External DVD burners

[suklee]

Found a thread over here... Noticed that most of the talk about dvd burners are centered around internal units. Work has been needing one to make backups of data, but I came across some external DVD burners at the computer mall, such as a Pioneer S06 and a TDK unit. I figured I wanted one at home as well so I may as well get one and use it at both locations, since I dont anticipate burning DVDs that often. Any one have exp with external DVD burners? Are most of you jsut getting an internal drive and putting it in a USB2/Fireware enclosure? Am I looking at significantly slower burning times when connecting a DVD burner thru USB2 (any other alternative?)

 

[John]

Are most of you jsut getting an internal drive and putting it in a USB2/Fireware enclosure?

Yep, that's the best way IMHO. I'd also recommend a combo USB 2.0/Firewire enclosure.

 

[suklee]

Any other opinions?

 

[suklee]

Found a Pioneer S606 today with USB2/Firewire, retailing for about US300.
4X DVD+R,
2.4X DVD+RW,
4X DVD-R
2X DVD-RW,
16X CD-R,
10X CD-RW. The DVR-S606 has a 2MB buffer. link

Then I saw a "native" internal NEC 1300A in a USB2/Firewire enclosure, US190.
DVD-R: 4x, 2x (5,400/2,700 Kbyte/s)
DVD-RW: 2x, 1x (2,700/1,350 Kbyte/s)
DVD+R: 4x, 2.4x (5,400/3,240 Kbyte/s)
DVD+RW: 2.4x (3,240 Kbyte/s)
CD-R: 16x (2,400 Kbyte/s)
CD-RW: 10x (1,500 Kbyte/s)something like this

Specs look pretty much identical. which would you get, and why?

 

[Richard98]

Originally posted by: John

Are most of you jsut getting an internal drive and putting it in a USB2/Fireware enclosure?

Yep, that's the best way IMHO. I'd also recommend a combo USB 2.0/Firewire enclosure.

Would an external burner work with a laptop that only has USB 1? I have a external CD-RW and was thinking about replacing the drive with a Pioneer 104.

 

[suklee]

Originally posted by: Richard98

Originally posted by: John

Are most of you jsut getting an internal drive and putting it in a USB2/Fireware enclosure?

Yep, that's the best way IMHO. I'd also recommend a combo USB 2.0/Firewire enclosure.

Would an external burner work with a laptop that only has USB 1? I have a external CD-RW and was thinking about replacing the drive with a Pioneer 104.

I'd think that all USB2 devices will be backwards compatible with USB1 ports. You will only get USB1 transfer speeds, of course...

 

[corkyg]

[/quote] Would an external burner work with a laptop that only has USB 1? I have a external CD-RW and was thinking about replacing the drive with a Pioneer 104.[/quote]

I would be more comfortable with either Firewire or USB 2 via a PCMCIA adapter.

 

[suklee]

Bump one last time... will be getting one soon to do mail backups and CD copies for my company.

I'll look for the best internal IDE DVD burner (NEC, Pioneer, Lite-On, etc.), get any USB2/Firewire enclosure (are they all created equal?)...

Anything else I should be aware of?