[tavilach]

I think that I'm going to get the SuperDrive, for backup purposes, but something tells me that it doesn't make sense.

I'd want to back up things practically every day, because on college campuses an expensive laptop would be a prime target for theft. I'll have insurance, but that can't save my files.

I read here that there's a way to burn to DVD-RW media using the SuperDrive, but I don't really understand this, or know what it's really about. Does this mean that I can use one single DVD to repeatedly backup my files by writing to it over and over again, or that I can simply write once to disks that are labeled as RW disks?

The functionality of RW seems to be very important in backing up files, as who wants to keep using new DVD's, and throwing away the old ones? Sure, it's nice to have some old backup DVD's so you can go back to an earlier time, but for daily backups, you'd want to overwrite the same DVD.

Furthermore, I'm a little confused by the difference between - and +. If I use a DVD-R or a DVD-RW, will a standard DVD player be able to play it? Will a Microsoft or Dell be able to read it? I read up on the differences here, but I'm not sure if I simply can't write to a - with a + drive, or if I can't even play the - in a plus drive...

Answers will be greatly appreciated .

Edit: Now that I think about it, it would be very tedious to burn to a DVD every day. Instead, I can transfer files to my desktop HD every day with a USB connection, and backup on DVD's every week or so. Still, I'd like to know the answers to my questions.

Edit: Someone is telling me that the SuperDrive won't really increase the resell value because faster SuperDrives with dual-layer burning are going to come out soon enough. I don't know what to make of this...

I won't really need to burn DVD's on the go...so should I not get a SuperDrive? I'm worried about resell, though. Agh!

[wei]

I wont go for SuperDrive if i were you. Because I wont really make use of it, and the cost doesn't justified very well. I can get a faster external DVD-+R/RW drive at less cost when i really need it later, and i can share the drvie with all the computers i have

You might considering the issue of sharing the DVDRW on different platform. Not all PC and Mac are DVD ready.

Why not spend the money on a nice 2.5" external HDD? You'll still have your backups. You get lots more space. No worry about locating a DVD burner that can read & write your disc and its much faster Just pop in the firewire or USB then you're up to go.

just my opinion

[tavilach]

Originally posted by wei:
I wont go for SuperDrive if i were you. Because I wont really make use of it, and the cost doesn't justified very well. I can get a faster external DVD-+R/RW drive at less cost when i really need it later, and i can share the drvie with all the computers i have

You might considering the issue of sharing the DVDRW on different platform. Not all PC and Mac are DVD ready.

Why not spend the money on a nice 2.5" external HDD? You'll still have your backups. You get lots more space. No worry about locating a DVD burner that can read & write your disc and its much faster Just pop in the firewire or USB then you're up to go.

just my opinion

Except, I'm already going to have an iPod, as well as a Desktop. I can backup to my desktop's HD with ease, so why not have another method, too? Wouldn't it be easier to just have a built-in DVD burner that will increase the resell value?

Agh. So confused .

[azdude]

Look, bud... You're a little obsessed with resell value.

Don't forget that while a Superdrive Powerbook may sell for $50 to $100 more than a Combo drive Powerbook, you *paid* $200 for it, and still lose money either way.

Increasing resell value costs real money, and you haven't seemed to notice that yet.

Moral of the story? (well, restatement, anyway)

...Buy what *you* feel *you* need... not because the resell value would go up. Resell value is proportional to what you pay at the initial purchase. You pay more, you get a little more back. You pay less, you get less back. Don't think you're saving yourself money by upgrading things for the sake of resale value. Assuming the proportion is constant, you technically lose more dollar-amount cash the higher your initial purchase price is.

[jorgem4]

I think the 200 bucks fro the super drive is worth it! My first PB had a combo drive and at the moment I thought that would be more that enough for me...but a while after I found my self wanting to store GBs of files and CD just did not make it anyone. Also my GF got a DV camara and then the supredrive was a must in my next PB. It might not be the best way to buckup files, but 4.9 GB of storage on a CD size disk is a good deal...I would backup on a DVD files that are not going to chage wit the course of time...eg mp3, movies, old documents and models. Then I would use my iPod to backup stuff I am working on at the moment and file that I am chaging constantly.

my $0.02

[kafoochy]

I'd have to agree that you are too concerned with resale value. Get the features that you will use now. As someone else mentioned, those features will be obsolete by the time you resell it.

