Which specific CDRW is right for me?

[weirdone]

I gotta question I hope you guys can answer. I have a 2x 2x 8x Philips Omniwriter right now and I want to upgrade. My main concern is price. I'd like to spend around $50-$75 for a decent drive. I've been lookin at a Plextor CDRW, but the problem is I don't know which model to pick up. My current one doesn't do Nero or DiscJuggler, although CDRWin works fine. I don't really care about the speed. I can wait an hour for a disc to burn. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[jmorrell]

You won't find a decent drive at any speed for $75. According to Pricewatch, the cheapest CDRW listed is $80 for a Teac 4X4X32 drive at http://www.west-tech.com/. But for $89 you can get a Ricoh 7080A 8X4X32 with Nero software at http://store.yahoo.com/alienoutpost/.

 

[weirdone]

Yeah, I was searching pricewatch and didn't think so, but I just wanted to throw out the question since somebody may have found a super deal or something. Welp, the search continues.... Thanks.

 

[Pers]

Haha...$75??? Are u sure u arent looking for a DVD drive??

 

[warcleric]

weirdone: check the For Sale forum here, they can be found regularly for $75

 

[weirdone]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I finally broke down and spent the moolah on a HP 935oi 10x 4x 32x. Twas kinda spendy, but it's worth it. Moving outta Coaster City and into Musictropolis!

 

[AncientPC]

Be careful of the buffer underruns. Don't think you're out of coaster city yet. I get coasters all the time with my HP 9100 but it's because of buffer underruns and when I'm burning I'm usually uploading and downloading to over 5 people and doing other stuff at the same time, so it may be just me.

 

[wordsworth]

I have a Teac 4x4x32 that does fine. Never made a coaster, but then I always leave the thing be. Someday I'll get SCSI so I can feel a little safer fooling around while burning something. Maybe DVDRW or DVDRAM SCSI, when formats and prices get sorted out.

 

[bonkers325]

u just missed the compusa deal for a teac 8x8x32 for $99


best of luck finding one

 

[weirdone]

Hey, I get those buffer underruns also, although I have only the DJ running and nothing else. Is there anything I can do to get rid of those?

 

[weirdone]

Oh yeah, I have a BE62 mobo with P3 700 not o/c with 395MB of pc100 RAM. I can't figure how to go around those underruns. Help!

 

[fargus]

Avoiding coasters? An 8x or better CDR only takes ten minutes, give or take, to burn a CD. So go do something else for a few minutes. Go see if the outside world is still there. I'm running a Plextor 820 (SCSI) on a fairly low powered PC... 233MMX with 64megs...but all it gets used for is burning, nothing else is ever running at the same time, no coasters ever.