NEC CD-RW / DVD-ROM combo drive

Advantages: Being a combo drive makes this drive very useable
Disadvantages: None asyet to mention

...On purchaseing this drive i found it easy to install and use the bundeld software is a great addition to the kit at a very reasonable price. I purchased mine on ebay so it was even better only 75% of the going price.Now having installed and used this drive i would not be put off buying at the full price.It gives very good playback of DVDs and is good on recording CDRs.All in all a very good purchace for the average computer user wishing to upgrade from a CD ROM.The software included is Nero 6 OEM + Power DVD Version 5 wich is upgradeable at a price although not a must for average user.The drive is very quiet in use and have had no problems as yet .I recommend the Liteon SOHC- 5236V as a worthwile purchase and no problems.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Small, looks very cool
Disadvantages: Noe really, does what it says it does

...Toshiba External USB 2.0 Combo Drive INTRO Along with my recent office purchase of the R200 laptop and seeing as it was minus a CDROM I bought an external CD unit. I originally made the mistake of buying the DVD ROM version and at £85 that was next to useless. So I returned that and got the Toshiba External USB2 Combo Drive. There are a few different ones out there, this one wrote CD's and read DVD's. IMPRESSIONS When you open the box up your greeted with what first looks like an MP3 player. Size wise its not much bigger than a CD. The finish of this one was brushed aluminium to match the R200 laptop. Quality is easily very high, just like Toshiba's other offerings. If nothing else the Combo drive looks cool. CONNECTION The combo drive is connected up with a standard USB 2 cable. Not external power supplies are needed. This makes... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Extremely fast, Dual Layer, multi formats
Disadvantages: Needs firmware upgrade for some DL discs

.... I tried a Philips DVD+R DL and had no problems. The latest version of Ahead Nero Burning ROM 6.6.0.1 records to DL discs with no problem. After some searching, I found that the NEC is rebadged for TDK and I flashed my drive with this firmware (2.78), and then the Datawrite DL discs worked OK. Please note that this invalidates your warranty but until NEC release firmware that supports Ritek based discs, it was the only way around it for me. The DL discs give excellent results, but the cost is high at the moment for blank media. As mentioned, Nero was used to burn the discs, it recognises the double capacity and burns the first then second layer on its own. Nothing difficult here, same as burning an ordinary single layer disc. Both the Datawrite and Philips DVD+R DL discs played okay in my PC and standalone players (MiCO Sofia, MiCO espejo... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful