Which is the best internal DVDRW writer for the PC to buy?

sunshine124

OK guy I currently have two other threads going here but I thought i should make this my final thread to make things clear.

Which is the best internal DVDRW writer for the PC to buy?

I am so confused as there are so many out there, could someone please help.

many thanks for any suggestions and replies.

timbim_2

Much of a muchness really. Only major factor is lightscribe or not.

sunshine124

Hi, I'm not bothered about the lightscribe, but I thought that £22 for the drive was quite good? or is it? If there are any better ones out there for a cheaper price then please tell me I would love to hear some suggestions.

many thanks.

JasX

They're all much of a muchness and prices range from £12-£22+

check the read/write speeds to check you're not getting a slow one but other than that just pop onto ebuyer/amazon etc and pick one up (with the right colour front plate to match your PC )

sunshine124

ok so how do i know if i have a SATA or an IDE? without opening the casing?

timbim_2

How old is the PC?

sunshine124

It's 7 years old bless her!

turbobob

It'll be IDE then. SATA optical drives only became common over the last 2-3 years (at a guess).

sunshine124

Thanks for that - so now i know what connection it is - which is the best one to get?

BillScarab

Seriouesly, just buy the cheapest IDE one from ebuyer, dabs, amazon etc.

It's a mature technology and they all have similar performance. Sites like ebuyer and Amazon tend to have user reviews as well.

JasX

Any of these would do:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/156129
-£17.36 bare drive
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149313
-£18.56 bare drive
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/178169
-£19.74 comes in a nice retail packaged box (which might have new cables in if you're lucky)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173552
-£19.89 comes in a nice retail packaged box with a copy of Nero DVD copying software
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/190671
-£19.99 comes in a nice retail packaged box and is Lightscribe capable
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146945
-£21.01 comes in a nice retail packaged box with a copy of Nero and both black and white changable covers

or

PC world product code 370898 - £17.54 with internet collect at store and you can avoid postage fees

Finally if its your motherboard controller thats on the blink not your drive none of the above will work any better than the ones you have, is there a second/spare socket on your motherboard you could plug the 'wide' cable into?

there is probably a way to use your 2 device IDE cable the cable to connect your hard disk + 1x DVD drive into whatever socket your hard disk is connected to and seems to be working but more potential for things to go wrong there (not badly wrong but might need a minor reconfig in BIOS if your PC loses sight of the main drive which will cause it not to boot up)

...did you ever really need 2 DVD drives anyway?