[Ham-Computers] Recommendations for CD reader/burner

[John Burch]

Zip disks of the 100 meg variety are getting harder
to find, and are becoming very expensive, so...

I want to purchase a CD R/W gadget for my computer
and am looking for recommendations, hints, and your
actual experience.  Of particular value to me would be
real experience as to what to look for, and especially, 
what to avoid.

I don't care if the unit installs inside the computer or is 
an outboard unit.  Outboard units might offer ease of 
installation.  The blinding speed of a direct connection
to the computer's internal bus is not an issue as I will be 
using the device for bulk storage.

The computer is an older P-166 with the incomparable
Win 98 SE operating platform.  It currently has a CD
reader configured on one of the IDE ports and the HD
on the other IDE port.  There is a Zip drive that also
hangs off of one of the IDE ports as a slave.  I'd rather
not disconnect the Zip drive, but will if I need to.

There are two USB "sockets" in the back of the thing, 
but I have no idea if they work or actually do anything 
as I have never done anything with them.  I have no
idea if they are useful for connection to an outboard 
device.

What more questions can I answer before you flood me 
with ideas, hints, and recommendations?

I am REALLY interested in advice about hardware or 
any software to support it that I should avoid!

Thanks for the read, and for any help with this.  I am
soliciting any information that you'd like to share with 
me before I stumble into this undertaking.

73 de John
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