CDRW Choice

[bille]

I am about to buy a CDRW however there appear to be a hell of a lot of choices i.e.

1. High speed 40x24x16 as against slower speeds

2. Different size caches 2mb - 4mb - 8mb.

3. Cheap brands - V - expensive brands i.e. LG - V - Sony etc

4. Burn proof - V - Non Burnproof

5. Software: Adaptec - V - Nero

Prices are cheap but not if you make a mistake and have to start again, so any advice based on your experience would be much appreciated, thanks in advance.

 

[ramani]

HI
I am using Yamaha CDRW 32x16x10. I am happy with it. It came with Adaptecs suite. That was good enough.
Each 1x in speed equals to 150K per sec. SO 16x = 2.4 MB per sec = 144 MB per minute or approximately it takes.. 5 minutes to write a CD. And it performs that way. Earlier I had used Philips and Compro.. But I am happy with Yamaha.. Probably because that was the latest and speed was good. With passing of time, technology and methods improve and you get better products. So go for good branded product in these type of items (This is not assembling a PC).

Remember, anything you write above 4x speed (VCDs, the chances are that it cannot be read by some of the CD drives. So if you are backing up VCDs, set the write speed as 4x.

Hope the tips helps you ramani :-9
(Subramanian.G),FoxAcc, ramani_g@yahoo.com

 

[SSJpn]

who makes 40x24x16 CDRWs??? do you mean 24x16x40???

 

[edito]

Just my opinion based on experience with my drives and reading but:
1. Faster speed is good but as Ramani said, the faster you go, the less reliable the copy or write can be. Not to say buy a slow one because the faster ones are the latest models and usually have the newest technology incorperated.
2. The larger the cache (or buffer) the better. This along with burn proof technology (question 4)help prevent buffer under runs which is a curse.A buffer underrun error means that for some reason the flow of data from source (e.g., hard disk, CD-ROM drive) to CD recorder was interrupted long enough for the CD recorder's buffer to be emptied, and writing was halted. If this occurs during an actual write operation rather than a test, your Recordable disc may be ruined.
3. Some of the most talked about drives are made by Plextor and they have one of the best reputations.
5. Experiment with the software. Some seem to be better for some applications than others ie. audio, copying, video and the like.
For more indepth info, this is a pretty good site:

http://www.cdrfaq.org/

 

[ceh4702]

Look for a CDRW that has the failsafe software that is called burn proof technology. This keeps from making bad CD's. Be aware that the newer CDRW'S probably have better drivers. If you have WIN XP or WIN ME make sure you get the latest drivers. One drawback of faster speeds is that the higher speeds requires even more expensive CDRW disks. The disks have to be rated for copying at the faster speeds. It would make sense that a 24X write CDRW should work better at a 10X or a 16X speed. I think some people make the mistake of not buying the better CD-RW discs (Media) to make their recordings on. They are rated by the write speed. Look at the comparison on the

http://www.anandtech.com

site. Then look at the sites that let you search for the cheapest price and compare. I think Yahoo lets you search by price. Out of the newer models that run about $149.00 TDK Velowriter and the Yamaha was the top 2. Others may price out around $60.00-$90.00. I wouldn't buy anything too old. You also need 640 meg of space on the hard-drive for storage space. The 24X write models also rip a song faster into a MP3. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.