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. (http://us.lge.com/Product/proddetail.do?action=computer&prodId=GSA4040BI&categoryId=020206)

http://us.lge.com/www/upload/product/gsa4040b_m.jpg

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 (http://www.videohelp.com/dvdmedia) 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 (http://www.disccity.co.uk) 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. :D

[sparsely]

they've got this one (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=27-152-011&depa=0) 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 (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=51713) 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 (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=47656) drive, a couple of these (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=56860), a pair of these (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=53982) and either 400 of these (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=43225) 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 (http://www.tekheads.co.uk/images/DWU18A-B.jpg' target='image'>[img)

I particularly use Aria (http://www.aria.co.uk/) 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 (http://www.cd-rmedia.co.uk/), CDR Seller (http://www.cdrseller.co.uk/home.asp), Disc City (http://disccity.co.uk/index.html) & Medea International (http://www.medeainternational.com/index.htm).


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

Samurai :ph34r:

[Samurai]

Afterthought...

http://www.cd-rmedia.co.uk/data/pictures/hsdvdr4x_l.jpg

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 (http://www.cd-rmedia.co.uk/cgi-bin2/details.pl?id=hsdvdr4x&productadd=hsdvdr4x) 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 (http://www.blankdiscshop.co.uk) 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 (http://www.blankdiscshop.co.uk/acatalog/SVP_Communications_Special_Offers_15.html).

[lynx]

Originally posted by 2nd gen noob@16 May 2004 - 18:41
I was looking at this (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=51713) 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 (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=47656) drive, a couple of these (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=56860), a pair of these (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=53982) and either 400 of these (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=43225) CD-Rs, or a DVD burner and some DVD media from eBuyer...
Careful with that drive, it only supports 4x for dvd-r.

This (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=61414) supports 8x on both media types.

If you don&#39;t need the software :rolleyes: you can get the OEM (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=60776) version.

It gets quite a good write-up from Anandtech. (http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.html?i=2032)

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 (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=51713) 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 (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=47656) drive, a couple of these (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=56860), a pair of these (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=53982) and either 400 of these (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=43225) CD-Rs, or a DVD burner and some DVD media from eBuyer...
Careful with that drive, it only supports 4x for dvd-r.

This (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=61414) supports 8x on both media types.

If you don&#39;t need the software :rolleyes: you can get the OEM (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=60776) version.

It gets quite a good write-up from Anandtech. (http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.html?i=2032)

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 :)

[2nd gen noob]

Aw, FFS :angry:

Right, been reading up more, and I&#39;ve decided just to wait until later in the summer. I&#39;ll just stick to CDs at the moment, all this DVD crap is frying my brain

[Mad Cat]

NEC 2500A, 8x +- burning. Its on ebuyer somewhere. I use Bulpaq orange media.

[tesco]

just wondering, what is it you have to backup, and why are you backing it all up? 350gb is a lot.

[2nd gen noob]

Originally posted by ROSSCO_2004@16 May 2004 - 23:42
just wondering, what is it you have to backup, and why are you backing it all up? 350gb is a lot.
Music and videos mostly. Backing it up for no reason other than if there&#39;s a problem with one of my drives, I don&#39;t need to worry about it

[tesco]

Originally posted by 2nd gen noob+16 May 2004 - 19:08--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (2nd gen noob @ 16 May 2004 - 19:08)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-ROSSCO_2004@16 May 2004 - 23:42
just wondering, what is it you have to backup, and why are you backing it all up? 350gb is a lot.
Music and videos mostly. Backing it up for no reason other than if there&#39;s a problem with one of my drives, I don&#39;t need to worry about it [/b][/quote]
oh ok, i thought maybe it was becuase u wanted to copy it to your new hard drives, and i was gonna recomend you just copy it directly. lol.

[2nd gen noob]

Originally posted by ROSSCO_2004+17 May 2004 - 00:13--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (ROSSCO_2004 @ 17 May 2004 - 00:13)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>
Originally posted by 2nd gen noob@16 May 2004 - 19:08
<!--QuoteBegin-ROSSCO_2004@16 May 2004 - 23:42
just wondering, what is it you have to backup, and why are you backing it all up? 350gb is a lot.
Music and videos mostly. Backing it up for no reason other than if there&#39;s a problem with one of my drives, I don&#39;t need to worry about it
oh ok, i thought maybe it was becuase u wanted to copy it to your new hard drives, and i was gonna recomend you just copy it directly. lol. [/b][/quote]
Yes, I&#39;m stupid

[tesco]

Originally posted by 2nd gen noob+16 May 2004 - 19:15--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (2nd gen noob @ 16 May 2004 - 19:15)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>
Originally posted by ROSSCO_2004@17 May 2004 - 00:13

Originally posted by 2nd gen noob@16 May 2004 - 19:08
<!--QuoteBegin-ROSSCO_2004@16 May 2004 - 23:42
just wondering, what is it you have to backup, and why are you backing it all up? 350gb is a lot.
Music and videos mostly. Backing it up for no reason other than if there&#39;s a problem with one of my drives, I don&#39;t need to worry about it
oh ok, i thought maybe it was becuase u wanted to copy it to your new hard drives, and i was gonna recomend you just copy it directly. lol.
Yes, I&#39;m stupid [/b][/quote]
thats why i said lol at the end. lol.

[2nd gen noob]

Originally posted by ROSSCO_2004@17 May 2004 - 00:19
thats why i said lol at the end. lol.
Hmmm... :)

p.s. Why did you also tell me that "350gb is a lot". I know that... ;)

[tesco]

Originally posted by 2nd gen noob+16 May 2004 - 19:21--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (2nd gen noob @ 16 May 2004 - 19:21)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-ROSSCO_2004@17 May 2004 - 00:19
thats why i said lol at the end. lol.
Hmmm... :)

p.s. Why did you also tell me that "350gb is a lot". I know that... ;) [/b][/quote]
just stating the obvious :P