I bought my Pioneer DVR-212D, a few days ago for just £11 inc. VAT, BRAND NEW, from eBuyer.com. I hope you agree that's an incredible price for a S-ATA DVD rewriter.
I only really needed the Pioneer drive to aid in testing the functionality of another more current P-ATA DVD-RW drive that was exhibiting some very odd behaviour that I wasn't absolutely certain was the drive's fault, so I wasn't too fussy about it being highly specified. Having said that the pioneer handles all manner of read/write formats with the exception of writing to DVD-RAM and writing Lightscribe data. Obviously HD/BlueRay formats are way out of it's league
To say I am pleased with this drive is an understatement, there isn't much I can find fault with. The drive was an OEM purchase, so no box or bits and bobs, but it still came with a proper installation manual, a first in my experience.
It's not the quietest unit I have encountered, but it isn't the noisiest either. According to Nero's toolkit the disc recognition and read/write speeds are as quoted and the SATA 1.5 implementation is first class with a marked data transfer rate improvement over the P-ATA drive which is of a similar specification.
The drive is nothing to look at, just a three quarter length 5.25in tin box with a beige plastic bezel. The drawer stands a little proud of the fascia which is unusual but hardly an issue unless you need that extra 0.5mm for something.
You don't get much too play with either, there's a nice green busy LED and a drawer button, that's it.
The drawer is smooth and fast, although the plastic looks a bit flimsy, and will accommodate both 12 and 8cm discs. There are also retention lugs moulded in for those who want to mount the drive vertically.
Being Pioneer I imagine longevity is a given, at least here in my household they have an enviable reputation for reliability. I have never managed to break anything I have bought from them in the past.
It doesn't seem to matter what quality of disc you present it with either, it just accepts any old tat. Even the really nasty 8x reject DVDs my local computer emporium tries to pass of as quality gear work in this drive, a welcome surprise because I have a spindle of them that for the last six months I have been wishing I hadn't bought.
So, should you buy one of these drives?
If you need a cheap drive in a hurry and you don't need HD/BlueRay or DVD-RAM write functionality, I can't see why you would want to pay more. I going to buy another couple of them this week.
Incidentally, the Pioneer's faultless performance proved the other drive would shortly be going to a far, far better place (the bin), and so it took it's slot in the PC.
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