CD ROM

Contents

Description
What To Look For
Recommendations

Description:

• CD-ROM drives are necessary today for most programs. A single CD can store up to 650 MB of data (newer CD-Rs allow for 700 MB of data, perhaps more with "overburn"). Fast CD-ROM drives have been a big topic in the past, but all of today's CD-ROM drives are sufficiently fast. Of course, it's nice to have the little bits of extra speed. However, when you consider CD-ROM drives are generally used just to install a program or copy CDs, both of which are usually done rarely on most users' computers, the extra speed isn't usually very important. The speed can play a big role if you do a lot of CD burning at high speeds or some audio extraction from audio CDs (i.e. converting CDs to MP3s).

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• CD-R/RW (which stands for Recordable / ReWritable) drives (aka burners, writers) allow a user to create their own CDs of audio and/or data. These drives are great for backup purposes (backup your computer's hard drive or backup your purchased CDs) and for creating your own audio CD compilations (not to mention other things like home movies, multimedia presentations, etc.).
• DVD-ROM drives can store up to 4 GB of data or about 6 times the size of a regular CD (not sure on the exact size, but suffice to say it's a very large storage medium). DVDs look about the same and are the same size as a CD-ROM. DVD drives can also read CD-ROM drives, so you don't usually need a separate CD-ROM drive. DVD drives have become low enough inprice that there isn't much point in purchasing a CD-ROM drive instead of a DVD-ROM drive. Some companies even make CD burner drives that will also read DVDs (all in one). DVD's most practical use is movies. The DVD format allows for much higher resolution digital recording that looks much clearer than VCR recordings.
• DVD recordable drives are available in a couple of different formats - DVD-R or DVD+R with a RW version of each. These are slightly different discs and drives (although some drives support writing to both formats). One is not much better than the other, so it really boils down to price of the media (and also availability of the media).

What To Look For:

• SCSI CD-ROM drives and burners used to be a good choice, but now there are so few available that IDE is the best option.
• Transfer rates are quite important, but it is not a good idea to just go by the 32X, , 48x, 52x, etc. ratings as they are usually not very accurate. These numbers are supposed to indicate how many times faster the drive is than if it were being played at its default speed (the speed at which you listen to an audio CD). Usually, these numbers only represent the maximum speed these drives can reach. Thus, it is better to compare average sustained transfer rates (not always reported).
• For CD-ROM burners, it is mainly important to look at the X rating. Look for a burner that writes at 48X or 52X as they are not much more expensive than the older, slower writers (but are a little faster). The law of diminishing returns starts to come into play with these faster drives though, so don't be concerned about the difference between 48x and 52x (it's only going to be a few seconds). The RW (rewrite) speed is how fast it can write to CD-RW discs. This is usually lower than the write speed, and is only important if you plan to use rewritables (which you can write to, erase, then write to again). Look for 24x rewritable speed.
• The access time is also very important. This is usually measured in milliseconds and an access time of 85 ms is sufficient for a CD-ROM drive. These numbers are usually a lot higher for burners.
• Like hard drives, the amount of cache is also important. This can range from 64k to 512k, all the way up to 8 MB for CD Burners. 256k is a good number to look for, but 512k is preferred. For CD-ROM burners, look for at least 2 MB of cache as this cache is VERY important in avoiding bad burns (wasted CDs). 2 MB cache buffers should prevent this from happening often. Of course, the higher the better!
• rpms are also important, but usually are not given.
• In general, there is not much price difference between the slower and higher speed CD-ROM drives. Anything around 50x is sufficient, and I still think the older 32x drives are sufficient since CD-ROM drives aren't used for large transfers very often. One thing to consider is that the higher speed drives spin faster, which causes them to vibrate and make more noise, and also makes them more prone to failure. It may be a good idea to get a slower speed drive just so that it will last longer and be quieter!
• Brand can also be important. There are two brands of CD-ROM drive (and burner) that clearly stands out from the rest, and they are Plextor (a pricey brand) and Lite-On (a very inexpensive but surprisingly high quality brand). These drives are much faster and much more reliable than other brands. The X ratings of their drives are also more accurate (a Plextor UltraMAX is rated at 40X, but is actually faster than the so-called "72X" drives). Plextor's drives are superior quality throughout, but they're pricey and harder to find these days.

