I've had this drive for about a month now and would like to hear from others who have one or have opinions about it. I will try to briefly describe my experence with the drive: Got it when there was a $30 mail-in rebate. Got the rebate OK. A few weeks later the price of the drive dropped. Just my crazy luck. I also got DVDXCopy Platinum with the drive. Haven't seen that mail-in rebate check on it though. Drive comes with Sonic DVD Player. I already had 3 or 4 software DVD players on my system. This one is just as good as any of them in my opinion. Drive also comes with Iomega's HotBurnPro Software. I've started to slowly warm-up to this software but I liked Easy CD Creater better (had to uninstall due to issues with DVDXCopy). I have been able to burn CDs and DVDs using the software so I guess I can't complain too much. Wish the drive came with Nero or Roxio instead for more flexibility. Since purchase, I've upgraded DVDXCopy Platinum once, HotBurnPro once, and installed a patch for HotBurnPro (fixed blue screen of death problem when ejecting DVD-RAM discs - XP error sending feature actually worked!) In the beginning, I made a mountain of coasters and was getting very upset to say the least because DVD coasters are expensive. Now, after uninstalling certain programs mentioned on 321's forum and disabling certain others during burning, I've had better luck. With this drive, I've had hit and miss success/failure with Sony, Memorex, Fuji and Verbatim brands. After all the updates and things learned, will have to try some brands again to be sure. Drive came with a Verbatim DVD-RW which worked great. Bought a Verbatim DVD-R thinking it wouldn't be a problem but it became a coaster. Had Sony DVD+Rs work great but Sony DVD-Rs were hit and miss. Memorox was more miss than hit. Reading this forum and others, I can't totally blame the drive on this one. To date, only Maxell brand media has worked 100% for me with this drive. I've had success with Maxell DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW and DVD-RAM. Needless to say that it's the only brand I'm currently buying now. I check to make sure the box says, "made in Japan" too. Taiwan and Singapore aren't cutting it with my drive yet. Also of note, all types of Maxell discs have played in all the players I have. My Pansonic RP-91 played the DVD-RAMs and many of the others. Players that played every type of Maxell disc (not including DVD-RAM of course): X-Box, PS2, LiteOn 2001, Momitsu V880, Pioneer 563A, JVC 902 Changer, Mits (can't remember model # right off-hand), Sungale 8208, Sungale 8500. Players that would not play Maxell DVD+Rs: Initial 8" portable and HiView AT-2003. Recently downloaded DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink. I was unable to directly burn from these programs. However; after reading the guides here, I'm going to try again. Other than that, the programs work as advertised with this burner and I've made several backups without the 321 backup screen. ;-) QUESTION: It it OK that DVD Decrypter shows [0:0:0] in front of my drive? HotBurnPro shows [16:0:0]. I have the Iomega Super DVD drive attached to a laptop via a PCMCIA 2 port USB 2.0 card. I've found that if when I first start Windows XP and the "Green Arrow - components attached" icon is not in the system tray that I need to either reboot or unplug the card and/or drive to make sure they are recognized by the system. Fortunately, I only have to do this rarely. After using both DVDXCopy Platinum and DVD Decrypter/Shrink, I've personally found that they all have value and both do what they are intended to do great in their own ways. With DVDXCopy, I like the simply interface and "fast" time from start to finish. It usually takes 30 minutes or less to read a DVD and 30 minutes or less to make the backup so about an hour or less overall. With DVD Decrypter though I like the wealth of information like: blank media data, realtime status, everything. I also like all of the additional options alot. However, I haven't been able to burn using it. Hopefully, if I follow the guide, it'll work the next time. DVD Shrink is great too. Also ImgTool serves its purpose well though I'll not use it much personally. With these programs and my current setup, it takes well over an hour from start to finish but its still not too bad. Anyway, any comments about this Drive, blank media and it use are welcome.
Updates: Recently had success re-writing to DVD-RW and DVD+RW. Able to burn from DVD decrypter. Using DVD Shrink will in fact require be to use DVDImgTool more than I originally figured since when I click Backup it does not start burning with my setup.
