Scussi DVD burners ?? at DVinfo.net

Ron Cooper · December 27th, 2008, 06:48 PM

I have an older pc with a scussi cd burner which has been ultra reliable compared to the ones on my newer PC's. However, I am thinking about putting in a scussi DVD burner - (don't need B/Ray), if they are still available, as the interface card etc is all there.

Any Suggestions ?

RonC.

Bill Ravens · December 27th, 2008, 07:15 PM

I suggest its spelled SCSI, not scussi.
Small Computer System Interface
Regardless, a scsi interface is considerably more expensive than SATA or IDE. Unless you're on a Sun Unix machine, i would suggest going to SATA

Mike McCarthy · December 27th, 2008, 07:20 PM

I would recommend against it. They are expensive due to the unpopular interface, and may at the end of the day still be a native IDE drive with a SCSI converter in the enclosure. That would negating any perceived quality benefit that used to be associated with SCSI devices. Burners are cheap enough these days that you can replace one easily if it breaks so just avoiding the hassle of coasters is the primary "reliability" issue. Plextor is one of the premium brands that cost more, but I rarely have issues burning hundreds of DVDs with cheap Sony, Philips, NEC, and Pioneer burners.

Jeff Harper · December 27th, 2008, 07:41 PM

I agree with everything said, and as an added twist, allow me to offer another option for you. I recently had bad experiences with two new burners in a row and out of desperation I went to Circuit City and purchased a Sony DRU-840A external USB burner. I needed to burn a customer's project immediately and since I didn't have time to determine if the problems I was having had to do with my PC or the burners, I went external as an experiment.

Anyway, I love it. It is located near my monitor which is great as my tower is 5 feet away from me. It stands on it's side, so it takes a minimum amount of space. I now have a perfectly fine internal burner, as the first two were apparently defective. But now I have both and I just like having them.

Ron Cooper · December 27th, 2008, 07:55 PM

Thanks Bill, Mike & Jeff, (yes, it's a while since I had to refer to a "SCSI" device ), I half expected this to be the case and probably the scsi interface would not handle newer devices anyhow. I will take your advice.
Thanks for the link Mike, - most helpful - I wasn't aware of the upper & lower field discrepancy.

RonC.

Mike McCarthy · December 27th, 2008, 11:19 PM

I use external USB burners on some of the systems I setup as well. They can be very convienent for quickly pulling a file off a CD since we keep the towers on the second floor at my facility.

It took me a minute to figure out what "link" you meant. That is just my standard signature, and today happens to point to my recent post on downconversion. But good, I am glad to see that it is getting noticed.

Tripp Woelfel · December 28th, 2008, 07:33 PM

When the burners in both my laptops started pining for the fiords, I got this. I think it might be what Jeff was referring to since his link pointed to an internal drive.

I have beaten the snot out of this thing over the last year and it just keeps running. I think it's coming up on about 500 disks burnt without a single coaster. I cannot ask for better reliability than that. The fact it cost me about US$100 and I can move it from machine to machine makes it even better.

December 27th, 2008, 06:48 PM	#1
Ron Cooper Major Player Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 481	Scussi DVD burners ?? I have an older pc with a scussi cd burner which has been ultra reliable compared to the ones on my newer PC's. However, I am thinking about putting in a scussi DVD burner - (don't need B/Ray), if they are still available, as the interface card etc is all there. Any Suggestions ? RonC.

December 27th, 2008, 07:20 PM	#3
Mike McCarthy Major Player Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Northern California Posts: 517	I would recommend against it. They are expensive due to the unpopular interface, and may at the end of the day still be a native IDE drive with a SCSI converter in the enclosure. That would negating any perceived quality benefit that used to be associated with SCSI devices. Burners are cheap enough these days that you can replace one easily if it breaks so just avoiding the hassle of coasters is the primary "reliability" issue. Plextor is one of the premium brands that cost more, but I rarely have issues burning hundreds of DVDs with cheap Sony, Philips, NEC, and Pioneer burners. __________________ For more information on these topics, check out my tech website at www.hd4pc.com

December 27th, 2008, 11:19 PM	#6
Mike McCarthy Major Player Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Northern California Posts: 517	I use external USB burners on some of the systems I setup as well. They can be very convienent for quickly pulling a file off a CD since we keep the towers on the second floor at my facility. It took me a minute to figure out what "link" you meant. That is just my standard signature, and today happens to point to my recent post on downconversion. But good, I am glad to see that it is getting noticed. __________________ For more information on these topics, check out my tech website at www.hd4pc.com

December 27th, 2008, 07:15 PM	#2
Bill Ravens Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: santa fe, nm Posts: 3,264 Images: 10	I suggest its spelled SCSI, not scussi. Small Computer System Interface Regardless, a scsi interface is considerably more expensive than SATA or IDE. Unless you're on a Sun Unix machine, i would suggest going to SATA

December 27th, 2008, 07:41 PM	#4
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	I agree with everything said, and as an added twist, allow me to offer another option for you. I recently had bad experiences with two new burners in a row and out of desperation I went to Circuit City and purchased a Sony DRU-840A external USB burner. I needed to burn a customer's project immediately and since I didn't have time to determine if the problems I was having had to do with my PC or the burners, I went external as an experiment. Anyway, I love it. It is located near my monitor which is great as my tower is 5 feet away from me. It stands on it's side, so it takes a minimum amount of space. I now have a perfectly fine internal burner, as the first two were apparently defective. But now I have both and I just like having them.

December 27th, 2008, 07:55 PM	#5
Ron Cooper Major Player Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 481	Thanks Bill, Mike & Jeff, (yes, it's a while since I had to refer to a "SCSI" device ), I half expected this to be the case and probably the scsi interface would not handle newer devices anyhow. I will take your advice. Thanks for the link Mike, - most helpful - I wasn't aware of the upper & lower field discrepancy. RonC.

December 28th, 2008, 07:33 PM	#7
Tripp Woelfel Trustee Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: North Conway, NH Posts: 1,745	When the burners in both my laptops started pining for the fiords, I got this. I think it might be what Jeff was referring to since his link pointed to an internal drive. I have beaten the snot out of this thing over the last year and it just keeps running. I think it's coming up on about 500 disks burnt without a single coaster. I cannot ask for better reliability than that. The fact it cost me about US$100 and I can move it from machine to machine makes it even better.