Need CDRW advice for old PC

[Sofa Slug]

I have an old 233MMX system with 64 meg of ram and a 3.2 Gb HD. I'm looking for a CD-RW that will work in my pc but I'm having a hard time finding specs or info for the older/slower drives. The only one I could find that looks like it might work is a Pine model # PT-CDRW-A2410BK.

Would one if these older 24x10x40 drives also work (and/or maybe be a better choice)?:

Digital Research model # 241040

Lite-On It model # LTR-24101C

Sony model # CRX175E

Or some other make/model...?

This would primarily be for back-up purposes. I'd like to use Nero too, if possible.

--

Also, are there any 32x drives out there that would work (I couldn't find any)? Maybe a 24x would be good enough...I was thinking max burn speed would only be maybe 4-8x anyway, right?...

Thanks,

-S

 

[Rod Speed]

I have an old 233MMX system with 64 meg of
ram and a 3.2 Gb HD. I'm looking for a CD-RW
that will work in my pc but I'm having a hard time
finding specs or info for the older/slower drives.

The short story is that all the modern burners will work fine.

The most you will find is that you cant do a lot else while burning,
but thats no big deal with modern decent speed burners.

The only one I could find that looks like it might
work is a Pine model # PT-CDRW-A2410BK.

I'd got for a Liteon myself, whatever is well priced.

Would one if these older 24x10x40 drives
also work (and/or maybe be a better choice)?:

Digital Research model # 241040

Lite-On It model # LTR-24101C

No need for one that slow, I know the 40x12x48
works on a dinosaur like that because I have
used on one of those a bit. And the speed is
just due to what was current when I bought it.

Sony model # CRX175E

Or some other make/model...?

This would primarily be for back-up purposes.
I'd like to use Nero too, if possible.

Also, are there any 32x drives out there
that would work (I couldn't find any)?

The short story is that all the modern burners will work fine.

Maybe a 24x would be good enough...

No point in limiting yourself there.

I was thinking max burn speed would
only be maybe 4-8x anyway, right?...

Nope, the max speed the blanks will do is fine.

 

[Lil' Dave]

Bottom line is if you use Nero or similar, it will limit how fast the CDRW
will burn data based on its intial test or subsequent test. The speed at
which the CDRW can actually capable of burning is not really an issue.
You're in the ballpark at how fast it will actually burn at.
Have a P166 MHz based system still going strong. It has an old 2X CD burner
in it that still working as well.

Read speed capability is PC self-regulating if not capable of the read
speed. 32X is more than fast enough.

There's hardware sites that sell much older hardware that's much less
expensive than current models. This sounds appropriate for your system.
Just don't buy any used/recycled hardware.

You may have an issue if you attempt to put a DVD burner in your PC.

I have an old 233MMX system with 64 meg of ram and a 3.2 Gb HD. I'm looking
for a CD-RW that will work in my pc but I'm having a hard time finding specs
or info for the older/slower drives. The only one I could find that looks
like it might work is a Pine model # PT-CDRW-A2410BK.

Would one if these older 24x10x40 drives also work (and/or maybe be a better
choice)?:

Digital Research model # 241040

Lite-On It model # LTR-24101C

Sony model # CRX175E

Or some other make/model...?

This would primarily be for back-up purposes. I'd like to use Nero too, if
possible.

--

Also, are there any 32x drives out there that would work (I couldn't find
any)? Maybe a 24x would be good enough...I was thinking max burn speed would
only be maybe 4-8x anyway, right?...

Thanks,

-S

 

[Sofa Slug]

Thanks, Dave...

You pretty much confirmed what I suspected. Not to worry - I would never try to install a DVD in this thing; I think it uses a fossil for the bios ; )

 

[default]

On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 07:29:43 -0800, "Sofa Slug"

You probably won't encounter problems. I have an older 333MHZ system
and a 52X LiteOn - the most I can burn data is ~16X and audio at ~8x.
I can set it to burn whatever max the disks are rated - but that
doesn't matter a whit if the data can't get to the drive fast enough.

The Lite on eats up almost all the resources so there isn't much else
I can do while the thing is burning a disk. If I have a download
running it will work full speed - but everything else is practically
unusable.

The burners all have "buffer under run protection." If the data isn't
getting to the burner fast enough, it slows down the burner so the
buffer never runs completely dry. The older burners had to rely on
large built in memory buffers or fast computers to keep from running
out of data and burning coasters - modern burners don't have that
problem.

What speed burner you get depends on how you want to spend your money.
Plan on getting a barebones super machine in a year? get a fast one;
plan on holding this machine indefinitely, a slower burner might make
economic sense. (one assumes a 24X will cost much less than 52X, but
maybe not) What you don't want is to buy a very old burner without
"burn proof" or "buffer under run" protection - that and a slow
machine will burn coasters.

I am happy with my LiteOns - I have one in the machine 52X and another
48X in a USB box. They both work very well.

 

[Ardent]

X-No-Archive: yes

I have an old 233MMX system with 64 meg of ram and a 3.2 Gb HD. I'm looking for a CD-RW that will work in my pc but I'm having a hard time finding specs or info for the older/slower drives. The only one I could find that looks like it might work is a Pine model # PT-CDRW-A2410BK

I am using my 166MHz + 64mb machine to burn CDs at 52x using an LG
burner GCE-8525B and it takes only about 5 minutes to burn a CD with
about 500 mb. I use Nero 5x that came with the drive.

I never had a problem.

 

[Sofa Slug]

X-No-Archive: yes



I am using my 166MHz + 64mb machine to burn CDs at 52x using an LG
burner GCE-8525B and it takes only about 5 minutes to burn a CD with
about 500 mb. I use Nero 5x that came with the drive.

I never had a problem.

Hmmmm... interesting. The specs for that drive say you need a 350 Mhz min. CPU:

http://www.qtekinc.com/lgcdgcineat.html

-S

 

[Ardent]

X-No-Archive: yes

Hmmmm... interesting. The specs for that drive say you need a 350 Mhz min. CPU:

Sometimes these guys over specify the minimum requirements. I loaded
XP on the 166MHz machine with just 64mb memory and it worked albeit
somewhat slower.

The setup program supplied by HP with their printer refused to install
saying the minimum requirements are not met. But I was able to install
it using Windows regular process and have no problem using the
printer.

So there is no winder the CDRW drive is working well.