Updating Drive Firmware

[Cwluc]

Take this as a generic question please, when updating your firmware when did it become popular for a feature previously available now being disabled or unavailable after you upgrade your firmware. I don't mean that any "experimental" features that didn't work out have been cut, I'm talking say your burner could burn all DVD±R/RW and now your are stuck with one or the other, even better the drive gives you the choice when you go to update, forever closing the door on the other format. Or without mentioning to you that it will no longer read DVD+R. I have 2 drives that I'm not really sure it makes sense for the new features to kill old stuff that works fine, anyone else experiencing or know what I am talking about? And just if anyone is asking I'm talking about completely legitimate downloadable firmware from the manufactures web site, nothing hacked or modified for any "unsupported" reasons.

[redwudz]

Well, this is just winging it, but, my guess is that the manufacturer is not 100% sure his drive will work with every option. Maybe he is being careful so as to avoid lawsuits. Maybe 95% of his drives are OK, the rest aren't. If this were the case, (Just assuming) I think I would stay away from them.

But, on the other hand, maybe they are being overcautious. I suppose that is why you need to check other sources and reviews and look into 'unsupported' software.

[Cwluc]

Well, this is just winging it, but, my guess is that the manufacturer is not 100% sure his drive will work with every option. Maybe he is being careful so as to avoid lawsuits. Maybe 95% of his drives are OK, the rest aren't. If this were the case, (Just assuming) I think I would stay away from them.

See this is why I post, to see where other people are thinking. Thank you BTW. It's a nice idea, maybe they are experiencing compatibility issues, it would be nice of them to make a mention of it as apposed to just killing something you were holding dear to.

But, on the other hand, maybe they are being overcautious. I suppose that is why you need to check other sources and reviews and look into 'unsupported' software.

Nothing is illegal here but, come to think of it I remember in my old days of buying Dell's (once they started selling "Midnight Grey" I stopped buying them), on the phone with tech support they used the old adage "if it ain't broke..." but I guess it's all up to the user if you feel the update might be worthwhile. Now tell me are you willing to give up what you were used to for something that is suppose to be better?

[chas0039]

I sympathize with your dilemma. It makes me remember the second computer I bought. I went into a local department store (there were no "computer" stores) and I chose the one with the most software available. This worked well and I have learned the lesson. My DVD drives were chosen based on two things. The first was the company behind the product (Pioneer), and the second drive was based on the depth of patched firmware available from people on the web (Liteon). This way if I need a company behind me I have one and if I need a firmware expert because the company is a dork I also have one.

[wesociety]

Many drives can be flashed back to an older firmware revision by obtaining a BIN file and flashing in DOS.
Flashing to a newer firmware does not always mean that you are forced to be stuck with it due to this...
Generally speaking, newer firmwares offer improvements and enhance previous features. It seems rare that a new firmware would actually remove a feature or decrease any abilities...