[GLLUG] Re: cheap cd-rw drives

[Marr]

On Wednesday 23 June 2004 06:58pm, bfdamkoehler at worldnet.att.net wrote:

> Everything that I have ever read indicates that the quality of the blank
> media is something that you should pay close attention to.

I generally agree with this.

The following site has ratings for various CD-R media manufacturers -- (see 
the links under the 'CD MEDIA' header in the left-hand panel):

	http://www.cdmediaworld.com

On your discs, you can check the media manufacturer with the '-atip' command 
to 'cdrecord'. For example:

	cdrecord dev=0,0,0 -atip

Don't go by the label on the package -- for example, TDK's media is made by 
several different manufacturers (e.g. 'Plasmon Data systems Ltd.', 'Ritek 
Co.', etc) -- you've got to check with 'cdrecord' (or equivalent).

I've heard (various sources) that Ritek and CMC Magnetics are rated pretty 
poorly, but I've got CD-R media made by both of those manufacturers that's 
held up rather well. 

I often wonder why so many people have problems with their burned media. I 
suppose it's some combination of low-quality media, poor handling/treatment 
by the owner (fingerprints, kept in hot cars, etc), and (possibly) burning at 
a speed that's legal for the drive/media but maybe not ideal for longevity. 
I've been burning CD-R/CD-RW media since late 1997 and have had very few 
problems with media (either initially or over time).

I've also heard people report that CD-RW media doesn't handle very many 
rewrites, but I don't find that to be the case at all. I burn the same 
(rotating over several days) set of CD-RW media, 1 disc every night, for 
backups. I've never had a disc fail on me and I run a checksum after burning 
to be certain. Of course, I gradually replace the oldest media over time, but 
I'm sure I've got CD-RWs with hundreds of erase/re-burn cycles that have 
never failed.

As for CD-R/CD-RW drives, my original HP SureStore CD-Writer Plus 7110i worked 
fine initially but eventually became very unreliable and maddeningly slow 
reading media (even media that was burned by itself). Nothing I did (internal 
cleaning, different media) would make this piece of junk work well ever 
again. My Sony CRX100E burner that came in a low-end Dell PC has been working 
flawlessly since mid-1999. My Plextor PX-W1610TA ('PlexWriter 16/10/40A') has 
also been working flawlessly since mid-2001 and it gets used to burn 500+MB 
every single night.

On Monday 21 June 2004 10:02am, Matt Graham wrote:
> So I bought a Plextor drive, and it's been going
> for 3 years.  You can do what you like, but I'd rather spend a little
> more money on quality components than replace cheap components every
> year.

I couldn't agree with Matt more on this. Good drives are worth the extra 
money, especially if you're using them for backups. I'd buy another Plextor 
drive without any reservation. In fact, my next DVD burner (happily but 
infrequently using a Pioneer DVR-105 [aka DVR-A05] currently) might well be a 
Plextor.

Short Moral (Based on Low Sample Size): Plextor -- GOOD; HP -- BAD!

Bill Marr