Single CDRW/DVD-ROM good enuff for you?

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Benny Blanco

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A friend of mine wants a computer, who I just started another thread about (memory question).

He wants a separate CDRW and a DVD-rom because someone in his family said it is better, for the reason of making copying CD's easier.

I told him that I personally NEVER do any CD-to-CD direct copying anymore. I always select "Copy CD to hard drive first". Always.

And I do a LOT of cd burning, among other things. So I told him what I truly believe, that 2 cd drives is unnecessary for anything I do personally, and most casual users/enthusiasts as well.

I have been trying to convince him to get a mATX motherboard with onboard video and a single CDRW/DVD-rom combo drive, because I know he won't need expandability. At the most, he's considering going straight for a DVD burner right off the bat, which has CDRW functionality also.

So my question to you dudes is this:

Do you prefer 2 cd drives?

Or, like me, do you feel you could (or already do) get along fine with a single drive?

In either case, feel free to expound your reply :)
 
Most of the time, I burn software CDs from ISOs stored on my server. But, there is no reason anymore to go to a HDD first when doing a disc to disc copying. It's YET ANOTHER stupid cd copying myth that will not die. It was true with old slow computers...no anymore. However, in some cases, like the Shuttle SFFs, you only have room for one drive....so a LiteOn combo works nicely. My opinion is to get a LiteOn DVD dual format writer. Then he can read and right everything. The LiteOn offers the fastest CD burning times I have seen.
 
1.) I generally do like having two optical drives, but I'm coming from the age when CD-RW drives were over $100 for one (several years ago) and tried to prevent as much wear and tear as possible on it.
In my new system though, I just use a single Lite-ON CD-RW drive, since they cost all of $35 for one.

I'd say two are still better, not for performance or anything, just so if one craps out, then you don't have to lose time waiting for replacement. :p

But in terms of cost, I'd say a combo drive is the way to go.
 
I recommended the NEC ND-2500A (8X) because it comes with Easy CD Creator 6 full version. It's also $10 cheaper than the liteon 8x.

Cost is definitely a factor for him.

djnes, another reason why I personally don't do disc-to-disc anymore is because I really cannot even remember the last time I copied a disc! It sounds dumb, but I always am either ripping the disc to mp3 (and giving it back to whomever let me borrow it) or I burn from mp3's already on my hard drive, as I'm trying hard to NOT add any more cd's to my collection.

Anyway your point is well taken and appreciated. Thanks
 
i like having a separate cdrw and dvd drive. takes less time to copy cds and it's nice having more than one drive
 
I forgot to mention that this guy I'm giving advice to, is totally NEW to computers. I mean TOTALLY!!!

In a way I think it'll be simpler for him to have a single combo drive, but then again, I think confusion will be inevitable lol
 
Originally posted by fugu
takes less time to copy cds and it's nice having more than one drive
Click to expand...
True it can be nice to have more than one drive, but it seems to take just as long to do disc-to-disc copy as disc-hd-disc... Anyone else notice that?
 
Id reccomend going with 1 cdrw/dvd drive instead of a dvd and a burner.
I prefer to keep things on seperate channels for a variety of reasons. I dunno, personal preferance i guess.
 
2 CD drives is the best option IMO. If you're worried about buffer underruns, buy a cd burner that's less than 2 years old. It's called Burn-Proof, and it was invented for a reason.

Separate drives is probably cheaper, too. Here in Canada, a combo drive is $80ish, while a dvd drive is $30 and a burner is $40. Of course, you could buy your friend a 4x dvd burner, which you can get for $135, and will write CDs.
 
Most of my computers only have CDRW's. 3 of my computershave DVD-R burners. So I guess I would just use 2 drives a cdrw and a dvdrw.
 
Originally posted by Wixard
I prefer to keep things on seperate channels for a variety of reasons. I dunno, personal preferance i guess.
Click to expand...
Me too, it makes me feel better for some reason. I have 2 hdd's both with serial ata adapters going thru the serial ata ports, and a cd burner and a dvd-rom each on their own IDE channel.

As far as total cost, a dvd/cdrw combo is about $50, and a cdrw plus a separate dvd-rom is about $60.


This is what his total order was, as he described to me over the phone tonight:

(I recomended the following components, from newegg)

Biostar M7NCG (mATX nforce2 ultra400)
2x256mb Buffalo PC3200 OEM
Panasonic FDD

(the following were added/recommended by his family member, who put the orders in for him, and is building the rig)

from newegg.com:
Sony 52x CD-RW
Sony 16x DVD-ROM (yes they are both sony fanboys :rolleyes: )
Chaintech FX5200 128mb ($65) :mad:

from officemax.com
Western Digital 800JB (from officemax, $40 after MIR)

and finally, from dealsonic.com (LOL)
Maxtop case with 350w PS
 
Originally posted by kovermours
2 CD drives is the best option IMO. If you're worried about buffer underruns, buy a cd burner that's less than 2 years old. It's called Burn-Proof, and it was invented for a reason.
Click to expand...
Ok... see, I'm not even worried so much about buffer underruns, although I was many years ago :)

Maybe subconciously, I still am? :confused:
 
most modern CD-R/RWs don't often have buffer underrunn problems, such is the speed of the devices they connect to (fast mobos with fast transfer rates), but it pays to be careful.

My PC has a burner and a normal CD-ROM, only because the system came with the CD-ROM first and then we just added the burner later. You can also play music CD's in the CD-ROM and have a data disk in the CD-R/RW. Very convienient when the situation dictates.
 
I find it better to copy the CD to HD and then burn it instead of CD to CD copies.
I really like this one and since I'm in need of a new DVD player I think I might have to get one.to go with my Lite-On CDRW.
 
Samsung was also my choice, powerDVD and Nero 5.5 are great pieces of software, and I remember a review that put samsung at the top of many combo drives in terms of performance.
 
i've currently got a DVD and a seperate CDRW, but at the time i purchased them, the combo drives were considerable slower and just as expensive.

i'd say go with the combo drive just to simplify things a little.
 
Combo drives? I'd prefer Lite-On to Samsung, and LG drives are good too. Samsung media compatibility is a bit spotty.
 
I like having 2 from different brands to read the widest variety of CDs. I have a Liteon burner and Pioneer DVD ROM. If theres a weird CD or scratched CD that the Liteon won't read, the Pioneer usually will and vice-versa.

Also, since I use SATA HDDs, each drive is Master of its own IDE channel and CD-to-CD copies run just fine
 
Originally posted by TechHead
Samsung media compatibility is a bit spotty.
Click to expand...
Can you give some examples? Or is this spottiness mainly with generic or off-brand media?

I imagine he'll be using only brand name media (imation, tdk, etc) as there are always good sales on the good stuff around here.
 
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