Are External DVD burners as reliable as internal burners

[beammeup]

Hi,

My Sony internal DVD burner made about 600 DVDs without a problem before it suddenly decided to produce coasters every time.

I'm wondering if External DVD burners are as reliable ?

Anybody swear by them ? Which models please.

thanks
Scott

[GeorgeW]

Hi,

I got an ADS Tech 5.25" Drive Kit (USB 2.0 and Firewire-400). I then put a DVD Burner of my choice into the kit, and use that for burning all the time -- works great, and I can burn from my Desktop or when I need to run multiple copies, I connect the external kit to my laptop and continue to burn from the laptop (I store the DVD Image on another external drive so it is also transportable).

The point is, you don't have to be tied to a specific "External" burner -- just get a Dual Link 5.25" Drive kit, and put in your burner of choice -- you will be able to swap it out later if a better burner comes along...

[steve2713]

My main burner has been in an external USB 2.0 enclosure from the start, and it's always worked flawlessly (NEC 2500). It's actually an old CD burner enclosure I had, it works fine. I've also got another burner in a different enclosure, and it has worked fine as well.

I'd say that as long as the enclosure is working properly and your USB controllers are working properly it shouldn't make any difference. One other thing to make sure you keep to a minimum with it being in an enclosure is vibration.

In your case, the burner is probably just failing, unfortunately. The only thing I can think that could possibly be to blame of the enclosure is it's Power source. But I'd find that to be a pretty unlikely reason for problems after that many successful burns.

[lenti_75]

it's just the same, I have one and no problem.
just make sure you get a Firewire enclosure, it's faster and more reliable than a Usb.

[chas0039]

it's just the same, I have one and no problem.
just make sure you get a Firewire enclosure, it's faster and more reliable than a Usb.

I have read from a number of sources that optical drives on firewire and USB 2 had virtually the same throughput. Do you have a souce that shows differently?

[loconess]

I have my NEC 3500 in bytecc enclosure (Ali chipset). It doesnt work 100% of the time. I would get scsi errors or something (using nero). SO I dont really trust it, especially with DL.

this one:
Model ME-720U2

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-145-338&depa=0

does anybody know/explain the problem?

[handyguy]

Externals are just internal ones in a case....they should work the same, but internals should be faster.

[xxiangg]

I have two internal DVD writers (Plextor x12 and LiteOn812@832), which
never failed in writing. But my external DVD writer (Pioneer106) with
USB2.0 connection failed very frequently, just like an earlier poster
mentioned sccs reset or something alike. Actually, it always works in
reading. It only has problems in writting. Although I do not know the
exact cause yet. But most of the time I can get it working with some
twist.

1. Get ASPI layer installed.
2. Do not use external USB hubs. Direct connect to USB port on the MB.
3. Reinstall USB2 driver and reboot the machine with the external driver
turned on.

I have searched web and found the problem is not uncommon. But I did not
get an answer which solved my problem. It seems the problem is caused
by many different things.

[lenti_75]

it's just the same, I have one and no problem.
just make sure you get a Firewire enclosure, it's faster and more reliable than a Usb.

I have read from a number of sources that optical drives on firewire and USB 2 had virtually the same throughput. Do you have a souce that shows differently?

I don't have a source, just my experience.
A friend of mine has an external drive, with both, USB and Firewire....BIG difference. one time I had to use Usb port, and it's so slow, even though they say it's the same.

I use an external firewire with 0 problems for more than 2 yrs, I used dvd and cd in it. I whould never try a Usb, unless there is no option.