Well, I bought a cheap CD-RW over the holidays. It decided to give up the ghost on me today.

At this point, who would you recommend for a replacement? Speed? Cost?

I'm leaning towards Either Iomega or HP right now.

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Artist formerly known as Reindeer

Never used an Iomega CDR, but their Zip/Jaz drives are solid. Good support too.

I have two HP CDRs. One at my Dad's office, thats a USB one, and an internal one at home. I also got an internal one for a friend. Never had ANY problems with the HP CDRs. If price is right (and im sure for a 4X or an 8X it will be) get it!

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Manu Narayan

I would go with Plextor or Yamaha personally. Never used a Plextor but I've always heard great things about them. I have a yamaha myself and it has worked great for me. They have great customer service too. They replaced my drive for free when I tore it up and told them so http://discussanything.com/Ubb/smile.gif

Oh yea, make sure u get one that has some kinda burn proof feature. Less coasters that way http://discussanything.com/Ubb/smile.gif

Plextor and HP are def good choices. HP are very fail-proof burners, and the Plextor just is the cream of the crop. I think for value/quality, the HP would be your best choice here. If price isn't too much of a problem, go for Plextor.

Some online retailers have been selling a brand called "LiteOn". They have a 12x10x32 model, which is actually the barebones version of a Plextor 12x10x32. For 70-90 compared to the 140-150 Plextor drive, its a real killer. Its BURN proof, and all the other Plextor goodies.

Whats burn proof mean?

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Manu Narayan

Basically if the buffer starts to underrun it slows down the speed of the burner so it can catch back up on the data, thus preventing it from making a coaster.

Go for a TEAC. Very nice, speedy, and I haven't had an error on it yet after burning about 20 or so cd's with it.

Wow it slows down the burn? Way cool! But I hardly get any buffer underruns any more. Here's a trick.. DO NOTHING to your PC when its burning! http://discussanything.com/Ubb/biggrin.gif

DAMN, thats sweet.

On my HP I have yet to get a buffer erorr, but I do what Scott said, shut all tasks off, just burn.

On my OLD OLD OLD Philips Omnidrive, I got buffer errors ALL the time.

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Manu Narayan

i have an HP and i've found that the blank CD-R's you use have a drastic impact on the number of frisbees you burn. Having used several different kinds of cd's, the slightly more expensive, brand name cd's tend to cause less errors than the cheap, no-name ones. so, regardless of what brand burner you buy, make sure to get quality, but not too expensive blanks. (PNY sucks)

oh, I shop @ krex.com- look here:

a few to look at (http://www.krex.com/ProductsPrincipal.asp?sg=1&gr=1&it=8&si=4)

and if you want dvd too (http://www.krex.com/ProductsPrincipal.asp?sg=1&gr=1&it=8&si=5)

No kidding? I shop there too. Almost exclusively.