Cd-rw Or Dvd-rw

[2nd gen noob]

I'm going to be backing up a lot of data soon (350GB or so) and at the moment, I'm planning on using CD-Rs to do this. It'll cost about £16 for 100 CD-Rs, so about £80 or so for the CD-Rs for that. However, it's obviously going to take a wee bit of time to back that up ~700MB at a time. So...I'm considering going for a DVD burner. The only problem is that I'm a little confused on the types of DVD burner and have heard "horror stories" about them in the past; incompatible media, slow burn rates, CRC errors etc...

Obviously I'd have to buy a DVD burner (about £80 or so to start off), so the DVD route would be more expensive than the CD route, however, if I saved a lot of time, I wouldn't mind too much...

Can people who already have DVD burners please give me their experiences with their drives, the media they used, burning experiences, etc...

TIA

[Virtualbody1234]

I have an LG model GSA-4040B. Click for site.



I haven't had any problems or issues at all. Burns every format I will ever need.

And the current price of the DVD±R media makes it cheaper than CD-R for backups.

[lynx]

I've got a Sony DRU-500A, and I wouldn't really recommend it. Half the time it doesn't seem to want to recognise the media (even with a perfectly good cd-rom). Sometimes it will recognise several blank new dvd-r consecutively, then suddenly stop recognising them. I've found that it will sometimes come back if I then insert a good cd-rom, other times it needs a power cycle to get things working again.

Having said that, DVD-R is definitely the way to go, I understand the new Liteon 8x models are pretty good, but whichever you go for make sure it will do 8x for DVD-R media, some will only do that sort of speed with +R media.

The horror stories you hear about are usually simply because the burner hasn't been programmed to recognise the ink used on the media.

Whichever model you go for, check here to make sure the media you are going to buy is compatible.

You are going to need about 85 disks from the sound of things, disccity have pretty good prices, and shipping is only £3.75 so it doesn't add much to the cost. Here's a tip - shipping for ink cartridges is free (or used to be) so I think if you buy at least one cartridge as the first item there's no carriage charge.

[sparsely]

they've got this one on sale at newegg...I'm all undecided about buying it...but all the reviews are good.

[2nd gen noob]

I was looking at this drive. It seems to get universal credit...

I suppose I'm just a little apprehensive incase the drive I get turns out to be a lemon, or burning DVDs is harder than I imagined, I have problems with media, etc...

What about recommendations for DVD media (both manufacturers and standards ( + or - ). I don't understand the difference between + and -, lynx, you seem to be recommending -...?

Thanks for the tip on delivery, but I'll be ordering this drive, a couple of these, a pair of these and either 400 of these CD-Rs, or a DVD burner and some DVD media from eBuyer...

[Samurai]

I'm currently using a Sony DWU-18A and have found this drive to be very efficient with 0 errors out of 30 DVDr's. This model supports both the + and - formats which is what you should be aiming for when purchasing a DVD burner. I have posted a picture below of my drive, including a link to a site with further info.

Image Resized
http://www.tekheads.co.uk/images/DWU18A-B.jpg' width='200' height='120' border='0' alt='click for full size view'></a>

<a href='http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=602879]Further Info

I particularly use Aria very often for any PC needs I may have. Their service is second to none and I do hope you have the sense to at least check out their prices. As an example, you could purchase the same exact model as mine for £65 inc. VAT or perhaps the next model up (at 8x) for an extra £5. Delivery is usually £6.50 for products at this price range.

Main brands I would choose would be Sony, Plextor, LG & Lite-On. I&#39;d steer clear from NEC, Pioneer & Samsung, as I&#39;ve heard and read about many problems with these brands.

For DVD media, check out CDR Media, CDR Seller, Disc City & Medea International.


Have fun, I&#39;m sure it&#39;ll be worth it.

Samurai

[Samurai]

Afterthought...



What brands of DVD media would you consider buying? Not sure? Well here&#39;s a list of all brands I have tried and tested with 0 placemats.

Infiniti
Intenso
Paradox
Traxdata
Verbatim

However, my 2 main choice of brands would be DataSafe & Hi Space.

If you visit here it seems the price is wrong. If you add it to your basket, it&#39;ll show up with the correct price.

You can get 25 x Hi Space DVD-R 4.7GB @ 4x for £16.25

Add P&P @ £2.00 and you&#39;re left with 25 DVD-R&#39;s for £18.25 delivered to your door. This is where I purchase my DVD&#39;s from if you&#39;re curious.

[Chewie]

I&#39;ve been buying from SVP for about 4 years now because they seem to be the cheapest. Their service is fast and they haven&#39;t made a single fuckup (yet).
Their current special offers page is HERE.

[lynx]

Originally posted by 2nd gen noob@16 May 2004 - 18:41
I was looking at this drive. It seems to get universal credit...

I suppose I&#39;m just a little apprehensive incase the drive I get turns out to be a lemon, or burning DVDs is harder than I imagined, I have problems with media, etc...

What about recommendations for DVD media (both manufacturers and standards ( + or - ). I don&#39;t understand the difference between + and -, lynx, you seem to be recommending -...?

Thanks for the tip on delivery, but I&#39;ll be ordering this drive, a couple of these, a pair of these and either 400 of these CD-Rs, or a DVD burner and some DVD media from eBuyer...

Careful with that drive, it only supports 4x for dvd-r.

This supports 8x on both media types.

If you don&#39;t need the software you can get the OEM version.

It gets quite a good write-up from Anandtech.

There is some technical difference between the + and - formats, but to date I have not found anything that I can&#39;t do with the - format, and generally they are cheaper and easier to get hold of.

[2nd gen noob]

Originally posted by lynx+16 May 2004 - 21:29--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (lynx @ 16 May 2004 - 21:29)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-2nd gen noob@16 May 2004 - 18:41
I was looking at this drive. It seems to get universal credit...

I suppose I&#39;m just a little apprehensive incase the drive I get turns out to be a lemon, or burning DVDs is harder than I imagined, I have problems with media, etc...

What about recommendations for DVD media (both manufacturers and standards ( + or - ). I don&#39;t understand the difference between + and -, lynx, you seem to be recommending -...?

Thanks for the tip on delivery, but I&#39;ll be ordering this drive, a couple of these, a pair of these and either 400 of these CD-Rs, or a DVD burner and some DVD media from eBuyer...

Careful with that drive, it only supports 4x for dvd-r.

This supports 8x on both media types.

If you don&#39;t need the software you can get the OEM version.

It gets quite a good write-up from Anandtech.

There is some technical difference between the + and - formats, but to date I have not found anything that I can&#39;t do with the - format, and generally they are cheaper and easier to get hold of. [/b][/quote]
That drive does look better, I&#39;m reading a couple of reviews atm. Cheers for the link

Thanks, also, to others who posted. I reckon I&#39;ll be buying this DVD burner, probably