# What do people think of Samsung DVD burners?



## FordGT90Concept (May 19, 2011)

I need to stock up on IDE/PATA burners for my server.  I tried SATA and it was a disaster and the stock of IDE drives at vendors is steadily declining.  I need these drives to last and last a long time because, once it fails, the odds of getting another are virtually none.

Here's what Newegg has and I need to know which out of those 9 are the best (create the fewest coasters and likely to last the longest):
 Computer Hardware, CD / DVD Burners & Media, CD /...

Samsung was the only one with 100+ reviews (except the chestest Lite-On drive) and it supports 16x DVD+R DL burning which none of the Lite-On drives do.  I was leaning towards it but I need to know its the best available.

I don't need software and I don't need cables so OEM is fine.


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## caleb (May 19, 2011)

Its a lottery I think. Most of components are virtually identical. 
Plextor is (or at least used to be) one of the top brands in optical stuff. Their price was always higher than regular ones on the market.
I think LG will be easier to replace after two years or so as its a very popular optical brand (at least here).


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## Deleted member 3 (May 19, 2011)

Why would a server need a stock of burners? And why is SATA a disaster?


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## qubit (May 19, 2011)

Firstly, I'd also like to ask Dan's question:



DanTheBanjoman said:


> Why would a server need a stock of burners? And why is SATA a disaster?



Secondly, burners all seem to be much of a muchness nowadays, so get whatever one takes your fancy. They're all built down to a ridiculously low price now, so don't expect too much out of them. And yes, if you want to have working IDE burners available for years to come you should probably pick a model and then get 10 of them.

Avoid Plextor now. Since their glory days of enthusiast drives, they got rid of those and now just rebadge Lite-On's instead. They've somehow managed to keep the stupidly high price, though.  Also, the Plextors I had, while they burned very well, were _not_ reliable and out of three, only one still works. They weren't even used that much.

One can't find many meaningful reviews of burnes now, either. Here's one source though: www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Home.aspx

Hope this helps.


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## micropage7 (May 19, 2011)

samsung is nice but on some case it looks the optic aint read well. maybe it depends on the disc or burner quality. lg or lite on works better on that
sorry if double post indosat provider is kinda f**** slow and make me impatience


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## dhdude (May 19, 2011)

I seriously wouldn't recommend; check out my sys. specs for my failure rate.

Honestly they are appauling, they really have gone down hill since about 2005/6, and tbh I used to be a big fan of Samsung products, but my experience with these drives has made me think twice before buying any of their products now.

The Samsung DVD rewriter thats in my machine right now, and its predecessor, quickly lost the ability to read the discs they burnt no matter what media I used, and other machines read them fine. Then after that they lost the ability to read certain sectors of certain discs, not all, just seemed at random, and then in the end they both just wouldnt respond. The first Samsung rewriter drive I replaced just because it displayed the first symptom and that was IDE, and the next 2 were SATA, so bar the interface its connected with, Im pretty sure all these Samsung drives have the same internals. And yes, with each drive I tried head cleaners, and firmware updates (of which Samsung seems to post a fair few to fix bugs in the previous firmware...)

All in all I wouldnt recommend them to anyone, and I used to be a fan :/


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## FordGT90Concept (May 19, 2011)

DanTheBanjoman said:


> Why would a server need a stock of burners?


I do most large downloads, which 9/10 get burned, on my server.  That way I don't have to burden the network with moving multiple GiB files from computer to computer just to burn it.  The server also requires an optical drive for installing stuff.  Most of the data, like pictures, are already on my server too so can burn those as well without involving the network.  Hitting two birds with one stone.  Not to mention, if it has to burn over night, it doesn't matter--it will be running no matter what (DL disks often take an hour each).



DanTheBanjoman said:


> And why is SATA a disaster?


The Intel SATA chip on my motherboard freaks out whenever it sees a non-RAID'd SATA drive.  I cannot add a second SATA card because the motherboard is already running out of memory for POST (to the point I can't update my exisiting card BIOS because they are 4 KiB bigger).  IDE is the only option.


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## Jstn7477 (May 19, 2011)

External USB enclosure + a stack of "disposable" SATA optical drives = profit?

Pretty sure most boards can boot from them these days, but don't quote me on it.

Besides, I'm sure Intel will nuke IDE soon anyway? How long are you hanging onto the same server for?


