question stems from the fact that this drive doesn't have Mt. Rainier and I don't know if a drive without it can read discs formatted with it.

As always, I appreciate your congenial demeanor and willingness to help out.

Image

PostPosted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 11:47 am
by Ian
Yeah, you should be able to read Mt. Rainier discs as long as you have InCD or the InCD reader installed.

PostPosted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 11:52 am
by Pilgrim
Ian wrote:Yeah, you should be able to read Mt. Rainier discs as long as you have InCD or the InCD reader installed.

Thanks Ian,

Yes, I will be installing InCD (latest version) along with Nero 6. If that doesn't work, I'll install InCD Reader and give that a try.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 06, 2006 1:44 am
by dodecahedron
well, if you are going to install InCD (or at least the InCD Reader) you'll be able to read the discs for sure.
i thought you were asking if it's possible to read them without the extra software. that i don't know.
but you can try! and let us know.