External dvd-writer

[Pablo2k1]

Hello,

Can anyone recommend a not too expensive external dvd-writer that can burn dual layer?

Thanks,

Paul

[Seeker47]

Hello,

Can anyone recommend a not too expensive external dvd-writer that can burn dual layer?

Thanks,

Paul

I would think that most of the name burners -- Pioneer, Lite-On, Plextor, NEC, etc. -- should be able to do this, if they are relatively recent models. Even my several years old Pioneer 108 that I'm still using can burn D/L at up to 8x. I should mention that to date I have not bought any external burners, so I can't comment on specific models. When you buy these, they cost more (unless you hit a really good sale), as you are also paying for the housing plus interface circuitry. What I've always done is buy an internal burner that was my choice of brand and model, usually running in the $35. -- $45.00 range, and then installed it in a Coolmax or some other enclosure suitable for optical drives. The enclosure takes care of the rest, and comes with power and USB cabling. This has worked out well for me, and with the enclosure running perhaps $35. probably is comparable to standard pricing on an external model of that same burner or the equivalent.

One caveat with this is that starting with the Pioneer 111 burner (or several other leading brands & models of the past couple years), the burners went to 80-wire / 40-pin cabling, and may also have required different and better USB interface chips in the enclosure, so you had to do some research and be rather picky about which drive shell to buy. You should be able to find a number of past threads discussing that here, under the DVD-writer section. Do a keyword search there, with words like "USB", "enclosure", and "cable". Obviously, the more recent external models of these burners should already be so equipped, so it may just be the simpler solution to buy one of those. Frys had a Pioneer external on sale at $40. in their regional ads here last weekend. The only problem was that I saw zero stock on the shelves -- for all three colors -- when I went there on Saturday. The ad was supposedly good through Tuesday 1/6, but I bet it was one of those "No Rainchecks, 1 per customer, limited to stock on hand" bamboozlements, where each Frys location probably had about 6 units.