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 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.

--
You'd be crazy to e-mail me with the crazy. But leave the div alone.
*
Whoever bans a book, shall be banished. Whoever burns a book, shall burn.