Considering a Sony DRU500AX

[zerogravity22]

Considering buying a sony dvd+-R/RW drive due to excellent reviews but wondering if I could add a third internal ide drive into my existing system. If so, what would I need for this, and 2, would this affect dvd writing performance if this third drive is added to my already existing configuration. I'm asking mainly because I'd be saving about $50 if I buy the internal dru500ax opposed to the external usb 2.0 (dru500ulx) model, and I could still keep my two new internal dvd rom drives and cdr/rw drives that I had just bought recently. Appreciate any info or advice from anybody that has tried this. thanks

Current System Specs:

Abit VP6 Dual P III 1000mhz
1024 memory
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
60gb WD Hard Drive
Primary CD Rom: AOpen 16x Dvd Rom
Secondary CD Rom: Yamaha CRWF1 44/24/44

[dhc014]

You can have, at most, three IDE devices plugged in. If you already have one Hard Drive, one CD-RW drive, and one DVD-ROM drive, then you can install a DVD+-RW drive as well.

[bio25053]

if I remember correctly the vp6 has 4 ide channels on it due to the highpoint raid controller. if it does you'll just have to disable the raid and let it run regular ide.

if it doesn't then I would suggest either getting the external or a pci ide controller card. you'll murder your systems performance by putting an optical drive on the same ide channel as your hard drive.

[zerogravity22]

Bio knows his motherboards, ur right about the raid/hightpt controller on it.. How much do those PCI IDE controller cards run for usually? Thanks again

[MonteLDS]

i got a promise control card for like $25 UDMA66 (note that the drive is UDMA33.. so you can buy a UMDA33 for even less)

[boblx2]

You can add a third IDE bus but I would advise against putting a Sony DRU-500A (or whatever) on that bus. I went through a long nightmare where the Sony would not burn anything at 4X. I also have an A05 that burns all of the 4X media so I was sure the media was not at fault. After a long prcess of trial and elimination I discovered that the reason the Sony would not burn at 4X was because it was on that third IDE bus. It now resides as the slave on my primary bus and it burns 4X like a champ. I would also advise against putting more then two devices on an IDE bus. Possibly you can get away with three but it does not work in all cases. I think most advise is to only use two. Especially since you can add extra buses. Of course that occasionally carries it's own set of circumstances.
I would definiately recommend the Sony over the Pioneer though. I have them both and the Sony is by far the most useful since it burns anything regardless of the format.

Good luck with it..............

[arklab]

If you can afford it, I'd recomend the external DRX500ULX.
You can always open the case and find an internal DRU500AX, which would leave you with an empty external USB/Firewire enclousure for whatever else you need to transport from PC to PC.

I've tried to find and price such enclousures on the open market, and the best I've found so far is $70 for ETHER USB OR Firewire!

And if you should get a second PC, you won't need to buy a second DVD+-RW.