[Ham-Computers] RE: DVD burner and 80 pin IDE cable, laser burning life

[Hsu, Aaron (NBC Universal)]

>>> KO6BB wrote:
But the box said it required a special 80 pin IDE cable for operation (not included).

>>> My reply:
Yeah, as mentioned earlier, some things do get lost in the nomenclature - it should be "80-conductor" cable - this is specified in the ATA 66/100/133 spec and has been the standard for years.  It's still a 40-pin connector, but double the number of conductors (2 each).  And, the system/drive can determine if a 40 or 80 conductor cable is connected (pin 34 grounded on 80-conductor).


>>> KO6BB wrote:
As a final note, the instructions with this unit says it's expected life cycle is writing approximately 100,000 DVD's OR 1,000 Rewritable DVD's.

>>> My reply:
Interesting note about the R/W media.  I can understand why as "R" media uses a simple dye and R/W media uses a metallic alloy that probably needs more heat to change phase.  Also interesting is that the lifetime specified is the same as the number or read/write cycles on a DVD-RW disc.  Perhaps, again, something got lost in the translation and the 1,000 R/W cycles is per disc and not for the drive (though it would be "GREAT" disclaimer for warranty purposes!).


73,

  - Aaron, NN6O