Best CD-ROM option (need your help)

[forest_law_p]

My Samsung sm-348b just died on me yesterday. The timing was so off because i just found out about Chankast today.
I need your help in helping me choose a good cd-rom drive.

The ones available here are these models : (they write to a cd-r,cd-rw,dvd+-r,etc)



1. sony dru-700a -> too expensive for me.
2. sony dru-500a
3. lg gsa-4082b

some of the people here said and adviced me that it isn't good to buy a combo drive.
So this time i'm thinking of buying 1 cd-writer and 1 cd-rom drive for reading only.(on cd-writer department i can research that on my own.)
But i also want a drive that reads and writes dvd. 3 drives is too much for me to handle financially.i'm also kinda confused between that dvd-r & dvd+r thing,what's the difference between them?
please help me choose a good option, because i don't want to waste money on buying something not even worth it.

[BountyJedi]

well dvd+r and dvd-r are different kinds of dvd burnings i dont really know the profits/benfits of them myself cause ive never burnt a dvd in our dvd+rw burner (lack of dvd+rw's to burn, should go buy one for testing someday =p )
=p sorry if i confused you even more -_-

[forest_law_p]

My Samsung sm-348b just died on me yesterday. The timing was so off because i just found out about Chankast today.
I need your help in helping me choose a good cd-rom drive.

The ones available here are these models : (they write to a cd-r,cd-rw,dvd+-r,etc)

1. sony dru-700a -> too expensive for me.
2. sony dru-500a
3. lg gsa-4082b

some of the people here said and adviced me that it isn't good to buy a combo drive.
So this time i'm thinking of buying 1 cd-writer and 1 cd-rom drive for reading only.(on cd-writer department i can research that on my own.)
But i also want a drive that reads and writes dvd. 3 drives is too much for me to handle financially.
please help me choose a good option, because i don't want to waste money on buying something not even worth it.

[Nightmare]

what's the difference between them?

the sony dru-500a is really a good choice, i have bought one and i don't regret that...

concerning dvd-r/dvd+r, it's 2 differents formats, to make short :
- dvd-r are "in theory" faster
- dvd+r are "in theory" more... stable

[BountyJedi]

@forest: huh what was the double-post good for?

[forest_law_p]

cos your answer answered my questions about the dvd. sorry about the double post though.
To Nightmare, how long have you had your sony dru-500a? i'm getting scared of combo-drives now because of what happened to my samsung sm-348b,which lasted only 2 years or so.

[Nightmare]

how long have you had your sony dru-500a? i'm getting scared of combo-drives now because of what happened to my samsung sm-348b,which lasted only 2 years or so.

i've bought it aproximatively 2 years ago, and it's still fully functional...
i don't know what people told you about combo drive, but i have a sony dru500a and a compaq DV28EA01 for my laptop (4 years old), and i've never had any problem...

[aika-san]

I faced the same situation. If you can afford it, buy 2 drives:

1 DVD Writer
1 Combo drive

That way you can do everything in your combo drive, except DVD burning. It helps ease the wear and tear on your more expensive drive. It also allows for more flexibility when reading different media. I have yet to see 1 drive that reads all types of recordable even if it says it does.

IMHO it's about time the manufacturer's got the standard a bit more standard. I hope when the next generation of mass storage comes along that they don't stuff everyone around by introducing a heap of different formats that essentially do the same thing (ala DVD). DVD+R, DVD-R, DVDRAM, Dual Layer. What a mess!

[forest_law_p]

okay thanks guys. i just bought an ASUS CD-S520/A4 just to play the DOA 2 that i have bought 2 years ago, because i knew that there will be an emulator for it.Oh i remember those Icarus,Dreamer days none worked. Actually I bought 3 cd's, 1 for Dreamcast. the other two are for PS2, TekkenTagTournament and DOA 2.but pcsx2 for now only shows intro's,but it's a start. thanks for your answers, i'm going to buy the SONY dru-500a next week.