Let's see, I have a TDK 24/10/40B [made by LiteON] and a LiteON 52/24/52 that hasn't given me any problems. I haven't been able to try out some games with SafeDisc2 protection yet but I believe that it's not a problem.
There's really NO best cdrw for backing up cd protection because Macrovision (Safedisc) and Sony (SecuROM) are always updating their protections. Now there are the "most" preferred burners that can successfully make back ups of Safedisc& SecuROM and they are (not in any specific order). KNOWN SAFEDISC 2 KILLERS "ARTEC CDRW241040+ ASUS CRW-1610A ASUS CRW-3210A ASUS CRW-4012A ASUS CRW-4816A ASUS CRW-5224A BTC BCE-3212IM BTC BCE 4012IM BTC CDRW IDE 4816 BTC BCE-4824IM BTC CDWRITER IDE 4824 BTC CDWRITER IDE 5224 BTC BCE-5224IM CYBERDRIVE CW099D 52x24x52 LG GCE-8160B LG GCE-8320B LG-GCE-8400B LITEON LTR-12102B LITEON LTR-16102B LITEON LTR-24102B LITEON LTR-24103S LITEON LTR-32123S LITEON LTR-40125S LITEON LTR-48125W LITEON LTR-52246S LITEON LXR-40122 MEMOREX - six models Mitsumi CR-485CTE POLAROID BurnMax 40 POLAROID BurnMax 48 POLAROID BurnMax 52 Sony CRX175A1 Sony CRX185E1 Sony CRX185E3 Sony CRX195E1 Sony CRX220E2 TEAC CD-W548E TOSHIBA SD-R1202 DVD Combo Drive TOSHIBA SD-R1312 TOSHIBA SD-R2312 TOSHIBA SD-R2412 TOSHIBA SD-R5002 TRAXDATA CDRW-2440MB TRAXDATA CDRW-2440SD TRAXDATA CDRW-4824E TRAXDATA CDRW-5224E WAITEC FRISBY11 SecuROM 4x killers: cdrw's that can read/write RAO-DAO+96/RAO-DAO+16 sub-q channel audio/data and can write "regular bit patterns correctly" (EFM encoding) BUT there cdrw's that can write "regular bit patterns almost correctly" can defeat the latest SecuROM 4.8.x. If you wan't a stable cdrw that can backup both Safedisc& SecuROM, you wan't a cdrw that can read/write rao-dao+96 (best write method) and "writes regular bit patterns correctly". This is referred to by CloneCD (Elaboryte Bytes) as "2-sheep burners" Look at the link I'm providing at look closely at EFM Encoding and best data read mode. Any writer that has "2-sheep" beside the model are the best for backing up Safedisc& SecuROM. The majority of these writers can produce working backups of the latest SecuROm 4.8.x, but NO guarentee's. http://elby.ch/english/products/clone_cd/writers/a.html My Polaroid BurnMAX48 BEAT Safedisc 2.8.x (The Sims Unleashed)& SecuROM 4.8.x (Unreal Tournament 2003)Of the many forums I visit, the post "preferred" writers for these cd protections are LiteON& Asus. I purchased my Polaroid BurnMAX48 at office Max for 49 buckaroos and this drive is a BTC and NOT a rebagged Litey. The Memorex MAX drives ARE rebagged litey's and you can buy them much cheaper than buying a Litey (for sure).Another helpful hint here is to have a DVD/CD-Rom that can bypass ATIP to play backups in that drive. Backups of Safedisc 2.5.x (Command& Conquer Renegade) won't play on all DVD/CD-Roms UNLESS your DVD/CD-Rom can get around ATIP. Most popular DVD-Roms to bypass ATIP: LiteON LTD 163/165/166 Toshiba SD-M1402 Same scenerio applies to SecuROM 4.8.s as many roms can't bypass the "twin sector" cd protection schems in SecuROM 4.8.x(backups). Known drives to bypass this protection scheme: LiteON LTD 163/165/166 So rush to your local pc store and grab 1 of these 3 DVD-Roms (hehe). Also, these Litey DVD-Roms are superior for dae extraction (fast) http://www.cdspeed2000.com/go.php3?link=daeresults.php3 Shoey
I almost forgot about that CloneCD burner list. My LiteON LTD163D 16x DVD has super fast and accurate DAE just like Shoey says.
raceman, Yes it is my friend, but NOT like Shoey says, lol. Whomever tested all those drives says so. I'm also glad to report the Lite-On LTR-52246S (52/24/52) hardware review shows this drive defeats Safedisc 2.8.x, SecuROM 4.8.x Key2Audio (all versions), Cactus Data Shield 200 but failed on Cactus Data Shield 100, and Doc. Lock (all versions). Maybe a firmware update will allow this drive to eventually defeat CDS 100. So, "pound 4 pound" one of the best, if not the best "combo's" for backing up cd/audio protection& for audio recording LiteON LTD 163 LiteON LTR 52246S review: http://www.cdfreaks.com/document.php3?Doc=99 Another great featur about LiteON burners is they can be "over clocked" If you own a Litey 48x model, you can actually use a Litey 52x firmware upgrade, and "presto", you now can burn at 52x. Shoey