Recommendations (for CD-ROM, CD-RW drives, DVD drives, DVD burners, and Combo Drives):

CD-ROM:

• In all honesty, just about any CD-ROM drive will do. In fact, there isn't much need for them at all since you will likely want DVD drives instead. However, there are some that stand out above others in speed, but the extra speed isn't usually very necessary except for the rare times you are installing games or extracting audio. Having said that, I recommend Lite-On's 52x. Lite-On has recently built an excellent reputation in optical drives, and I can now highly recommend them. The best part is that their drives are very cheap! Lite-On is my number one pick in CD-ROM drives.
• For SCSI, the Plextor UltraPlex 40x MAX is the best you can get, but it carries a pretty big price tag too. Their older version (the UltraPlex) is also great, but a little cheaper. It does extremely fast digital audio extraction, it spins at 6890 rpms, has a 512k buffer, is capable of burst transfer rates up to 20 MB/sec, and has an access time of 85 ms.
  The UltraPlex Wide will run on a 68 pin UW connector, but I advise against it unless you won't be using a burner or any other Narrow devices.

CD-ROM Burner:

• Soon, CD-Burners won't even be necessary, but right now, they're still somewhat cheaper than DVD burners (which also burn CDs). I highly recommend Lite-On's line of burners, particularly their 52x32x52x (model LTR-52327S) drive (52x write, 32x rewrite, and 52x read). Lite-On also makes some similar burners that are able to read DVDs. These have worked well for me and are a good way to get an all-in-one drive (except for DVD writing).
• Plextor makes an even better "PlexWriter Premium," but it's about twice the cost of the Lite-On above. It's a 52x32x52x drive with 8 MB cache.

DVD-ROM:

• Lite-On makes a great DVD drive as well as great CD-ROM and CD-RW drives. Their LTD-163 is a 16x DVD drive like the Pioneer below, but it's a little faster with CD-ROMs and audio CDs at 48x. It's also less expensive than the Pioneer.
• Pioneer's 16x DVD (model DVD-120) is my 2nd choice for speed and reliability. The optional slotted interface is also a nice change of pace! The price isn't overly expensive either. I highly recommend Pioneer's DVD drives. This one reads DVDs at 16x and reads CDs at 40x.
• Toshiba also makes good DVD drives, and their 16x DVD would be a good choice.

DVD Burners:

• Before I get into specific recommendations, be aware that today's burners are mostly single layer, and dual layer burners will be available soon. These burners will be able to hold twice the amount of data on a single disc (from about 4.7 GB to about 9.4 GB). If you don't have a DVD burner yet, it may be worth waiting for one of these. For now, there are plenty of good 8x single layer DVD burners to choose from. Here are just a few of the many good choices:
• The Lite-On DVD burners have all worked well for me. Their current best burner is the SOHW-812S. I can highly recommend this burner as I've used it personally.
• The Toshiba SD-R5272 is an 8x dual format drive (records DVD-R and DVD+R at 8x) that's also able to properly backup copyright protected games. It's inexpensive to boot.
• NuTech DDW-082 is also a great choice. It's a great performer, it's inexpensive, and what sets it apart from other drives is that can burn at 8x on 4x media!
• Pioneer's DVR-A08 is a great dual format drive, but it's a little on the pricey side. The rumor is that this Pioneer's drives may also be able to be upgraded to dual-layer when dual-layer drives and media come out. That's just speculation though, and it may never happen...
• Plextor's PX-708A is another good drive that's also a great CD burner. Like the Pioneer, it's also very pricey.
• Another drive to consider is the Optorite DD0405. It's a burner I don't know a whole lot about personally, but it has a unique feature in that it can burn HD CDs (twice the data on a single CD-R disc). That's kind of a moot point since DVD holds much more, but CD-Rs are so much cheaper...

Combo Drives:

• I don't normally recommend combo drives because of the additional moving parts (more likely to fail), but they can be convenient, particularly if you have limited space in your case. Also, they're usually more expensive and have slower speeds, but I've found that Lite-On makes a great combo drive that costs little more than their regular CD burners. This drive reads DVDs as well as CDs and burning CDs. The drive's model number is SOHC-5232K, and it reads CDs at 52x, reads DVDs at 16x, writes at 52x, and rewrites at 32x. With no speed or price tradeoffs, why not? :)