Well my two lite-on drives finally just died .. Both within a month of each other .. Im also running a Sony DVD-RW and an older Maddog (rebadged NEC) .. I dont use the sony to burn movies due to an issue with compatible media .. and the maddog is pretty beat as well as slow now so I dont work with it or the sony too much outside of ripping .. So now Im looking to replace my work horse drives the Lite-on's ... id love to go with the newer SATA drives for their speed but unfortunately Im using all 8 sata ports for HDD's at the moment .. So Im looking a for good drive that is compatible with most media (even the cheap stuff) can rip fast and makes as few coasters as possible... and it sadly has to be IDE .. Oh and Im hoping to find a drive in the $30 range like all the past drives I have bought .. Now I know I could start doing some research and reading of 1,001 posts, articles and reviews .. But I also know there are those of you out there that keep up with this stuff and have this knowledge readily available and can save me a lot of time .. So many thanx for anyone with an opinion and is willing to share !
PS .. I have read the Stickies about what to look for in drives .. but from my personal experience there are a lot of hit and misses with new firmwares and rebadging of drives .. This is why Im looking for input from peopel that have hands on experience or have read enough review/posts to know whats good and what not .. .. Thanks again !
How about a LiteOn LH-20A1P since you like LiteOn so much. Check the fw on it; I use KLON on mine. What is wrong with your Mad Dog/NEC burner? I have many of them with 1,000's of burns with no problem; The 35xx series with some almost 3+ years, most with Mad Dog FW and WinBTYPE v2 for bittsetting DVD+R to DVD-Rom. Burn On, Russell
L .. Well I dont 'like' lite-ons too much the two that are failing arent that old .. But if the newer ones are better I dont hold a grudge .. I have also had issues with my old Lite-on's not working with anydvd running.. Is this a new issue *cough* macrovision *cough* that is there to stay or just a firmware glitch in the newer models ? I only ask now because i read a review about the LH-20A1P's not working with anydvd as well .. As for the maddog .. Its not on of the 3500's I forget the model it actually is now .. I have an old NEC 3500 that I used to its death .. If I could find more of those id buy as many as I could cause those were my best drives !!
I've been using lite-on drives for years, no failures yet, Knock on wood!. SOWH1693S and SHW-160P6S as well, both great drives.
