Hi Daddyj, Many of our Regulars are very fond of Plextor, the Plextor 712a (PATA)& 712sa (SATA)have excellent reviews. The SATA version reduses the chance of conflict simply because you are only allowed one device per channel, the cable is much smaller, less air strictions in the case, slightly faster on paper, however both drive will work fine. Go external only if you intend to mve the drive from one PC to another.
My nickel
God, grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do and the eyesight to tell the difference. CD/RW Link
I am a fan of the Plextor drives in general. They usually burner most media. The 712 series of drives has a 8MB buffer which means the drive work fast with your new system. You must remember these drives are not double-layered. They will work at 8X speed with the right disc.
Sounds like you are in the know. From what I see, double layer is not all its cracked up to be..right now. Do you think it is better to get the best of the old hardware, knowing its obsolete already...or stay as far as you can, and hope the stuff will still work in 3yrs.?
As for internal vs. external, like Jeff (Predator) said, get an internal drive unless you intend to move it around alot. Also, external drives tend to be more expensive than internal drives.
As for double layer vs. single layer, it really depends on how much and what kind of data you need/want to store on a single disc. Single layer will give you ~4.7Gb and double layer will give you about ~8.4Gb. As for writing (burning) speed, the present double layer burners will only burn at 4X speed whereas many of the single layer devices will burn at 16X speed, i.e., 4 times as fast. If you go with double layer, you'll be at the very end of the present disc/device technology...in about a year, Blue-ray (blue laser) disc and device technology (200Gb on a double layer Blue-ray disc) will begin to ship. Lastly, although double layer discs are becoming more available and the prices are beginning to drop, they are still more expensive than single layer discs...but, then again, you can get twice as much on them.
As for Plextor vs. every other brand, Plextor does not make a double layer burner; however the 712A and the soon-to-be-shipped 716A both will read double layer media. Anyway, both Jeff and I have 708A's and swear by them.
Predator
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15.3K Posts
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October 19th, 2004 20:00
Hi Daddyj,
Many of our Regulars are very fond of Plextor, the Plextor 712a (PATA)& 712sa (SATA)have excellent reviews.
The SATA version reduses the chance of conflict simply because you are only allowed one device per channel, the cable is much smaller, less air strictions in the case, slightly faster on paper, however both drive will work fine.
Go external only if you intend to mve the drive from one PC to another.
My nickel
God, grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway,
the good fortune to run into the ones I do and the eyesight to tell the
difference.
CD/RW Link
ctalia4000
2 Intern
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1.3K Posts
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October 19th, 2004 20:00
Hi
I am a fan of the Plextor drives in general. They usually burner most media. The 712 series of drives has a 8MB buffer which means the drive work fast with your new system. You must remember these drives are not double-layered. They will work at 8X speed with the right disc.
Robert Moyer
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933 Posts
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October 19th, 2004 23:00
daddyjlj
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October 19th, 2004 23:00
daddyjlj
3 Posts
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October 19th, 2004 23:00
Thanks Predator
The main reason I was thinking of the external device, was to aviod conflict problems....Is the USB2 going to be slower than an internal drive?
I assume the external would be less prone to conflict problems you see all over this message board...?
ortleeb
575 Posts
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October 20th, 2004 12:00