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My old cd-writer was a 24 x 2 x 2, Freecom badged Philips drive that took over 36 minutes to burn a full cd, so I decided it was time to upgrade and after much wandering around PC World (I know, I know I'm sorry but they were offering nine months interest free if you spent £200) I chose ... Read review
Advantages: Fast, burnproof, easy to install, comes with Nero software Disadvantages: Relatively expensive
...spent £200) I chose the TDK Cyclone 12 x 10 x 32 Burnproof Internal IDE drive. I paid (or will be) £179 for the retail pack which comes with the drive (obviously), Nero Burning Rom software, TDK mix master software, cables, marker pen, one cdr and one cdrw.
Installation is very easy, just a matter of sliding it into the tower, attaching the leads (the drive is set as master by default) and powering up the system. The drive is recognised ... ...this is a very good drive which can be bought online for around £150, but this should drop as TDK have just released a newer version that offers 16 speed writing, but in all honesty this is probably as fast as you will need.
Well it had to happen didn't it. The only component left over from my old machine has been replaced, and has gone to component heaven (not really, it's actually in the wanted ads, but hey I wanted to wax lyrical), to be replaced by this veritable speed demon.
My old cd-writer was a 24 x 2 x 2, Freecom badged Philips drive that took over 36 minutes to burn a full cd, so I decided it was time to upgrade and after much wandering around PC World (I know, I know I'm sorry but they were offering nine months interest free if you spent £200) I chose the TDK Cyclone 12 x 10 x 32 Burnproof Internal IDE drive. I paid (or will be) £179 for the retail pack which comes with the drive (obviously), Nero Burning Rom software, TDK mix master software, cables, marker pen, one cdr and one cdrw.
Installation is very easy, just a matter of sliding it into the tower, attaching the leads (the drive is set as master by default) and powering up the system. The drive is recognised by Windows 98 straight away so then it's just a matter of installing the burning software.
Nero is in my opinion the best and easiest of the cd writing software packages, although I haven't written an opinion about it here at Ciao, as others have said everything I wanted to say. The software supports Burnproof and there is actually an option to turn it off, but who would want to do that. For those that don't know what burnproof is, it is a part of the drives internal software (called firmware), that can stop the writing process onto a disk, if data isn't reaching the drive's buffer in time and then re-start the burn process without turning your disk into a coaster.
In practice this means that you can do other things like surfing the net, or writing an op at Ciao without the CD being ruined. It works very well and I spent ages trying to kill a disk, without success, although I write audio disks in one session, as the tracks tend to jump if the drive keeps stopping and starting.
Speedwise the drive does what it says. It's twelve speed for CDRs (which means that you have to get good quality disks) and will burn a full CD in around five minutes, including the lead in and lead out. It's slower when formatting and writing CDRW but as I don't use many, this isn't a problem for me. When reading from the disk, I have noticed a definite increase over my old drive but it still isn't as quick as my DVD drive, so I tend to use the latter to create disk images, for burning later.
I don't do any disk to disk copying as both drives are set on the same IDE channel, and would have problems as the IDE interface cannot handle synchronous data transfers very well (both too and from etc).
All in all this is a very good drive which can be bought online for around £150, but this should drop as TDK have just released a newer version that offers 16 speed writing, but in all honesty this is probably as fast as you will need.
Advantages: Looks great Disadvantages: Looks too good for the rest of my stuff
...just what the doctor ordered.
TDK have managed to deliver a great package here both with hardware and the software supplied. They have released faster versions which will please all you speed freaks out there, but with a limited budget and not wanting something so flashy it even makes me a cup of tea in the morning, I settled for this model.
Inside the Box...
After emptying the contents of the box like a child at Christmas, I was faced with a ... ...is also a copy of TDK Digital Mixmaster, which allows you to use your computer like a digital jukebox. This bit of software also allows you to copy your CD's in double quick time which is great and simple to use.
The whole set-up also allows you to multi-task which means the end of having to wait for your CD to burn before starting some work or surfing the web, you can do both at once.
For £50 this little diamond is perfect for anyone out there ...
tomok 14.05.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of TDK CyClone CD-RW drive
Advantages: read my opinion Disadvantages: read my opinion
The TDK Cyclone 24x10x40 is a genuine professional in things burns. It is a pure Noname blank, which is also so cheap therefore. For only scarcely 1,5? it is to be had in each well sorted specialized trade. The blank is packed in a sturdy covering, which is much flat. There is this blank to buy however also now and then times with sickeren coverings. I find the thinner better, since one saves so half at place. The thicker ones are good for inscriptions ... ...a project and on the fast in an unsorted CD shelf wants to find it, one should seize to the thicker. I added myself so far 4 blanks of this mark. Since these are like crude cryable, custom one not so much many. There were not so far ever problems with burns. No losses, no errors with reading and/or writing or the like. One hardly sees a difference between a taped CD RW blank and a unplayed. With many one does not recognize it by the color of the ...
hammi 28.04.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of TDK CyClone CD-RW drive
Product Information for "TDK CyClone CD-RW drive" »
Manufacturer's product description
TDK is a major player in many of the most dynamic markets worldwide, including computers, communications and consumer electronics. Cultivating valuable new technologies from the seeds of small possibilities, TDK has developed a wealth of original products that contribute to the lives and cultures of people around the world. Fitted with BURN-Proof technology to prevent buffer under run errors that would render a CD-R unreadable, the CyClone CD-Writers ensure full PC multitasking even during CD recording, that allows high-speed CD-R recording even with low-performance PCs. You can back up huge amounts of data on the CD without any hassle now!