You sorta contradicted yourself in your first post by asking if DVD-RWs can repeatedly be written to and then two paragraphs later you say how much better DVD-RWs are for backups thatn DVD-Rs because you don't need to burn a new one every time. Let me give you my take on the situation. If you can afford the DVD-burner I suggest it. If you are tight financially, don't get it if you don't think you'll use it. You'll be able to use either in almost any computer today. Yes, there are some computers that don't have DVD drives, but if you would just be using it as a backup, it wouldn't matter what other computer you'd be using it on. I'm a college student and although I should backup my data because I know laptops can easily be stolen or damaged, it is rare that I actually do so. I care more about my powerbook than its data, and thus keep the laptop under good enough watch so that I always know where it (and my data is). I second the external HD idea. You can backup to a desktop computer, but the external drive would also be great to carry around, etc. I have one and find it very useful. Lastly and I don't think anyone has mentioned this, but I believe that DVD-RWs need to be completely erased before you can write to them, at least this is how CD-RWs work. This isn't like quickly erasing a hard drive, it is more like zeroing out the drive, and can take as long as the burning process, so it will take much longer to burn your dics than you think (unless you have multiple sessions).

[tavilach]

Originally posted by jorgem4:
I think the 200 bucks fro the super drive is worth it! My first PB had a combo drive and at the moment I thought that would be more that enough for me...but a while after I found my self wanting to store GBs of files and CD just did not make it anyone. Also my GF got a DV camara and then the supredrive was a must in my next PB. It might not be the best way to buckup files, but 4.9 GB of storage on a CD size disk is a good deal...I would backup on a DVD files that are not going to chage wit the course of time...eg mp3, movies, old documents and models. Then I would use my iPod to backup stuff I am working on at the moment and file that I am chaging constantly.

my $0.02

Why not get an external DVD burner, though?

[tavilach]

Originally posted by azdude:
Look, bud... You're a little obsessed with resell value.

Don't forget that while a Superdrive Powerbook may sell for $50 to $100 more than a Combo drive Powerbook, you *paid* $200 for it, and still lose money either way.

Increasing resell value costs real money, and you haven't seemed to notice that yet.

Moral of the story? (well, restatement, anyway)

...Buy what *you* feel *you* need... not because the resell value would go up. Resell value is proportional to what you pay at the initial purchase. You pay more, you get a little more back. You pay less, you get less back. Don't think you're saving yourself money by upgrading things for the sake of resale value. Assuming the proportion is constant, you technically lose more dollar-amount cash the higher your initial purchase price is.

Except for the fact that it boost the resell value more than that, because the consumer would see "SuperDrive," and think "high end." Still, as kafoochy said, whatever I get now will probably be obsolete by the time I sell, so I should just get what I need.

...I don't know if I need this, though.

[jorgem4]

Originally posted by tavilach:
Why not get an external DVD burner, though?

1) Because if you want to burn DVD somewhere else you CAN'T unles you take the DVD burner with you. I bought a 12 PB beacuse I like the portability and I am a international student in the states, therefor I travle back home every now and then and I like taking my PB with me...and if I wanted to burn DVD at hoe I would have to take the DVD burner with me. And I think that is just a hassel!

2) Also my GF got a DV camara and I am not a PRO video guy, so iDVD sound great to me!

3) The only advantage of an external DVD burner is speed and I think that 4x is good enough for me.

Bonus) It is under Apples warranty and that is a 3 year with applecare.

Dude you know you want the DVD burner just justify it to your self by saying: "yes I want it, I love my Mac and I want a superdrive because YES'

[jorgem4]

Originally posted by tavilach:
Except for the fact that it boost the resell value more than that, because the consumer would see "SuperDrive," and think "high end." Still, as kafoochy said, whatever I get now will probably be obsolete by the time I sell, so I should just get what I need.

...I don't know if I need this, though.

Dude, one day you might have the oportunity of burning some movies....burning some huge amount of DATA that will only fit onto a DVD and you ill be glad you got it.

Pluse you know 'superdrive' sounds cool