If ya got the bucks, I would replace it. A LiteOn goes for around $25 U.S. and if you got the money to burn I would go with Plextor. They make excellent burners. My PX 716 actually is in DMA 4 mode and rips faster than my DVD ROM. But for a budget burner, can't beat the NEC drive (3520 or 3540). so it's up to you Plextor or NEC.
Somewhat is right <g> And the "Great guy" part is surely debate-able. Im sure one of the 1000,s of BANNED people would agree. But your OK in my book Flip Just dont 'Quote' me on the last part.
============================= That's not a question one can answer unless one has used all three burners, Jane. I have used a Lite-On burner and a TEAC. Both did the job but not as well as any of my NEC burners have. I currently have five burners in use; all NEC. Of course, I have two very fast computers, running Windows XP - and with two 160 Gig Hard Drives in each computer. SO, I do have an advantage when it comes to playing around with program and drive setups and the like. As for your old DVD ROM, it won't hurt to keep it. If for no other reason than to TEST run the movies you have burned against a different reader. Keep in mind that DVD Burners are very, very sensitive, and they will fail to read through some flaws and errors that a normal DVD player has no problems with. Just hang onto the ROM drive until you really need something different in that slot. - Mike -
[bold] Jane 1 [/bold] Just an aside to make sure you understand something about burning DVDs that is very important. You MUST have your Hard Drive partitioned in NTFS (NT File System) in order to handle the large files that are generated when you copy disk files and Images to the Hard Drive. If you are still running FAT 32 disk partitions, on that old machine, you will have to change it over. I am hoping you are at least running Windows 2000 or better as an OS. Don't even attempt it with Windows 98! - Mike -
Only if your dealing with ISO files. If your using FAT32, just stick to Video_TS files and you'll be fine.
========================================= [bold] Famous last words!!! [/bold] It's just NOT worth the chance you are taking in file corruption, Flip. I have been down that road and learned the hard way. You are on thin ice with FAT32 formats no matter what Large Files you write. To each his own, my friend! We may just have to agree to disagree on this one... -------- Large Grin - Mike -
lol ... nah mike I actually do agree. NTFS is the way to go. Less problems and more options that way. Just stating if you are using FAT32, you just have to stick to Video_TS files. And the lastest DVD Decrypter fixed the issues with FAT32 and ripping in ISO mode. It creates two ISOs both under 4GB and uses a .mdf file to merge them.
as i said here - http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/5/200764 NTFS is all well and good, but for my many many 100s of successful burns on FAT32 (granted they are video_ts file mode rips) prove that there's still plenty life in FAT32. I've since gone NTFS but only cus i could, not because FAT32 didn't work. I've only recently stopped using Win98/FAT32 as i've grown to like XP after all. I tend to stick with an OS many years after it's demise or perceived demise. <old fashioned person with old fashioned views, over> @smsmike - no malice involved, i am just a bit pedantic when it comes to details But to get back on topic, Jane1 seems to not have been who she claimed to be. Rotary and me helped her a lot on what i think was her first post - http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/198553 only for us to start to wonder if she really was a PC noob; and subsequent posts seem to have confirmed she wasn't what she claimed to be and was hanging out here, for what reasons who knows..
