DVD burner questions

on the market now they have 16x dvd rw drives but on newegg i only saw 2 that advertised being able to use the 8.5g cd's. are all 16x capable of burning to the 8.5g cds ???

also, what is the difference between dual +-r/rw vs dvd+/-rw or dvd-/+rw

one more question teac vs buslink. these are the 2 i saw advertising 8.5g capability. is there much difference ???

 

For a DVD writer to use a 8.5 DVD disk it has to be able to be a double layer writer. Here are two site to look at:
http://www.dvdplusrw.org/
http://www.videohelp.com/

 

so the dual format is the kicker that makes them compable to write to the 8.5g dvds. from your post i gather that if it says +and- thats probably the all encompassing factor.

teac and buslink arent even mentioned as a consumer favorite. this surprises me. way back when cdrw's hit the market teac and plextor were rated the best.

 

Being a dual format means it will write to different types of DVD disks. Like DVD-R, DVD+R , DVD+RW or DVD-RW. A DVD writer can be a dual format but it does not make it a double layer DVD writer.

 

double layer being the 8.5g capacity ???

 

Yes and you have to use a DVD disk that are for 8.5gb.

 

got it. have you used any of these new 16x burners ??? if so what brand do you like ??? want to use with ghost 9 so i can clone my drive to one dvd. ghost has a compatibility list that doesnt support my pacific digital 8x dvd+- burner. it uses a lite-on chipset.

 

No, the external Sony DVD Writer I have came out before the double layer ones hit the market. As for Ghost I never used it. I have Acronis True Image 7 and backup to a removable hard drive.

 

thanks for the input Russ.

 

Just threw one of these in a machine I built last week with my nephew. Pretty good reviews, great price and double layer support.

 

Rockster2U

just checked the compatibility list for ghost 9 and this one is listed as a working device when using ghost. this is good and what i was looking for. the dvd burner i am using is a pacific digital 8x with a liteon ldw851s engine and its on the compatibility list also but when it get about 75% through the burn function it keeps telling me that the dvd needs to be formatted which makes no sense to me. the dvd's are formatted they come that way. was told that the memorex dvd's i am using could be the problem so i brought some imation and i'll give them a try first. i like the idea of being able to put my entire drive on one dvd and with the 8x i need 2. so thank you for your input i will bookmark that drive. i will probably get the one you mention and put the one i am using in an upgraded system and get my monies back. only cost 50.00 after officemax rebates.

do you use ghost 9 and if so do you have any tips ???

 

I use Ghost 2003 V2003.775 - It does a nice job and will permit burning to DVD's but both of my DVD burners are single layer Lite Ons. Takes me two DVD's to do a system disk image on the machines they are installed in but that sure beats 10-12 CD's.

Would appreciate your comments re: V9 once you've had a chance to use it.

 

i like the fact that ver 9 is windows based and doesnt need to go to dos mode. it writes the image to my second partition just fine just having problems writing directly to dvd. havent tried the imation dvds yet but if that doesnt work i will just copy the images to dvd. the ghost 9 cd sorta replaces the dos boot disk if wanting to restore an image. boot from the cd and it will give you the option to restore an image file and you just proceed from there. still havent figured out how to make the cd bootable with the ghost exes taking over right from the image dvd yet but symantec has been pretty helpful when i email them questions.

 

I've had good luck with teac and suggest it.

 

thanks sparrow teac has been around a long time right up there with plextor when cdrw's first came out.

 

Hi All: Can somebody tell me, do the Dual Layer DVD writers require a Dual Layer DVD disc to write the 8+GB?

Poking around the net, I only found one DVD disc that appeared to be for Dual Layer, and it was $9.99US for One disk. At that price I think I'll stick with single layer.

Looking in the right place?

Martin

 

Hi martinr121,

Here the price is lower, but you need to buy 3 disks

 

Hey, thanks Sparrow, but even if I remembered to send in the rebate cupon, it still works out to over $4.00US per disc. for me, that price is not justified. I think I'll wait, maybe the price will drop after a while.

Appreciate the info, and Meritline looks like a good site for bargain media.

Martin