f13.net

All right.  I have decided to purchase an external DVDR and would like some recommendations.  I would get internal, but my box has limited space and from what I have heard USB 2.0 should work fine.

Anyone have a favorite?  Any brands to watchout for?  Plextor used to be the top dog when I was actively building boxes, but that has been a few years.

Thanks!

Plextor is still excellent, but I have no experience with external drives.

I just bought an internal Plextor 712A DVD-R burner.  The Roxio software that came with it made three coasters right away(you could still browse file directories, but not run/copy the files from disk).  I switched over to Nero software and have not had a single problem.

Excellent, thank you.  I am probably going for an HP model DVDR/CDR Burner that I found for just under $200.00

Meh. Screw that. Get the $206 Sony External from Best Buy. It's like 16x speed/dual layer so you're set for the next gen of discs when they arrive mass market (tough to find large packs atm).

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1091100597901&skuId=6811809&productCategoryId=cat01041&type=product

It's the new generation of the one I have. I love mine. I safely endorse Sony's DVDR drives.

Edit: Also this is damn tempting (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-187-028&depa=0).

Well. I've had two (2) SONY 540 units die and two (2) other SONY 530 units die in the past year.  None of the units had much use. One day they all stopped recognizing that I had put blank media in them. Yes. I tried all sorts of different brands of media. Dead.

I just purchased a Plextor and it's working great.

fwiw SONY stopped manufacturing DVDR drives with the 530 series on and the quality has taken a dump.

Of course my experience with 4 defective units could be mere coincidence. My studio has had problems with the new SONY drives and have stopped buying them as well.


Isn't Suntory really Suntori? Sounds more Japanese.

It's suntory. In fact, my japanese friend corrected me.

Thank you both.  I will look them over.  I have not had issues with Sony either Schild.

I wasn't sure. I almost put that DVD in to see how it was spelled. Yes. I have better things to do with my time. However, I'm a movie nut -- little details like that drive me crazy until I figure them out.

Thanks for saving me the time.

As for SONY DVD burner reliability. My experience wasn't pretty. The reason I kept replacing them with more SONY burners is that I couldn't believe that they were that bad. I still have all my Pioneer A03 burners running strong at a whopping 1X write speed (hey! they work).

Buyer Beware!

I've burnt about 300 data discs and about 250 movie discs on my dvd burner. Sony DRU500A. Runs like a champ. THOUGH I never use it for anything but burning and turn it off until I know I need to use it again. I tend to take care of everything except for Hard Drives.

Plextor is still the top dog. They arn't cheep but you get what you pay for.

I am the proud owner of this little bitch.

Plextor PX-716UF (http://www.plextor.com/english/products/716uf.htm) and she is running like gold.  Schild, you mentioned that Roxio is crap and Nero is god.  Should I grab the latest version of Nero?

I am interested in backup my OS for quick recovery, any thoughts.  Looks like it comes with some software, the Dantz Retrospec.  Anyone have any opinions on it?

Thanks for all the input.  I was going to go with the Sony, but this one was $10.00 more.  So..

If Roxio works for all your needs, with no issues, and you are already familiar and happy with it, then there is little reason to switch.  But I have had numerous issues with Roxio/Adaptec software over the years, with various drives from different manufacturers.  I have yet to have a single issue with Nero.