New Purchases: DVD burner and Flash Drive

I have decided I cannot live w/o a dvd burner any more. I need to be able to burn and forget large collections of data. (Read: mom drafted me into archiving the last 25 years of the local Historical Society's newsletters, and her personal slide collection, among other things) Someone told me to put a regular cd rw in also, and use it when not using the dvd format. The reasoning behind this was not made clear, and I assumed the dvd would handle all the cd chores? What do you all think?

I also want a little USB flash drive that I can put my software tools on and take with me to people's houses. I find myself bringing computers home because something won't work right and I need the stuff on my computer to fix it.

Suggestions? Warnings? Better ideas? All much appreciated.

Johanna

 

To be honest and not actually answer anything... I pretty much use whitchever one I hit the button on. The only real plausable reason I can think of to not use the DVD for CD chores would be that the DVD cost more. Use it less, don't wear it out as soon.

One thing I do make sure to do is when I'm copying from cd to cd I use the DVD as the source. Sometime or another I read somewhere that the read heads on a DVD tend to be better quality than the ones on CD. Can not say this is a fact.

 

Johanna

Thought you already had a CD-RW, but if not, don't bother. DVD will do it all. Some folks get by with copying optical to optical, but I've made a few coasters doing that and never made any using the HDD as intermediary.

The main thing is the software, and having used several brands, I vote for Roxio. I'm using the OEM version. I've heard that it's blamed for shutdown problems, and I was having shutdown problems with XP home and SP1, but a while back I needed to install SP1a for another reason, and lo and behold my shutdown problem was cured! So much for non-windows explanations.

I use a card reader for my 'thumbdisk' and have 128mb in it now. The flashcard is compatable with my camera, so.... And If I find that I need more memory in it, no problem.

Newegg has a NEC OEM with roxio software for under $70; I've installed a few of them and had only one that had to be RMAd; It was replaced without a problem.

 

As Sparrow says Roxio is good. Personally I like Nero but a lot of that is because it's what I'm used to.

Also as Sparrow says, If your going to get a DVD burner there really isn't any reason to get a CD burner. I just happen to have both because I had the CD burner before I had the DVD.

Also, and I may have missled here, even if I burn with the DVD as source and the CD as destination I still have it make an image to my hard drive to do the actual burn. I never burn 'on the fly' from one drive to another.

I will say that any time I'm doing a data CD I turn on data verification. Heck, I do it with audio also. Takes a bit longer but I know that everything is there correctly.

Just as a point I'll prevent some wasted CDs and time and effort for you. I've seen more people than I can count throw away CDs by trying to take a bunch of MP3s and copy them. They think, "It's music so I want to make it an audio CD. Wrong. MP3s are data and should be treated as such. If your making a CD of MP3s use the create data CD option, not audio.

 

I have a dvd reader (not writer) installed. I have a brand new Sony r/w on the floor in the box. I used to be a Roxio fan- have easy cd premium version 5 somewhere, but between SP1 and SP2, they lost me. Roxio crashed my old t-bird faithfully. I've been using Nero, MMJB, Ashampoo (even XP for plain old data) and suddenly, all I can burn are coasters. Not sure what's going on because it used to work, now it doesn't, and since I have this brand new cd rw... thought I'd use it to rule out a hardware issue, and get me burning cds again while I shop for a dvd burner. I don't want to burn on the fly- I do all that from the hard drive. I've been using my external hd to backup the websites I manage, but I need to be able to burn cds again! If I could get going again, I'd be willing to give Roxio another try. It sure was a convenient snappy program- not nearly as user unfriendly as the competition. (I do not like to fight with burning software to make a frigging directory label! Listen up, NERO!)
Thanks, guys!
Johanna

 

I had a bit of trouble with Roxio 5 until updating it to 5.3.5, but not a complaint yet out of Roxio CD & DVD 6. Since a drive swap is easy enough, it sure wouldn't hurt to try that Sony. Have you checked the Symantec site for burning issues after installing NAV 2005?

If I was to purchase a new DVD-RW today, I'd spend the extra $ and get a dual-layer light scribe. Leave the labels in the past.

The flash drives are great! I can put most of my commonly used apps on a 256, but will go with at least a 512 next time around. I do find myself moving things back to my drive to make room for something else on occasion. Keep in mind that you may still need CDs for some OSs. I've run into several 98 machines that need the drivers installed for the flash drive to work. I think most come with the setup file already on them, so you would just burn it to CD.

