Mad Dog 6 in 1 DVD burner $9 at Office Max

[noki]

Yes. The deal was $40 with $40 rebate during the weekend.

I believe this deal was for a DVD-R only unit.

[chas0039]

For Toshiba DVD-RAM driver

See this:

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/su/su_askIris.jsp?QS=dvd-ram&BV_SessionID=@@@@...skNothing.y=10

Do you know which driver is for this drive?

TIA

[Greene]

Chaos, the firmware forum has the newest firmware for this drive, only problem is there is no speed hack and the read speed is super slow making on the fly copies almost impossible.

[cchang]

For Toshiba DVD-RAM driver

See this:

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/su/su_askIris.jsp?QS=dvd-ram&BV_SessionID=@@@@...skNothing.y=10

Do you know which driver is for this drive?

TIA

Those drivers are for Toshiba PC systems (From the model names looks like laptops) with a DVD-RAM drive and I have no way to know 5112 is compatible with which system. So it is a guessing game. On that page and the next page they listed 7 drivers. (version # 3.0.7.0c to 3.1.0.0)The last 4 are 50 MB each, so I thought they must be for a whole system update, not just for DVD-RAM. The first 3 drivers are 1 to 4 mb each. 3 of them the file name ended with x(XP?) and one ended with 2 (2000?). My system is windows 2000, so I picked the one end with "2" and it works for me. May be any one will work. In that case pick the latest one(#7) for XP ?

[cchang]

I just downloaded one of the bigger files- ta2dvdram2.exe. After unzipped it, I noticed the file is huge not because it is a whole system backup, rather it included multiple languages support. I installed it and it also worked for me. So may be you should choose the latest one for your system.

[samijubal]

I e-mailed Toshiba about a RAM driver this was the reply.
Hello,

This doesn’t need a special driver to read DVD-RAM but needs software that will read DVD-RAM.

Thanks,

Frank Deaver

Toshiba Technical Support

[cchang]

I e-mailed Toshiba about a RAM driver this was the reply.
Hello,

This doesn’t need a special driver to read DVD-RAM but needs software that will read DVD-RAM.

Thanks,

Frank Deaver

Toshiba Technical Support

It may be true for some systems, but not for all. My sytem is windows 2000, it does need a driver. Without the driver, it just simply would not recognize the DVD-RAM disc. If you never need a driver, why they got drivers for downloading in their web site?

[samijubal]

I just tried it and it works fine with XP, reads at the same speed as the 4120B. In fact I had a disc that the LG wouldn't copy so I put it in the Toshiba and it worked fine. Not very happy about that as far as the LG is concerned when it cost me 78 and the Toshiba was 9.

[edsmith77]

And it includes Nero express 6

Yup, I went and bought one. Mainly to get the upgrade in speed over by 4x Sony and DL when disc $$$ came within reason.
I even went and installed Nero Express, which is bundled with the drive. Now for the bad news. For all of my DVD burns (video only) I have been using TDA. The down side is that it is very SLOOOOOOOW. THe upside is that I never got a coaster. Now enters NE and in 5 burns 3 (near)coasters. For this there was 1-8X and 2-4X discs. All failed to complete at the 99% point. The program just hung. Fortunately, the disc was not a complete coaster (ala near coaster) but was playable all the way up to about 30-60 sec from the end of the video (which was only credits anyway). So in the end no real damage done except to my confidence in the product. When will it fail / hang before 99% complete?

Just a data point for those interested.

Ed

[Suntan]

@edsmith77

This post is talking about the 4x DVD-R/RW. It does not do 8x or dual layer. I believe you have it confused with the Mad Dog 8 in 1 or something as OfficeMax had a special on something like that as well (but it was not for $9).

-Suntan

[edsmith77]

Suntan,
I assure you it was the same DVD writer unit. Only I did not pay $9 for it and I did not get it from Office Max.
In either case, my comment and data point was about Nero Express and not about the burner. NE IMHO and from the data points which I related, I feel NE still has some room for product improvements. It just seems to be a bit buggy at this time. To me it is a shame to relase and bundle it with a product when it just does not live up to the expectations.

Ed

[samijubal]

I've burned hundreds of discs with Nero Express, haven't had a problem or a coaster yet. I haven't used the Mad Dog to burn yet, so I don't know how it burns. I use it to read RAMs since it does it alot better than the LG 4120B does.

[samijubal]

Last I knew the rebate ends today if anyone wants one of these.