[Ham-Computers] RE: DVD Drive Advice

[Hsu, Aaron (NBC Universal)]

Robert,

The larger problem is ususally compatibility with DVD players.  If you're
just storing data, then either format, "+" or "-", will work fine.

As to brands, I prefer Pioneer and Plextor drives.  More to the point,
Pioneer for DVD R drives and Plextor for CD-R drives.

For long term storage, it's best to find media that generates the lowest
amount of C1/C2 errors after the initial burn.  C2 errors will "grow" in
number as the media ages, so you want to have the least amount of initial C2
errors.  It's important to note that matching the media to the drive is more
important than the manufacturer or quality of the media.  Some drives
perform well with certain brands of media where other drives will "choke" on
that same media.  The only way to find out is to "sample" a few on your
drive and run a diagnostic to determine the amount of errors.  Once you've
found media that works well with your drive, buy enough from the same
manufacturing batch to last you a while.  As quality varies from batch to
batch (even within the same manufacturer), you'll need to test again when
time comes to buy another batch.

Also, though there are many various "brands" of media on the market, there
are only a small handful of actual manufacturers of media (CD-R or DVD-R).
Many "brand name" companies like TDK, Imation, and Fuji don't actually
manufacture the media - they buy in lots (outsource) from media
manufacturers.  The discs you buy today from TDK may not be from the same
manufacturer as the discs you bought a few months ago or a few months from
now.  Even a company like Verbatim, who manufactures media, outsource some
products.  Only Verbatim's "DataLife Plus" product is manufactured by
Verbatim - their other products are outsourced.  Note the "Plus" in the name
- the "DataLife" products without the "Plus" are outsourced.

In terms of general quality, I find that media manufactured in Japan usually
generates less errors (at least for my drives).  I know of only two media
manufacturers in Japan - Taiyo-Yuden (TY) and Toatsu-Mitsui.  Both have
fairly high quality control standards.  Some of the Fujifilm 50-pack CD-R
spindles are manufactured by TY and those are the ones I currently buy in
stores (the cakebox is labled with "Made in Japan" as opposed to "Made in
Taiwan").  Verbatim DataLife Plus is my preferred alternative for CD-R's.

As for DVD media, I haven't found a single source yet.  My DVD burning has
been relatively limited though I've had a drive for 3 years.  I recently
bought a faster drive though and may start switching to DVD's for certain
jobs.  The bigest fear is since you're sticking 4.7GB (vs 650MB) on the same
physical size media, even small scratches can be a concern.

Here's a couple of links to good CD-R info.  Much applies to DVD's too.

http://www.mrichter.com - Mike Richter's CDR Primer
http://www.cdrfaq.org   - Andy McFadden's CDR FAQ

And there's a moderated Yahoo group that has a few "experts" on burning and
media quality.  This group use to be run as an Adaptec BBS (when they
published Easy CD Creator).  It's not as busy as it use to be, but there's
still good info to be found.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/advanced_cdr/


73,

  - Aaron Hsu, NN6O (ex-KD6DAE)
    {nn6o}@arrl.net
    {athsu}@nbcuni.com
    No-QRO Int'l #1,000,006
    . -..- - .-. .-   ".... . .- ...- -.--"
 

-----Original Message-----
From: WA5CAB at cs.com [mailto:WA5CAB at cs.com] 
Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2004 6:47 AM
To: Ham-Computers at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Ham-Computers] DVD Drive Advice

Group,

I'm considering shifting my TM scan archives from CD-R to one of the flavors

of DVD R.  I'd like recommendations on what -RW drive to buy.  Price isn't
an 
important issue and about the only physical prerequisites are internal drive

and EIDE or maybe SATA interface.

Comments on the advisablility of switching from CD-R's would also be
welcome.

Robert Downs - Houston
<http://www.wa5cab.com> (Web Store)
<wa5cab at cs.com> (Primary email)
<wa5cab at houston.rr.com> (Backup email)