Have you ever had to replace a dvd burner?

[yoda313]

I haven't and I'm what I consider to be a moderate burner. A dozen or so discs a month. Sometimes more, sometimes quite a bit less.

I have a microadvantage 4x single layer that I've had for about four years now I think. Its worked beautifully for everything I need.

[canadateck]

Yes a few.

[ghoster]

i have replaced then only because i wanted a better one. they still work just fine....

[lordsmurf]

Be sure to clean the lens, clean discs, use good blanks, re-flash the firmware, and verify the other computer hardware is fine. That fixes a "bad drive" 90% or more of the time.

I have tossed 3 DVD-ROMs, several CD-ROMs, and two DVD burners.

The Pioneer 103 I had was fine, still works, but it was getting more stubborn with newer media. I gave it to somebody that rarely burns discs, as well as a 50-spindle of discs that work in it.

The Pioneer 105 died after several thousand burns. That's about the life cycle of any burner.

Burners start a slow death. First becoming more stubborn to good media, then write errors, and finally just locking up and refusing to see media at all.

[Bodyslide]

I have had 3 Pioneers, 105, 108 and now the 109. I only got new ones because the price for the new one was around 60.00. I am still using all 3 burners on different machines. Well over 7,000 burns on all 3 so far.

[Epicurus8a]

I've never had a burner (CD or DVD) fail yet. Currently I own two 109's and one 105 (external USB). The 105 might be slow, but it still reads better than any other drive I've worked with. I intend to use it sparingly until it eventually dies.

[redwudz]

I've used about 15 DVD burners in various built computers in the last 5 years. Haven't had a failure so far. Brands have been Pioneer, Sony, Liteon, Benq. I usually get the more inexpensive ones for the computers I put together for friends, but still no problems. I do have a couple of CD burners that have died, but no DVDs.

[ofbarea]

My NEC 2500@2510 died on me. My old HP DVD200i is still very funtional but only @ 2.4 +R

[waheed]

i have replaced then only because i wanted a better one. they still work just fine....

Same here. I used to have a Sony DRU-500A, which I paid £250 originally when they were first released (the only dual format burner out the the time) and hated to see it sold for only £20 to a friend

I upgraded to a Pioneer 109XLC because my sony burner wouldn't burn past 2X (even with latest firmware). That 30 mins per dvd. Now I can burn dvds in like 6-8 mins.

[jimmalenko]

One Pioneer 106 died after roughly 6 months, but was covered under parts warranty with my local computer shop so I got it replaced with a 107 without charge and without any RMA BS with Pioneer.

Apart from that, I've got a 104 and a different 106 that are both soldiering along.

[DVD_NDN]

Ive got an LG GSA4120B... its been just givin'r for about a year and a half...
sadly, I think it may be dying... focus/tracking errors.
I'm going to clean it, oh yes - I will be cleaning it, but failing that? I do believe its time to replace. I'll still go with LG, but a newer model.

[Mark_Venture]

i have replaced then only because i wanted a better one. they still work just fine....

Same for me.. I didn't have to, I just wanted something faster...

[Lester Burnham]

I've replaced a burner - although I still have it in my PC as an additional drive - I try and use it for reading disks.

It's a Samsung SH-W08A. I just found it quite unreliable - it's using the last current firmware (from June 04), and seems to have a penchant for burning unusable disks (even when using verify as part of the burn process).

I replaced it with a Liteon SOHW-1653S which has been a revelation in comparison. There are still disks that my Samsung drive won't read (sometimes commercial DVDs) yet my Liteon reads everything.

[willx24601]

i don't know what i had to begin with but after trying to burn on an 1x dvd-rw it broke my burner and couldn't read dvds anymore... it still read cds and not dvds... and now my new dvd burner may die one day... i kept getting errors when burning at 8x, but works fine in 4x write speed o.O

[MackemX]

I''ve had to replace DVD-ROM's due to failure but I had my old Pioneer for a long time until I bought a 110 recently just because it was faster all round

saying that I think I've burnt just 1 DVD on the 110 if that as I can't remember even doing it!

[RacerXRed]

I've only replaced one, sold my Sony 720UL ext. to a friend, purchased the 810UL to replace it. 810 had a $30 price drop and a rebate as well, couldn't pass it up.

I do about 15-20 disc/month.

[chas0039]

Replaced a Pioneer 107 and Pioneer 109. Not with another Pioneer. The burn quality was never that good.

[Dr_Layne]

I've had various burners in the past too. All replaced due to upgrades. Sony 500 was the first. Then a Plextor 708, then a Pioneer 108, then a Plextor 716. The Sony I sold off. The other three burners are still in use today in various computers I use for different tasks.

[handyguy]

When people put hacked firmware on their drives, yes, they needed changing.

[samijubal]

The first one I ever had, an LG 4120B, died after 17 burns. I sent it back and got an NEC 3500, it still works fine.