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## FordGT90Concept (May 19, 2011)

USB gets saturated monthly when I back up all user data on to an external drive.  The 20+ MB/s a DVD+/-RW drive requires to prevent buffer underrun + transfer speeds of up to 100 MB/s the HDD requires easily saturates the 480 Mb/s bandiwdth of USB 2.0.  Moreover, the drive gets used far too frequently to fumble with an external device and it will create issues with the UPS (no ports to plug in another device to the battery).

I'm hanging on to it until the motherboard or one of the CPUs die and it is impossible for me to replace them for a reasonable price.  $100 worth of optical drives is cheaper than the $2000+ (dual processor motherboard with audio, two CPUs, and RAM) it would cost to change its primary components.  Even if it did die, there's still a lot of PATA-capable computers around.  In fact, none of mine lack a PATA header.  Besides, the only advantage SATA has over PATA for optical drives is airflow and I use round PATA cables so that really isn't a concern either.


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## Red_Machine (May 19, 2011)

I have a Pioneer drive, and I know that you can get IDE versions of it.  You may want to look one up.


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## Bo$$ (May 19, 2011)

LG are tops, never had one fail on me, they are quiet and pretty fast


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## FordGT90Concept (May 19, 2011)

Red_Machine said:


> I have a Pioneer drive, and I know that you can get IDE versions of it.  You may want to look one up.


Pioneer is out of the IDE game.  The only ones that can be bought new have triple the price ($65) of what they are actually worth.




Bo$$ said:


> LG are tops, never had one fail on me, they are quiet and pretty fast


How are they with media compatibility (most of my disks are Verbatim or Memorex) and the ability of other drives to read their disks?


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## Jstn7477 (May 19, 2011)

ide to sata converter

Interested in trying one of these?


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## FordGT90Concept (May 19, 2011)

It crossed my mind but I just don't know if it is going to create issues with the other hardware or not.

Anyone have experience with them?


Edit: Most are IDE to SATA but a few are SATA to IDE (which I would need).  One problem I see is that a lot of these devices require power from an FDD cable.  I know newer power supplies have only one FDD cable and yes, I have an FDD drive.  I guess I could get a molex -> FDD adapter.

This one has caught my eye:
SYBA SD-ADA50016 SATA to IDE (IDE to SATA) Bi-Dire...

...but the reviews sound like exactly the problems I had when plugging a SATA drive into the Intel controller.


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## Delta6326 (May 19, 2011)

Out of all the burners at newegg that are ide this LG is the best...
LG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-...


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## Peter1986C (May 19, 2011)

Asus is good as well, though I don't know their OEM (at least it is not TSST (Toshiba-Samsung), they might be PLDS (Philips-Lite-on) or HLDS (Hitachi-LG), or self-brew but that is unlikely today).


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## qubit (May 19, 2011)

FordGT90Concept said:


> It crossed my mind but I just don't know if it is going to create issues with the other hardware or not.
> 
> Anyone have experience with them?



Yup, I had one of these and certainly had 'issues' with it, but not in the way you might expect...

You know how these things are keyed so they'll only plug in one way? Yeah, I thought so too. Only, this one was so cheaply made that it plugged in just fine either way round into the IDE port. I did that without realizing it and the thing died straight away - £20 down the drain the first time this happened and I'd only just bought it, too.  Luckily, it didn't take anything else out with it. You have been warned!


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## LAN_deRf_HA (May 19, 2011)

qubit said:


> Firstly, I'd also like to ask Dan's question:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



My last drive was a plextor, which used sony not lite-on. It's true it's a $10 premium for a re-badge but the key thing is they use a custom firmware and housing for noise reduction and it really made a difference. I don't know about you but dvd drive noise is just unbearably high. As for drives in general, I'd recommend searching for a custom firmware regardless of what you buy. I don't know why but the stock firmware is absurdly buggy. Ramp up and ramp down speeds make no sense. It's like they all made a crap original firmware and have just been tacking on compatibility updates here and there, never doing a serious revamp.


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## qubit (May 20, 2011)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> My last drive was a plextor, which used sony not lite-on. It's true it's a $10 premium for a re-badge but the key thing is they use a custom firmware and housing for noise reduction and it really made a difference. I don't know about you but dvd drive noise is just unbearably high. As for drives in general, I'd recommend searching for a custom firmware regardless of what you buy. I don't know why but the stock firmware is absurdly buggy. Ramp up and ramp down speeds make no sense. It's like they all made a crap original firmware and have just been tacking on compatibility updates here and there, never doing a serious revamp.



