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Hardware Compatibiliy List

Thomasio

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My knowledge in this matter is definately a bit outdated
I remeber, there used to be a "Hardware Compatibility List" listing which drive supports which function, but that was ages ago
Now there is a simple note, saying ClonceCD works with almost all never drives, but in the FAQ there are several notes of specific drives not supporting some specific function

I used to buy my drives according to the list and I´ve always choosen one of the drives supporting ALL options
I am about to buy a new PC, including a new SATA CD/DvD drive and I´d like to have again a drive which supports ALL functions of CloneCD, in reading as well as in writing

Any suggestions?
 
I am aware of only one DVD software that has compatibility problems associated with other softwares or hardwares.
There were some issues associated with the newer Lite-On DVDRW's but I believe those have been resolved.
My best advice, read user's reviews on the site that are purchasing from. If that site doesn't provide that information look at the model you are considering on Newegg. You can always ask about a particular brand/model on this forum.
 
My problem is, I have no preferences, no restrictions, I need a new drive and all I want is make sure, it does what I want, which is basically a maximum of functionallity, because you never know which function you might need next week

To give you a few examples:

I remember from long ago, there have always been issues like, if you want to copy this type of CD, you need a reader that can read mode xy and a writer that can write mode yz, and often a specific reading mode wasn´t supported by any writer, meaning you had to have the right reader plus the right writer
The hardware compatibility list from CloneCD was a very good overview, which drive supported which mode and I find it hard to believe that nowadays ALL drives shall support all reading and writing modes (but again, my info on this matter is outdated big time)

On top of that (even though this isn´t really related to CloneCD) I have no clue which drives are good at all, all I know is, there are HUGE differences
Currently I have 2 IDE drives, one Sony, one BenQ, plus a 3rd drive in my notebook, which is NEC
The NEC is plain junk, it doesn´t read about 1/2 of all my CDs or DvDs, can´t handle 100min CDs, doesn´t recognize noname brands of recordable DvDs and what it writes no other drive can read
The BenQ is a pretty good writer, whatever it writes is perfectly readable with any other drive, it can write even the cheapest recordable DvDs, but its a bad reader, low error correction, often fails to read CDs when they are a bit older
The Sony is a great reader, high error correction, it can read even the oldest CDs, it can handle 100min CDs, but its a bad writer, it doesn´t recognize noname recordable DvDs and other drives can often not read what this one writes

So what I would like is a suggestion for a drive that supports all features of CloneCD, writes as good as my BenQ and reads as good as my Sony
I´ve tried reading some tests at several sites, I´ve also checked some sites which compare drives from different manufacturers, but I find the information they give pretty useless from a practical point of view, for example they tell a lot about speed, supported formats and included software, but rarely anything about error correction or how good other drives can read what this drive writes
 
Currently, I am using two Plextor 716SA.....two NEC 3550A....four Lite-On
I have no issues with any of them.
 
Well, my experience is a bit different
Plextor I have in good memory, but many years ago
NEC I had one a few years ago and one in my notebook now, both failing big time
Lite-On I´ve used for quite a while, up to a year ago (it used to be the most compatible from the old CloneCd compatibility list), but I´m dealing with the problem that now (about 2 years later) the CDs it has written ALL have 2 bad sectors in the same spot on ALL the CDs
Since I´ve verified all the CDs right after burning, I assume it used to be weak sectors which have become unreadable by time
Lucky enough its mostly backup copies, where my original is still available to make a new backup

The more I think about it, I always get back to the same idea:
Buy an external harddisk instead of a CD drive and save all my CDs as images there
Virtual Clone Drive would do the trick and it seems I could avoid some big headaches with CDs
 
NEC I had one a few years ago and one in my notebook now, both failing big time

"A few years ago" might account for the failure. Hardware will tend to fail with usage and time.

Lite-On I´ve used for quite a while, up to a year ago (it used to be the most compatible from the old CloneCd compatibility list), but I´m dealing with the problem that now (about 2 years later) the CDs it has written ALL have 2 bad sectors in the same spot on ALL the CDs
Since I´ve verified all the CDs right after burning, I assume it used to be weak sectors which have become unreadable by time
Lucky enough its mostly backup copies, where my original is still available to make a new backup

You verified the data to be correct after burning...2 yrs. later the data is corrupt....ALL have 2 bad sectors in the same spot on ALL the CDs =poor quality media.
 
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"A few years ago" might account for the failure. Hardware will tend to fail with usage and time.

I had one a few years ago obviously means it was new at that time, same as the one in my notebook now


You verified the data to be correct after burning...2 yrs. later the data is corrupt....ALL have 2 bad sectors in the same spot on ALL the CDs =poor quality media.

ALL CDs obviously means ALL brands of media, whether noname, Philips, Verbatim, TDK, whatever else, they ALL have 2 bad sectors in ALL CDs the Lite-On has burned while much older CDs burned with some other writer work fine
It was definately the writer messing up here, maybe the drive was bad from start, maybe even a case of warranty, finding out 2 years later is a bit too late for anything, but you may imagine that after this experience I´m not too excited about Lite-On anymore

However, thats all in the past, right now I´m looking forward to my new computer, I will build it myself and I just want to make sure I get a good CD/DvD drive into it
 
ALL CDs obviously means ALL brands of media, whether noname, Philips, Verbatim, TDK, whatever else, they ALL have 2 bad sectors in ALL CDs the Lite-On has burned while much older CDs burned with some other writer work fine
It was definately the writer messing up here, maybe the drive was bad from start, maybe even a case of warranty, finding out 2 years later is a bit too late for anything, but you may imagine that after this experience I´m not too excited about Lite-On anymore

You said you verified the data after the burn so it should be good after an extended period. That was the reasoning for my reference to poor quality media.
That has all the symptoms of poor quality media and not a faulty optical drive.
 
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