What brand to buy???

[Grogster]

Hello all!


I found this site and it's forum by chance, when checking a review of a CyberDrive DVD-ROM drive.

I currently have an AOpen COM4016 COMBO drive, and it is a constant pain in the backside.

It will not read CD's it has written itself, yet other machines can read the discs just fine. It has lots of trouble keeping up with DVD playback, resulting in video freezing, etc...

I have decided to replace it.

PC-GUIDE forums suggested that combo drives are not very good, and that you really should have seperate drives for DVD reading, and CD-writing. This does make a kind of sence, as the disc geometry between DVD and CD discs are quite different, so it makes me wonder, how a combo drive can keep the focus between the two different formats!

Anyway, can anyone here, suggest a drive/brand to avoid, and/or one to suggest?
There are so many different ones, it becomes a little mind boggling!

Currently looking at CyberDrive.
Thinking of getting 1x DM166D, and 1x CW099D.

What are your thoughts?

Ta!



G.

[CDRecorder]

Welcome to CDRLabs!

I would recommend Lite-On drives; I use them in my computers, and I've been quite happy with them.

I haven't heard any proof that combo drives are bad. Lite-On sells a good combo drive. If you're more comfortable with getting a DVD-ROM and a CD-RW drive, the 166S (DVD-ROM) and 52327s (CD-RW) are good choices. You can get these drives at newegg.com.

[colt45]

I was thinking the same thing myself about buying a combo drive, even though here in Sydney I would end up paying about $40 Aus more for two drives, I was thinking that it might be better in the long run, especially if you are doing a lot of buring and ripping, that way there would be less wear and tear on each drive.

Not much point using a burner to ripp a lot of DVDs or using your DVD when doing a lot of burns, might be better to have the two drives, and have less wear and tear on the motors and spindels, but since I'm not a mechanical engineer, I don't know if it's true or not

But whatever you decide good luck and try and keep us posted

Steve