But aren't Sony's also rebadged Lite-On's? I know they were a few years ago. Regardless, it's a semantic difference, as current Plextors aren't the same animals as their older enthusiast drives. They don't have any of the killer enthusiast features, such as quality testing and custom burn modes, which used to justify their high prices. They even let their www.plextools.com website expire, which is a disservice to all their customers who spent top dollar with them. At least keep the site going, even without further updates, it doesn't cost that much. 

It's a real shame and I very much miss their old enthusiast drives, but I guess it's caused by rotating media being made obsolete by USB flash drives.

I agree about the noise from these drives being irritating. It's not just the volume of the noise, but also its quality. A buzzing/humming noise is way more irritating than even a fairly loud windrush noise and Plextors were better than most in this respect. Perhaps they still, I wouldn't know.

Are you saying that the current Plextors have very buggy firmware, or all brands of optical drives?  I've not really noticed any problems. Plextor are really taking the piss if they're charging over the odds for standard drives and still putting bad firmware in them. A brand to avoid now, indeed. :shadedshu


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## FordGT90Concept (May 20, 2011)

I guess its down to Lite-On or LG then.  I have lots of Lite-On drives but never used LG.  The LG drives do have faster DVD+R DL speeds but speeds really aren't my concern: compatibility is.  Has anyone recently had issues with Lite-On or LG drives in regards to medium compatibility (e.g. few/no coasters on Verbatim, Memorex, and other brands) as well as cross-brand read capability (e.g. disk burned on LG have no issues being read by a Lite-On).

I don't care about noise as long as it doesn't sound like the disk is going to splinter.


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## timta2 (May 20, 2011)

FordGT90Concept said:


> Pioneer is out of the IDE game.  The only ones that can be bought new have triple the price ($65) of what they are actually worth.



That's because it's the retail price when these models were current, a long time ago. The retailers aren't going to sell it for less than they paid for them! I will say they are built like tanks, pick up one of these older Pioneers and compare it to something modern. Like the difference between a Corsair power supply and the $19.99 special. 

I've always been a Pioneer fan. They are usually the first to market a burner. There were Pioneer CD burners before just about anyone else got into the game. I think that's true for DVD and Blu-Ray as well. I have 3 older Pioneers (IDE) and they all still work great after hundreds or thousands of burns.  

I wouldn't think twice about buying a Samsung, LG, Lite-On, etc though. They are so cheap they are practically disposable nowadays. For $20 bucks I could throw it in the trash and order another.


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## 95Viper (May 20, 2011)

Personally, I think Samsung optical drives are great, never had one die on me.
And, they seem to keep the firmware updated, for disc compatibility and such.
Got one in each system. 
Also, have had good luck with LG and HP.
Got an ASUS. too, and that is a decent drive, but I had to RMA the first one, as it quit reading disks.
Best I ever had was a Yamaha; but, alas, I believe they no longer make them for the PC.


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## Delta6326 (May 20, 2011)

FordGT90Concept said:


> I guess its down to Lite-On or LG then.  I have lots of Lite-On drives but never used LG.  The LG drives do have faster DVD+R DL speeds but speeds really aren't my concern: compatibility is.  Has anyone recently had issues with Lite-On or LG drives in regards to medium compatibility (e.g. few/no coasters on Verbatim, Memorex, and other brands) as well as cross-brand read capability (e.g. disk burned on LG have no issues being read by a Lite-On).
> 
> I don't care about noise as long as it doesn't sound like the disk is going to splinter.



I have built multiple computers with LG and Lite-On(SATA) i have never had any issues with them. and currently im using a Sammy and it works great as well.


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## theJesus (May 20, 2011)

I had a Samsung IDE optical drive from 06/07 until about a year go when I finally got a SATA one.  I never had a problem with it.

edit:  It was a Samsung WriteMaster SH-S182M.


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## ctrain (May 22, 2011)

My SATA Samsung DVD burner that went to replace an old IDE Lite-on is insanely loud once it gets cranking. It easily overpowers my entire system in terms of noise... and my GPU fan is pegged at 98%. I have a loud fucking computer but I don't even understand where all its noise comes from.

I honestly thought it was DOA when I got it but it's been kicking ever since and has never failed me yet so it stays around.

tempted to take a video just to show off its power.


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