Stand Alone DVD writer

[KenOBrien]

OK, my Hp 200j DVD writer is officially dead as I see it. Not complaining because I must have burned over 500 Dvd's the past 4 years.

Question is: I want to buy a external DVD writer that I can hook up to any computer. Any suggestions? I'm getting confused on what to buy. I've been looking at all the reviews and ratings.Don't want to spend alot of money as I plan to buy a new computer soon but still want a "portable writer".

What is the best for the money and compatability?
What about lightscribe? Is it really worth it?
DVD-R, DVD+r or both?

Sorta leaning towards a SONY, seems to have good ratings. Any one disagree or agree?

[vico1]

Most all our burners are Pioneer...and a couple BenQ lightscribe, though
we use internal made drives with enclosures if needed for portability.

[SCDVD]

Most external writers are attached via a USB port. Be careful with this though. If your computer is as old as you HP writer, it probably doesn't have a USB 2.0 port on it. If you only have a USB 1.1 port, it is too slow to adequately support an external writer. If necessary, you can add a USB card to one of your PCI slots (they're cheap). If you do this, make sure that it is a USB 2.0 card, not a 1.1. You will also have to install the high speed USB driver that comes with the card. Without the high speed USB driver, your new USB port will not operate at 2.0 speed.

[oldandinthe way]

At this time it is extremely difficult to find a drive that is not both DVD+R and DVD-R, except for dual layer media. It is generally agreed that DVD+DL is superior to DVD-DL.

It is cheaper to buy an internal drive and put it into a commodity external box than to buy an external drive. The sole drawback is that many manufacturer's firmware updates cannot be load through a commodity box. They check for a specific external model number.

If you have only USB1.1 ports you may be able to burn DVDs, some software detects the fact that the port is slow and reduces the burn speed. If the software buffers adequately this is sufficient. Upgrading the USB port to USB2.0 is preferable and relatively trouble free.

You could also add firewire ports and use a firewire external box, but this tends to be less troublefree. Some combinations of ports, cables and boxes just don't work.

Lightscribe increases your drive cost, media costs, & adds to the time required for your disk preparation and gives you another quality variable. Unless you have a good reason to use it, it can be foregone.