advise on what's good in dvd burners

12 years ago, I bought 2 external SCSI Plextor CD/RW 4/2/20 drives; they
were built to last, and still work great, albiet slowly ;>)

This fact convinced me to buy a Plextor external DVD burner (716-UF) 2 & 1/2
years ago, but durability has taken a nose dive.

The first one failed after 10-11 months, and the second one started failing
12 months after I received it. I have been using it, but I find it picky
regardiing some major brand media including but not limited to Memorex &
Fuji, and once I burn a disc, it will not recognize any media unless I turn
it off and leave it off for an hour or more. When I bought the drive, it
was one of the more expensive ones available, and I thought I was buying a
product built to last.

Any input on the life expectancies of various drives, & how sensitive they
are to various media? Or what my options are with this drive, like yanking
the guts out and inserting an "internal box" in the "external housing"?

Doug

news.verizon.net wrote:
> 12 years ago, I bought 2 external SCSI Plextor CD/RW 4/2/20 drives;
> they were built to last, and still work great, albiet slowly ;>)
>
> This fact convinced me to buy a Plextor external DVD burner (716-UF)
> 2 & 1/2 years ago, but durability has taken a nose dive.
>
> The first one failed after 10-11 months, and the second one started
> failing 12 months after I received it. I have been using it, but I
> find it picky regardiing some major brand media including but not
> limited to Memorex & Fuji, and once I burn a disc, it will not
> recognize any media unless I turn it off and leave it off for an hour
> or more. When I bought the drive, it was one of the more expensive
> ones available, and I thought I was buying a product built to last.
>
> Any input on the life expectancies of various drives, & how sensitive
> they are to various media? Or what my options are with this drive,
> like yanking the guts out and inserting an "internal box" in the
> "external housing"?
>
> Doug

Pull the drive out of the box and throw a cheap'n'cheerful LG drive in
there.

JMO.
--
Shaun.

news.verizon.net wrote:
> 12 years ago, I bought 2 external SCSI Plextor CD/RW 4/2/20 drives; they
> were built to last, and still work great, albiet slowly ;>)
>
> This fact convinced me to buy a Plextor external DVD burner (716-UF) 2 & 1/2
> years ago, but durability has taken a nose dive.
>
> The first one failed after 10-11 months, and the second one started failing
> 12 months after I received it. I have been using it, but I find it picky
> regardiing some major brand media including but not limited to Memorex &
> Fuji, and once I burn a disc, it will not recognize any media unless I turn
> it off and leave it off for an hour or more. When I bought the drive, it
> was one of the more expensive ones available, and I thought I was buying a
> product built to last.
>
> Any input on the life expectancies of various drives, & how sensitive they
> are to various media? Or what my options are with this drive, like yanking
> the guts out and inserting an "internal box" in the "external housing"?

www.cdrinfo.com -- lots of in-depth reviews
www.cdfreaks.com

BTW if you seen an Emperex on sale (often $20, after rebate, at
Fry's), it's probably not the BTC junk they used to sell but instead
should be a Sony/NEC which is supposed to be pretty good (also handles
DVD-RAM). Maybe these can read scratched disks better than the NEC
models.

On Sun, 10 Jun 2007 14:21:16 GMT, "news.verizon.net"
<douglas.weber@verizon.net> wrote:

>
>Any input on the life expectancies of various drives, & how sensitive they
>are to various media? Or what my options are with this drive, like yanking
>the guts out and inserting an "internal box" in the "external housing"?
>
>Doug

I suggest BenQ.... are the best, really.

--
Now working at http://www.newonlineshopping.net

Books, Clothing and Accessories, Computers,
Electronics, Gifts, Jewelry and Watches.

Stefano wrote:

> I suggest BenQ.... are the best, really.

Is BenQ still in the CD/DVD drive business? I thought they sold out
to Lite-On.

"news.verizon.net" <douglas.weber@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:wNTai.7530$Nz5.4323@trndny09...
> 12 years ago, I bought 2 external SCSI Plextor CD/RW 4/2/20 drives; they
> were built to last, and still work great, albiet slowly ;>)
>
> This fact convinced me to buy a Plextor external DVD burner (716-UF) 2 &
1/2
> years ago, but durability has taken a nose dive.
>
> The first one failed after 10-11 months, and the second one started
failing
> 12 months after I received it. I have been using it, but I find it picky
> regardiing some major brand media including but not limited to Memorex &
> Fuji, and once I burn a disc, it will not recognize any media unless I
turn
> it off and leave it off for an hour or more. When I bought the drive, it
> was one of the more expensive ones available, and I thought I was buying a
> product built to last.
>
> Any input on the life expectancies of various drives, & how sensitive they
> are to various media? Or what my options are with this drive, like
yanking
> the guts out and inserting an "internal box" in the "external housing"?
>
> Doug
>
>
Thanks for all the suggestions. I have read BenQ & LG were good choices,
and will be looking for a replacement.