Recommendations for a high quality SATA burner

[apasa]

Hi,

I have looking for a very reliable, high quality SATA DVD burner drive. I do not have high requirements because I usually only writes DVD+-R/RW but for future use I think it would be nice to support DL too (although I have not written so far any).

My problem is that I had already two SATA drive but both let me down . First one was a Lite-on and after 6 months it was not able to write anymore DVD-R medias (interestingly DVD+R was OK). It was replaced with a Samsung and it is now also letting me down and writes unreliably that even the same drive is not always able to read it back. (please do not ask model numbers of these because I can't check them currently).

Anyway previously with CDs I was using Plextor but as I read now their's drive lost somewhat it's qualities although I still would buy if there would be a reliable decent modell.

One additional thing is that I had previously also a Samsung combo drive that I had also replace because of failure. So I am not a big "fan" of any Samsung thing anymore. Please do not recommend.

Thank you in advance.

[Ian]

How about the LG GSA-H62N or Pioneer DVR-212 or DVR215?

[apasa]

How about the LG GSA-H62N or Pioneer DVR-212 or DVR215?

Hi Ian,

I wanted to check the reviews of these models but they are not listed. Do you have any personal experience with them? Which one would you recommend if the write quality is the first priority and the second is the model reliability?

BTW: I am not interested about very high speed of writing I am OK with the 8x speed.

Other questions what also interest me is:
-Would you still give 10/10 to the Plextor PX-712SA? I mean now it is a bit old and might be some new feature is not available (eg: DL). Would you still recommend if the feature list is OK for me?
-I do not see any 10/10 since the 2004. Does it mean that the writers quality is somewhat lower or just the process and feature list now is so extensive that none can have everything anymore?
-May I ask what writer and media are you using for creating long-term backups (eg: personal fotos, videos or docs).
-How often do you do backup "backup" or renewal of the archives? With other words what do you think what is a usual lifetime of a DVD+-R and CD-Rs?

Thank is advance.

BR,
apasa

[SithTracy]

I have the following SATA drives and recommend them in the following order (and it depends on your needs... and ignore the first in your case):

Samsung SH-S203B (ignore this due to your bad luck)
Pioneer DVR-212D (only cause it is a better all around performer than the LG)
LG GSA-H62N (Damn good DVD+R burns, sucks for everything else)
Plextor PX-755SA (almost impossible to obtain now anyway)

[Ian]

I wanted to check the reviews of these models but they are not listed. Do you have any personal experience with them? Which one would you recommend if the write quality is the first priority and the second is the model reliability?

I never got around to reviewing the H62N and Pioneer has been kinda silly about things so I'm not reviewing any more of their drives.

Other questions what also interest me is:
-Would you still give 10/10 to the Plextor PX-712SA? I mean now it is a bit old and might be some new feature is not available (eg: DL). Would you still recommend if the feature list is OK for me?
-I do not see any 10/10 since the 2004. Does it mean that the writers quality is somewhat lower or just the process and feature list now is so extensive that none can have everything anymore?

The 712SA was and still is a good drive. Would I rate it that high now? Probably not, with Plextor offering faster and in some ways better drives since then.

I've become a bit jaded since 2004. While I catch a lot of hell for drives getting an 8 on average, few get a 9 or 10 these days. Personally, I don't think manufacturers are putting as much effort into their drives. They put out a new model every 3-6 months and do little QA to see if there are problems. If there are problems, the fixes take forever because the engineers are already working on the next model.

-May I ask what writer and media are you using for creating long-term backups (eg: personal fotos, videos or docs).
-How often do you do backup "backup" or renewal of the archives? With other words what do you think what is a usual lifetime of a DVD+-R and CD-Rs?

I use a BenQ DW1640 for archiving. It's not the fastest drive out there but I am confident in its capabilities. As far as media goes, I primarily use Verbatim DVD+R/-R for long term backups. I don't bother backing up to CD-R anymore.

[Halc]

Nec/Optiarc 720X series has been getting really good initial scan results from forum posters @ another forum.

If this is indicative of it's true performance, it might be another unit worth considering.

It is a genuine nec chipset/build unit, not a rebrand. Supposedly also relatively quiet, for a 20x unit anyway. I believe that when I hear it :)

[Ian]

Nec/Optiarc 720X series has been getting really good initial scan results from forum posters @ another forum.

Have you seen any scans for DL media? From my own experiences, a lot of newer drives are giving good results with single layer media, but they come up short with DL media. This seems to be one thing people don't check.

I haven't reviewed an NEC drive in awhile. I might have to pick one of these up from Newegg when they get them in stock.

[Encore2097]

... Pioneer has been kinda silly about things so I'm not reviewing any more of their drives.

How come you won't be reviewing any Pioneer drives if I may ask?

[Ian]

How come you won't be reviewing any Pioneer drives if I may ask?

I found it to be very difficult to deal with Pioneer USA. They're surrounded by an army of marketing poeple that don't know the products. Getting beyond them to talk to someone at Pioneer is next to impossible and when you do, they usually aren't very responsive. In the end, I decided that it just wasn't worth my time.

The folks at Pioneer Europe have treated me very well, but I am not in their part of the world so they can't provide me with test units. Nevertheless, they have pulled some strings at Pioneer USA when I was getting no where with their marketing people.