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todrain · Jun 22, 2001, 09:25 PM

I was looking to get an external firewire CDRW drive for my new iBook 500 DVD.

At first I was thinking about the Que 16/10/40 drive, but after reading some posts on here, I'm not so sure...

Here is what I'm looking for.... any comments would be appreciated.

1. must be iTunes compatable.
2. at least 12x
3. portability would be nice, but not the most important thing
4. it should have burn-proof technology.

-Tom

STAT · Jun 23, 2001, 02:50 PM

I've got a QPS Que! Fire 8x4x32 FireWire CD-RW that's just great. QPS has TERRIBLE customer service and if you buy one of their drives thinking you'll get a rebate on it, good luck. But other than that, their products are pretty respectable. I love my drive.

Regarding your requirements, iTunes burning sucks. It's brainless, but it's nothing compared to the flexibility of Toast Titanium, which is almost as brainless.

Regarding >=12x burning speed, I'm sure QPS now has drives that fast. But the difference between doing a CD in 10 minutes and 6.5 minutes isn't all that great, especially when you can do background burning like you can in Toast Titanium. I'd save the $$$ and get an 8x or something.

Regarding portability, QPS makes their external CD-RWs about as portable as you can make a full-sized 5.25" optical drive. The drive is streamlined (no rough corners or dangling wires), and they also include a nice leather carrying case. Besides, the drive looks so cool, you'll almost WANT to carry it places from time to time.

And regarding Burn-Proof technology... I'm not very familiar with this technology, but after having my drive for about 6 months now, I can say that the only coasters I've produced have been a result of bad data or a goof-up by me on the data settings. And CD-Rs are so cheap, I could have even handled a couple more coasters without going broke. So I wouldn't worry too much about this technology if it does what I think it does.

Hope that helps! Good luck!

milhaus · Jun 23, 2001, 03:05 PM

Burn-proof technology is a must on 12x or greater drives, especially with machines that don't have great firewire controllers - the iBook's may be better than the PB G3 or G4, but I'd suggest a burn proof unit regardless. Doing a 12x burn on a Lacie (Teac mech) 12x without burn-proof often results in failures on my Pismo without BurnProof turned on (I've never had a problem with 10x on the same drive), and BP adds maybe a few seconds to the burn (less than the time difference between 10 and 12x).
The problem, I can only imagine, is probably greater for a 16x burner. I like the functionality and the support at Lacie a lot, but I'd hesitate recommending their drives because of their enclosures - large, clunky, and noisy (fan). My Lacie CDRW works flawlessly, but my Hard Drive is being sent in to replace the bridge (new one with Oxford chip being put in - yippy!!) - this was painless and they actually answer email correspondence. The Que! seem to have the opposite problem.
Of course, I'd trade my 12x for an 8x VST portable drive. The new ones seem to match the iBook's colors - could be pretty sweet.
M.

milhaus · Jun 23, 2001, 03:07 PM

Burn-proof technology is a must on 12x or greater drives, especially with machines that don't have great firewire controllers - the iBook's may be better than the PB G3 or G4, but I'd suggest a burn proof unit regardless. Doing a 12x burn on a Lacie (Teac mech) 12x without burn-proof often results in failures on my Pismo without BurnProof turned on (I've never had a problem with 10x on the same drive), and BP adds maybe a few seconds to the burn (less than the time difference between 10 and 12x).
The problem, I can only imagine, is probably greater for a 16x burner. I like the functionality and the support at Lacie a lot, but I'd hesitate recommending their drives because of their enclosures - large, clunky, and noisy (fan). My Lacie CDRW works flawlessly, but my Hard Drive is being sent in to replace the bridge (new one with Oxford chip being put in - yippy!!) - this was painless and they actually answer email correspondence. The Que! seem to have the opposite problem.
Of course, I'd trade my 12x for an 8x VST portable drive. The new ones seem to match the iBook's colors - could be pretty sweet.
M.

hotani · Jun 23, 2001, 05:18 PM

I have the qps 4x4x24 firewire drive. I am thinking about upgrading to something else in the future because this thing is not very portable, in spite of its little carrying case.

Not portable because:
1- too big - too much unnecessary plastic and dead space surrounding the actual unit. They could have made it so much smaller.

2- big bulky cords: there are some truly portable drives out there that connect with only the firewire cable for true portability.

I guess i want something the size of a portable CD player, with only a firewire cable coming out of it. Have not seen anything quite like that yet...

STAT · Jun 23, 2001, 07:58 PM

Sounds like somebody should have gotten the combo drive model iBook... I on the other hand, will rarely (if ever) need to take a CD-RW on the road with me.

Circa · Jun 23, 2001, 08:35 PM

But is the ibook that good? Can you just sit there and let it burn while doing other things. Is background burning good on the combo?

todrain · Jun 24, 2001, 12:50 AM

I was almost ready to buy the Combo Drive iBook, but then I thought about it. Why buy a computer with a slow CDRW drive when for the same money I could get a computer and a MUCH faster external burner? Since I only know one or two other Mac users, I can't see that burning on the road would be that important.

Circa · Jun 24, 2001, 01:25 AM

I would do the same I think.

Korv · Jun 24, 2001, 10:17 AM

I got the DVD iBook hoping to save a few $$$ on the CD-RW. Also I want a USB CD-RW drive so the wife (Rev. B Tangerine iBook without Firewire) can use it too. Spped and portability are not that important, but quality and reliability are key! Any suggestions for a good USB CD-RW that won't make me coasters?