CD-R or CD-RW??

[ILC]

So which would you all prefer to have? A cdrw or just a cdr? I need to get one badly, and have a low budget. I would be using it mainly to make mmusic cd's, and possibly using it to make my comp back ups. What brands and speed do you all recomend? Thanks for any help.

ILC

[skybolt_1]

Definately CD-RW. If you have any plans to make backups, than you want RW, not R. R stands for wRiteable, and RW stands for Re-Writeable. You can not update, or write over, with a CD-R drive. So, if you were making backups, you would need a new disk every time.

As for manufacturers, I have heard really good things about Toshiba, Backpack, and Sony. However they are also pricey. PC World did a nice roundup of CD-RW drives. You can see it at:
http://www.pcworld.com/top400/article/0,1361,17379,00.html

Hope it helps,
skybolt_1

[Warthog]

Yeah, get a CD-RW. I have a Sony and it has done me well. Look to spend $200-250 on one. They can get lower and higher than that but most are within that range.

Warthog

[bdog]

I had a RW, but I only used R disks. They are just so cheap, why bother with rewriting. Besides you can get a a writer only for cheaper.

[Roy]

I agree with bdog. Media keeps getting cheaper, I don't mind throwing away a 30 cent disk.

Go for the fastest ~ 12x or better ~ CDR you can afford. I don't regret having done that last year when CDRs hit 8x and RWs were still 4x. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[Pat Cusick]

Go for a CDRW. I have a HP 4x4x24 and have had no problems. it cost just under $200 about nine months ago. HP now has fater CDRW's for about the same price. Good luck

[wtp]

CD/RW, it's better than CD/R since you can create backups, or erase CD backup you need to update.

wtp http://smilecwm.tripod.com/dvv/cwmnoid.gif

[This message has been edited by wtp (edited 07-10-2000).]

[Roy]

wtp says "erase from a CD you didn't like."

This conjures the image of someone listening to a CD full of music and deciding to change its contents.

Note that RWs must be played on multi-read players. So far, these are rare in stand-alone form.

Give careful thought to the economics ~ RW media is double the cost and burners are more expensive. The difference will buy a lot of cheap media to throw away "a CD you didn't like". http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[El_Brio]

All most people need is R. Disks are cheap as hell, like $.75. Why bother rewriting? Write is ALOT faster too. And a cdr drive is cheaper. Most r's do rw though anyway.

[SoopaStar]

I have the hp 8200i which is 4x4x24x. To be honest, I have only used the re-write part like ..um...twice. maybe. I had the HP 7200i before that. I used the RW once on there. Its just not worth waiting for the format and stuff. If you need to do daily backups, then maybe its okay to use...but if your material you are backin up is only, say, 20 megs...then why waste a whole CDRW disc for that? you can just use a CDR and leave the disc open and burn the stuff into data directories (that is what I do).
I don't think you will save that much money going with a CDR drive compared to a CDRW drive. Check out this drive:
HERE (http://www.tristatecamera.com/view.php3?sid=7nbzlzwx&sku=ACE8432A&store=4&aisle=60&st=0&cs=select.php3). 8 meg buffer??? you could play quake 3 and burn at the same tiem with that! and for $167?? helluva deal.

Paul

[Gomer]

Roy, multi-read players are becoming pretty common. I have seen a lot of shelf systems that are multi-read. Just today in the Best
Buy add I saw discmen that were multi-read. My main use of RW's is for swapping files with friends who RW's as well. I think I have 4 floating around. If a friend has something I want I just tell em to throw it on a RW, and usually end up throwing something on the one they gave me previously. Also, there are discmen being made that read MP3's off of CD-RW's. That is the equivalant of a 6 disc changer in the palm of your hand.

[This message has been edited by Gomer (edited 07-10-2000).]

[Roy]

Cool! It's about time!

[Brangwen]

CDRW -- No doubt about it. You can also play on multiple systems if CDROM halfway decent, i.e., fast. And you can erase them or over write them many, many times. With a CD-R, you screw up and you have a coaster, period. I back up 50-60 megs at a time in a couple minutes re-writing. Why throw money away? Mine is a Memorex that I paid a couple hundred for from Staples maybe a year and a half ago. Also great for moving data to other computers.

Brangwen http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[Szech]

I usually use CD-Rs myself (music, archiving), but I use CD-RWs to gives files to friends. Disks don't hold enough, and I don't like the idea of spending $0.50 to give my friends 11 megs of data.

[Warthog]

I definately agree with Szech.

I have to admit, I don't use CD-RWs as much as CD-Rs but they are still handy. I have one that I keep my immediate backup on (Favorites, videos, documents, sounds, etc.). I constantly modify and delete unwanted files from it. If I had just a CD-R drive, it would suck because I couldn't update (modify) a file.

Warthog