 

Hi Johanna
As far as a flash drive, If you happen to run into someone with a old PC it may not have a slot for a flash card. I know my old HP didn't.
Might be better to go with a USB flash drive?
Geri

 

Hey Stranger ........

Plextor is still the King (Queen if you insist), but I've been using a lot of dual layer LiteOn DVDRW drives lately because of the price/performance combination. The new 6.X Nero Suite that comes with it is about as user friendly as it gets.

Not qualified to comment re: your CDRW problem but I've been seing a lot of these headed south since SP2, including some strange error messages re: Network resource not available and just plain old fashioned drive recognition issues. At $26 a pop, its faster and easier to just replace the drive.

Re: your thumb drive - just what is it that you want to put on there that won't fit on a CD? Nothing against thumb drives - I have a couple but don't use them as you are proposing.

Look forward to hearing from you again in a couple of months

 

Ouch, Rockster! I've been around- you're the one taking the scenic tours!

I want the USB Flash drive to substitute for the use of a cd, and I'll probably buy a 512 like Dave suggested. I want it for when I can't get someone else's cd device to work, either! How about emailing me a link for "the right" dvd r/w and save me the shopping?

Dave, Good try on Symantec, but the burning problem started before NIS 05. It was gradual, and since the drive recognizes and reads or copies just fine, I suspect the cd writer is bad. (What are the chances of a problem with 4 different burning softwares?)

But, yes, Dave, the reinstall is coming because of Norton. I want it gone.
Other than shipping the hard drive to you for tweezer extraction, the best way to get rid of it is with my XP cd!

Johanna

 

My installation is perfect but shutdown problems are making me itching to pull out the reformat CD. Damned HP recovery messed my registry but at least I could boot again.

I have a stack of at least 100 CD that I bought at 10 cents each. Personally, i've been known to click "make another CD" thus wasting a good CD so I don't trust myself with dollar a pop DVDs. I have an 256MB compactflash card but most PCs don't have them and some types of malware cripple USB connections. So I got an 256MB thumbdrive, fast, reliable and handy. Only thing is that my friends computer had an add-on card which claimed USB 2.0 but it was a cripped USB 1 card, it took an agonizingly long time to load AVG free. (I later created a network connection via a adapter to my computer and it came up as 4 Mbps).

So most of the time I create CDs when helping my friends as they hold a decent amount of data, don't come back with a virus (no lock on the USB stick) and almost always work unless someone managed to ***** up their firmware.

 

Johanna,
For whatever it’s worth here’s what I do. I have both a CD burner and a DVD burner…(just in case of a hardware "oopsâ€). For Software I have both Nero and Roxio installed. (yes it can be done, and I use both at different times).

I use a CD-R for my "Troubleshooter CD" when making House calls. But, I also have a DVD/RW as backup, with the same "stuff" installed on it, and I add to it when any new troubleshooter programs or info come out, for example Aida/Everest, or new version of Spybot, (I’ll delete the old info from the DVD/RW after a while of successful runs with the new.) Adding many new programs, Info, etc to the CD-R, it can get full. Soevery so often I’ll burn a new CD-R with the current updated info from the DVD/RW.

I don’t use the USB Flash Drive mainly because as Geri says, some may have an old PC, which I’ve already run into.

I’m using Nero version 6+ and I’ve been using Nero for several years. As for Roxio I have version7+ and it runs very nicely and does what I want it to do. (And I can do some weird stuff at times.) So with the addition of Roxio and all the sad tales I had heard, I was a little leery for a while, but slowly I became used to it and like it also.

My DVD Drive is the Plextor model 12, and I know 16 is out now so that would be my suggestion if you’re still shopping. I got mine from New Egg when they were running a special.

Finally, if memory serves me correctly some time back on this forum somebody was asking for "stuff" to put on a CD, for these house calls, so that info I think is still available somewhere here.

 

Hi, Dennis!
Your methods make good sense. I have quit working on older PCs other than to wipe them clean and bump them down to the kids of the families. So, the flash drive will help me for housecalls, quick back ups and a bunch of other stuff I probably don't even realize yet.

I did install my new cd r/w, and it works flawlessly. That makes me suspect the cd burner part of my dvd thingie is broken. It still reads and copies cds and dvds, so I'm leaving it in until I can replace it with a dvd burner. I just happened to have this new cd burner on the floor without a destination...

