Drives > Hewlett-Packard Drives > CD-RW > from 17x to 32x

Advantages: Cheap and reliable.
Disadvantages: Not the fastest drive on the market

...don’t work – only that HP haven’t decided that 80 minute discs are reliable enough to be officially endorsed. The first disc I wrote was an 80 minute disc and it worked fine. This particular model comes with the ability to “clone” a CD. That means that you can make an exact duplicate of a disc, meaning that so called “copy-protected” discs can be copied and music CDs that have tracks that run into each other ...
...Another feature of this drive is that it can make use of re-writable discs, something I have not been able to test - I will update the opinion if and when I do! Re-writable discs (CD-RW) are more expensive than normal CD-Rs and have certain issues regarding compatibility with other computers. My Experience: The first CD I created with my freshly installed CD writer was an audio CD created from some mp3s (I know, very naughty). In all there were ... Read review

Advantages: Ease of installation and use, reasonable price
Disadvantages: IDE connection is lower than SCSI

...I finally settled on the HP 9150i, mainly because of the very reasonable price, but also because it seemed a lot easier to fit and install than a SCSI model. HP really couldn't have made it easier. They provide a CD which not only plays you a video to follow, but also checks your computer to tell you what jumper settings and IDE cable to use for the best results. Whilst looking into different CD-RWs, I was told time and time again that the software ...
...The HP 9150i's software is very intuitive to use with excellent results when both copying a whole CD and making a compilation fom many CDs. There is a update which is downloadable from the web (5MB, so do it at the weekend!) which adds a few more features and fixes some glitches (not that I'd noticed any glitches). Copying a whole CD was easy because I still have my old CD-ROM but initially, I had a few problems when making compilation CDs. It would ... Read review

Advantages: Easy to use, good software bundle
Disadvantages: bit slow now

This drive is great. I've owned mine for over a year now, so its a bit old in the pc world, but it has stood the test of time very well. I have never had any problems with it. when i put it in the pc i switched it on and hoped for the best. nothing went wrong, it was recognised first time, and after installing the software, which was also incredibly simple, it was ready for use. the software includes the adaptec easy cd creator, and direct cd, which ... Read review

Advantages: Reliable and great quality read on anything copies
Disadvantages: had to flash firmware to get 80min CDR support

...say. I bought this cheap HP writer for about £100. It features 24x reading, 2x writing and 2x rewriting. Its a Sony based drive underneath and this shows because build quality is very good and the HP restyle of the front is very pleasant. I had no problem configuring the drive and the software supplied is superb. Very nicely done by HP indeed. For all normal copying I've had no problems and I've now had it over a year with no reliability problems ...
...this. I sought a solution. HP weren't helpful it has to be said. They said it was compatible even though it wasn't. I then found out that if I flashed it with a Sony firmware it would solve the problem. I managed to find a special 8100 firmware that was ideal for my writer not only did it make my writer 80min compatible but it also enabled 4x writing on CDRs!!!!!!!!!!!! Which works well! Their is one downer with this drive its unable to write raw ... Read review

Advantages: Read/Write/Erase-CD-R/CD-RW/DVD+R/DVD+RW
Disadvantages: None

The LG GSA 4167B Super-Multi is very good because it can read,write and erase data on all media formats.I own one and I don't have problems with it.Mine is three years old and but still works very good.The first years after I bought it the CD's/DVD's inserted in the LG drive were written and read with no scratch on the CD's/DVD's.Now,when it's three years old it leaves a few scratches in comparison to other products.It's easy to install and the product ... Read review