On 4/23/2011 3:29 PM, Patok wrote:
BillW50 wrote:
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?

Certainly. But I was writing in the context of a laptop/netbook that
have no space for a big internal drive. If you use a desktop/tower, then
the internal burner is the way to go.

I know of no netbooks with internal DVD burners (although they could be
made). But lots of laptops do and can have DVD burners.

I use several laptops, but no desktop; that's why I have the external
powered burner. Other than that, one of my laptops already has its
internal drive with exactly the same parameters as the one Jo-Anne is
buying - reads/writes everything at up to 8X. Not only is it slow (and
one has to factor in the verification time after burning - hopefully
nobody here burns without verifying the written data), but it overheats,
so I can't really burn more than one regular DVD at one sitting. Without
a cool-off period, the next ones become coasters.

Most people who have a netbook either also has a laptop or a desktop. So
most netbook users probably isn't too interested in burning DVDs.

I don't know what kind of laptop you have? But I have over a dozen. And
most of them have internal burners. And six of them have removable drive
bays. So I can insert an internal burner into any of them very easy.

It sounds like yours doesn't have an internal burner. Well you can
replace it with one or get an external burner. It sounds like you did
the latter. And in this case, the slimline design probably would not be
a good choice if you burn a lot.

I haven't ran into any overheating problems. Although if I did, I would
add a fan. If it had one, I would add a bigger one. As I never had a
problem yet when I had to wait and let it cool down (ok back in the CD
only days I did, but not for DVD burners). As that would be totally
unacceptable to me.

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