Lite-ON CD-RW 48r 40w 12rw Int IDE RP

Author's product rating:   

Reliability
Ease of Installation
Value For Money

Advantages:	Fast burning, can copy nearly anything
Disadvantages:	Er .  .  boring fascia??

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I was looking to upgrade my 16x burner to something with a little more punch. My friend's dad had bought a Lite-On 24x speed burner and it came highly recommended.

After a little more research, the 40x Lite-On seemed the way to go, and for a reasonable price.

Once it had arrived, I opened the bright red box and peered in. Contained within was the drive itself, 4 screws to install in it your system case, an audio cable, an 80-minute CD-R, an 80-minute CD-RW, a CD containing Nero Burning Rom and the instruction manual (useless till you install the drive of course!), and a slip of paper containing basic installation procedures.

No IDE cable is included with this drive, so unlike some manufacturers, Lite-On expect you to be replacing another CD drive, or have a spare connector already available.

Installing the drive is no hassle, and requires only basic skills, especially if you are replacing an exiting drive. Assuming you have the standard boring white PC case, this drive will fit right in. It has a headphone socket, volume control, drive activity light, and open/close tray button. For the more adventurous, a black fascia panel is available!!

Windows recognised the drive without any difficulty, and it can be used straight away. The software that comes with the drive, namely Nero, is a bit outdated, but it can be upgraded free for registered users. Many people have their favourite CD writing programs, but I have to admit, Nero is my personal choice. Although not as pretty aesthetically as some other programs, it offers the greatest control over mastering your own CDs. Well done Lite-On for choosing it!!

The Lite-On family of CD writers have become very popular in the gaming community, as they are one of the few drives that can be used to backup your copy protected games. They can also be used to back up the newer audio CDs with copy protection. Useful for those people who like to back up their purchases.

Lite-On has been particularly good with firmware updates. Firmware is the software that is contained within the drive itself. Upgrading to the latest version available from the Lite-On website means better compatibility with media types, and even can make the drive faster!

Like many drives nowadays, the Lite-On includes buffer underun protection, meaning less wasted CDs. It also includes Smart-Burn which attempts to detect what media is being used and hence select an appropriate writing speed. This works rather well.

One issue I have always had with CD burning is the media used. You will need to ensure you have CDs capable of being burned at high speeds. Otherwise you could have failed CDs and even CDs that seem ok, but actually contain errors. You have been warned.

The drive is very quick to burn a CD, although I tend to use the safer option and burn slightly slower (24x) to ensure the above problems do not occur.

I seriously recommend to anyone thinking of buying a new CD-RW to take a very close look at the Lite-On’s. They really are the business!!