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Old April 23rd 11, 09:04 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware
BillW50
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Posts: 5,556
Default choosing an external DVD burner

On 4/23/2011 2:54 PM, Patok wrote:
I wish to address another point that nobody else seems to address.
Depending on how many DVDs you plan to burn, choosing a full-size
high-speed burner (with an external power supply) might be a better option.
The slim-size one you've been looking at is limited to 8X, for a reason.
The USB can't supply the power for higher speeds, even with two
connectors. But the main point is, that burning many DVDs at such slow
speeds is a PITA. Especially since the advertised 8X is only really 8X
at the very end of the DVD; in the beginning and during most of the time
it is in fact 2X, 4X and 6X. And the read speeds are higher on the big
ones too, in case you want to copy or read large files quickly.
The only limitation on the big drives might be the USB transfer speed.
The 16X speed is 22MB/s, while on my laptop USB2 can't achieve more than
20MB/s. Thus, I can't actually burn at 16X, and do it at 12X. The
difference in burn times is not big between those two, however, as most
of the time is spent burning at slower speeds from 4X up to 12X anyway.
Oh, and apart from reading the customer reviews, avoid SONY drives like
the plague, no matter what the reviews. It helps that they are
overpriced, too.


I don't disagree with anything you said. Although if you wanted to do a
lot of burning, I don't think you would want to use any USB burner. I
would be using an internal burner instead myself. Don't you think so?

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v3.0
Centrino Core2 Duo 2GHz - 1.5GB - Windows 7
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