I have installed Roxio, Nero and a number of other burning programs all at the same time, too, without conflicts. I pick and choose what I want to use, depending on the project. XP burns data cds just fine. For music, I prefer MMJB Pro because if you let it online, it titles and tags songs automatically (love that feature!) which comes in handy if I haven't ripped and tagged the cds myself. Roxio is my favorite, but Nero seems more dependable. (JMO, YMMV)

So, how much snow did you get this past weekend? Felt kinda weird after cutting the grass a couple of times already to have to get the snow shovel out again.

Johanna

 

Johanna,

I had already cut my grass once, then I went ahead and prepped the Snowblower to be put away for the Season, or so I thought. Whamo!! we got about 4 ", but those poor folks East of us, say from Lorain to the Penn. Border, all along the Shoreline of Lake Erie, Wow, some places got 18" plus. So we were lucky here since around 24hrs later our snow was gone!!

Oh well, you "Southerners" have got it made!! Sunny, Balmy, and I suppose you've been swimming too .....Sheesh!!

No shovels, Dr's. orders.

I've been thinking about being more selective on the type of machines I want to work on, but too many people here still have the older stuff, and I'm a pushover I guess. I really don't mind the Challenge, although it can get overwhelming at times.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with multiple types of recording software. Are you going to purchase(?) a new DVD recorder soon?

BTW Good hearing from you.

 

Hi all, I have been following this thread, as it touched on items that I wanted to post.
In regard to this thread I also have 2 burners my old Richoh CD-R-RW and a LiteOn DVD Dual Format Dual Layer 16 X and I am very happy with that using Nero 6+.
Sparrow, you seem to be doing what I need info about.
I have just purchased a external Card Reader 30 in one but I am using only 2 of them but this is beside the point "Secure Digital" SD is the one I will be using most for Canon Camera. Can I use this card reader USB to transfer any sort of data between PC’s.
Example: Can I copy my MP3 play list on it and take it to my mate and download it onto his PC using the USB ports. Or can you only put Photos from your digi camera on it.
Second I have a spare Floppy drive bay on my case Internal Card Readers are very cheep if I was to install one what is needed I have not seen one yet. Does it only need to be connected internally to a USB connection or does it need special Motherboard support.
Curious
Hawk22

 

Yes and yes. You can use a secure digital or smat media or compact flash card from your camera to hold things other than pictures. And, your card reader should easily let you transfer stuff between computers - you can even use your camera and windows explorer to hold &/or transfer stuff between computers. Most Internal card readers hook up by being connected to an internal USB header.

 

hawk22

Rockster said it all. Except that I had an unfortunate experience with a SD card: the covers came unglued exposing the tiny internal printed circuit and the little slider fell out and was lost. I could access the contents of the card, but couldn't write to it or erase it so it was no longer useful. The default mode is read only! So now I only use MMC. I won't buy a SD.

Edit: Here's a discussion of what you need for an internal reader.

 

Rockster2U and Sparrow,
thank you and thank you just what I wanted to hear. MMC 256mb is $AU48.-
much better value than Floppy.
thanks
hawk22

 

irdreed,

You in Ohio?? I'm from there, Eastlake, Willowick area...

In Florida now. Don't care if I never shovel snow again!!!

 

jaylach, Afirmative. Like it says along the shore of Lake Erie. Look out my window and I see Cedar Point just west of me.

Had the same thoughts when I retired , Arizona was my pick, but got into fishing and decided to stay here. Love those Walleye (For the Main Course) and Perch (For Desert!!)

 

Hi, Thought I put in this Plug for Nero, as it is my preferred burning Software.

Nero informed us that they have received yet another award, this time at the RetailVision event held in Barcelona, Spain. Nero was awarded as the Best Product in the Software category.
The Best of RetailVision Europe Awards are recognized as the most prestigious honors in the industry. More than 187 retailer executive attendees gather to vote for the winning products from 91 vendor companies. Retailers and vendors come together at the event to discuss the latest technology, channel programs and to pursue business needs.
...
We are humbled to receive such an amazing honor, said Klaus Bock, General Manager of Nero AG, We believe by winning this RetailVision award shows that the industry has stood up to take notice of our tireless efforts to make the most innovative and high-quality software possible.

hawk22