I just decided to ask for a CD-RW drive for Christmas. I checked out the MacWorld reviews, but I wonder about real-world advice. Anyone have anything to tell me?
I have a G4 with a 68020 processor, OS 9.0.4 and 192 MB of RAM; it has firewire although I haven't got anything to use firewire with. I'll be using the CD burner mostly for archiving and also, occasionally, for recording music.
I hope you checked out MacUser's labs too! :-)
I don't have it to hand I'm afraid, but I could grab the names of the ones we liked best for you if you like. But remember that CD-RW isn't quite as flexible as many people believe: you have to erase and rerecord the disks if you want to change things on them, you can't treat them like normal reusable hard disks.
Most people end up using ordinary CD-R media most of the time, so fast performance with plain recordables is generally more important thant CD-RW speed. (Which is always slower anyway.) And remember that any recorder is only as good as the media it uses. You can save money by buying cheap media, and for general use that's fine. But you may not be able to safely use the higher recording speeds with lower-cost media.
Here's what I _didn't_ do and I'm sorry that I didn't. Adaptec (the company
that makes Toast, the CD writing software) sells a product that allows you
to use a CD-RW disk as a 640 megabyte floppy disk: put it in change things,
save to CD, and so on. Just like a ZIP drive or floppy or whatever.
The catch is this: it doesn't work with ALL models of CD rewriters. (You're beginning to suspect what I didn't do, aren't you.)
If you think you _EVER_ might be the slightest bit interested in that capability, get in touch with Adaptec and ask what models of CD-rewriters are currently supported and eliminate all others from your Christmas list.
Madeline
... just decided to ask for a CD-RW drive for Christmas. I checked out the
MacWorld reviews, but I wonder about real-world advice. Anyone have anything
to tell me?
Not much, but we do have a CD burner at work that's been doing us good service for more than a year. One thing I can recommend is that you make sure you're not doing too much work in the background (e.g., downloading e-mail) while you burn a CD; even with the good disk buffers provided with most modern CD burners, the most common cause of a failed burn is that the drive runs out of data because the computer couldn't keep up with the burner.
A quick question: is this really -RW (rewritable) or just -R (recordable)? There's a fair difference between the two, and you have to make sure you're using the right media. And speaking of media, make sure the CDs you buy are rated for the drive speed you're using. Older media, rated for use with slower drives, may not work well or at all with the new, faster drives.
I have a G4 with a 68020 processor, OS 9.0.4 and 192 MB of RAM
You got rooked. They haven't made 68020 processors for something like 10 years now. Send it back, and ask for a real G4 processor. <g>
George Casler
Here's what I _didn't_ do and I'm sorry that I didn't. Adaptec (the company
that makes Toast, the CD writing software) sells a product that allows you
to use a CD-RW disk as a 640 megabyte floppy disk: put it in change things,
save to CD, and so on. Just like a ZIP drive or floppy or whatever.
What's the name of this product?
keith:
Most people end up using ordinary CD-R media most of the time, so fast performance
with plain recordables is generally more important than CD-RW speed. (Which
is always slower anyway.)
Madeline, I don't know that much about CD writer drives; sounds like a
firewire one might be your best bet. I have a Mac G3 300 (beige) that has
no USB port or firewire, so I bought a used LaCie drive (SCSI model) from
Smalldog. It works OK for both audio & data, except that with audio I
have to copy at a slower speed for best results (2x works better for me; I
go to 8x for data). You want to check when buying a CD writer as to which
software comes with it. Everyone I've talked to says Toast is best; this came
with mine and it does work very smoothly.
Your question did bring up a question that I have. My CD writer wouldn't accept some blank CD-RWs that I bought in a box that had both CD-Rs and CD-RWs. I noticed that the CD-R disks were labeled "conforms to Orange Book II standards," while the CD-RW lists were labeled "conforms to Orange Book III standards." I have been meaning to look this up but haven't had time. Does anyone know why the CD-RW wouldn't work in my drive? Do I have to buy a certain type to use in this older machine of mine? Or do I need to buy the "real" version of Toast? I downloaded an upgrade to the latest OEM version, but have been thinking about buying the "real" Toast so that I can burn MP3s irectly without having to convert them to AIFF first, but it's something like $70 for the software and I haven't felt like shelling that out! Any thoughts?
Madeline Koch:
I just decided to ask for a CD-RW drive for Christmas. I checked out the MacWorld
reviews, but I wonder about real-world advice. Anyone have anything to tell
me?
All I can tell you is personal experience. I've gone through three CD burners -- a Sony SCSI, a Yamaha SCSI, and now a Plexwriter 12/10/32A Firewire. The first two gave all sorts of problems. The Firewire device has performed perfectly. It has yet to fail in writing a CD, and with its 12X write speed it takes about six minutes to write a complete CD. I would definitely recommend Firewire.
After you get a burner, I would recommend using only high-quality blank CDs, and also to make double copies of any valuable archives -- it's not unknown for a CD that checks out fine when it's recorded to go bad within a few months. I think most if not all burners currently on the market have rewrite capabilities, but I can't imagine why anyone would really want to use it, since blank CDs are so inexpensive and burning is so slow.
Recently I said: I hope you checked out MacUser's labs too! :-)
For those that don't know, MacUser is alive and well. The _original_ MacUser, at least. The US MacUser was owned by Zif Davis. (We - Dennis Publishing - sold the MacUser US publishing rights to them in 1986) So when IDG bought Zif the other year they took over MacUser US. And as they already owned Macworld, Zif's Mac mag faded away.
But over here in the UK MacUser is still going strong. And I do think we're a damn sight more professional and on the ball about things than the US MacUser ever was. <g>
The MacUser CD-RW labs can be found at http://www.macuser.co.uk/ - click the Labs link. You'll need to register to get very far in the site - but I think you'll find it useful.
Madeline:
I have a G4 with a 68020 processor, OS 9.0.4 and 192 MB of RAM; it has firewire
although I haven't got anything to use firewire with. I'll be using the CD
burner mostly for archiving and also, occasionally, for recording music.
Firewire transfers data much more quickly than USB. Some USB burners can't record at 4x speed even if their hardware can, just because they don't get the data quickly enough. I'd go with firewire if possible.
Also, if you're considering using Retrospect for making backups on CDs, check the Retrospect site for the list of CD burners that their software is compatible with. They support most of them, but there are a few popular burners that are incompatible.
That's a terrific site, Keith. Thanks -- I got a whole education on CD burners,
written real, live English. Now I just have to convince my family that I'm
worth a $700 Christmas present (usually we spend, oh, $10).
Direct CD. Information available at http://www.adaptec.com/products/overview/directcd.html