[sek929]

Alrighty, soon I will be receiving a wad of cash for selling my iMac (750$) and I am going ot use that to buy a nice, bus-powered, firewire CD-RW drive (since Apple has ONE friggin bay on the Quicksilver!).

Anyone know the best (or have the best) one for the money? My limit is around 250 buckaroos or so and I want a fairly fast read speed (hopefully faster than the current internal CD-RW drive). Oh yeah and it doesn't have to be bus powed, but that is preferred so I don't have to turn it off and on.

Thanks ahead of time for any help.

[ 08-16-2001: Message edited by: sek929 ]

[FD]

If you want bus powered you'll be limited to 8x4x24 and it will cost more. You can get a 20x for about $250 if it doesn't have to be bus powered otherwise you'll spend at least $250 for a bus powered 8x. As far as brands go, Plextor is one of the best mechanisms, Teac is pretty good too. QPS, La Cie, and Formac are all good drives.

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Formac is bus powered and the coolest looking.
QPS is the second coolest looking and works really well.

[jokell82]

Originally posted by Disgruntled Head of C-3PO:
<STRONG>Formac is bus powered and the coolest looking.
QPS is the second coolest looking and works really well.</STRONG>

Nah, TDK has the coolest looking one. I'd say go for that one. Plextor mechanism, so it'll be very reliable.

[tr]

I have to agree with jokell82, the TDK external VeloCD is the coolest external out there. I just got one for my sister's iMac DV SE, but of course I had to try it out and make sure it works on my G4 The case matches the computer perfectly, and the bright blue 'light stripe' on top of the drive is amazing. And I must mention that it is really quiet; I've used some other externals (like Yamaha), and those drives are a lot noiser.

one thing I didn't know for sure was if it is a Plextor mechanism, or maybe a Sanyo. I believe all the 16x internal VeloCD's are Plextors, so most likely the external one is too.

But, alas, it is somewhat pricey...about $100 more than your limit. The one I got was about $330. And it's not bus-powered.

tr

[Paco Loco]

Anyone had any experience with the LaCie PocketDrive? It looks amazing and has firewire and USB.
Can anyone recommend any other external, bus-powered CD-RW's that have both firewire and USB?

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Originally posted by Paco Loco:
<STRONG>Anyone had any experience with the LaCie PocketDrive? It looks amazing and has firewire and USB.
Can anyone recommend any other external, bus-powered CD-RW's that have both firewire and USB?</STRONG>

It looks cool but it is very expensive. It also does not have burn proof and is only bus powered for FireWire.

[Paco Loco]

What is Burn Proof?

[jokell82]

Originally posted by Paco Loco:
<STRONG>What is Burn Proof?</STRONG>

Burn Proof is a technology that prevents buffer underrun errors. It allows you to multitask while burning a CD. Basically, the underruns still occur, but the burn proof allows the cd to start burning again where it left off.

Someone correct me on that if I got it wrong, but I think that's it.

[bender]

You might get a better deal by purchasing an internal IDE CDRW and putting it in a firewire case. I bought a Plextor and a firewire encosure from newegg. It might not look a good as the TDK or Formac drives, but in a few years I can replace the CDRW and put something else in the firewire case.

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Originally posted by jokell82:
<STRONG>

Burn Proof is a technology that prevents buffer underrun errors. It allows you to multitask while burning a CD. Basically, the underruns still occur, but the burn proof allows the cd to start burning again where it left off.

Someone correct me on that if I got it wrong, but I think that's it.</STRONG>

Yes and No. If the CD gets an error then you cannot take over were it left off, the CD is dead.

What Burnproof does is let the CD burning wait for the data if there is an interruption.

With normal CD burners the CD cannot stop spinning for 1 second or the CD is toast. With burnproof if the data can't be sent to the burner fast enough it can stop and wait for it to arrive.

[SMacSteve]

I've been very happy with my Que Fire Wire 16x/10x/40x burns full CD/R's in about 5 min. when used with Toast Titanium 5 and it's good looking to also. I'm sure you'll find them in you're price range.

[hsr]

I bought this one, which arrived yesterday:

"Formac offers DealNN readers their Formac FireWire 24x10x40 CDRW for $299.00 after a $90 mail in rebate. The drive is BURN-Proof, comes with Toast 5 and is enclosed in Formac's super quiet cool looking case. You must mention the DealNN special if you order via phone. If ordering online, get the rebate form here. posted: 8/16 2:46pm expires: 8/20 popular deal"

I'm curious how y'all read this description. The drive arrived quickly (I live about 12 blocks from Formac's building in Berkeley, so their $13.95 shipping and handling seemed a bit much, but they wouldn't let me come by and pick it up myself.

They ship it with an OEM "Toast Light 5.01" -- no CD, no serial number, no support, no upgrade path. Did I expect too much? That was a disappointment. No reply from Formac to my email today.

With that OEM 'Light" software the drive won't do what they advertise (won't write graphics files, won't write Finder files, etc.). No reply from Roxie to my inquiry about upgrading, nothing on their web page but a note that OEM software doesn't get support except from the drive manufacturer. Tsk.

The "hermetically sealed" enclosure is a thin plastic shell; the drive's noisier than anything else I own, vent holes and sounds like there's a fan in it. Hatch covers the disk tray port. The definition of "hermetically" .... ah well, the definition of"puffery" is "caveat emptor."