(Note: This is an old review that was reposted in the correct category because Epinions.com accidentally put it in the wrong one)
This is a review of the parallel interface EIDE LG GSA-H55NK combination DVD and CD Burner. This burner turned out to be an outstanding performer, in fact the best one yet for me and for a DVD and CD combination unit to be the most economical one for me so far. This OEM unit cost me $23 plus $1.96 for California sales tax and free shipping and handling at newegg.com. I was able to burn 16X DVD R at the full speed of the media without errors. The maximum speed is 20 X. For DVD RW, it can handle up to 8X media. I don't have any 8X DVD RW media to try out on this unit but I do have the 4X variety. And they also work extremely well on this burner. This unit also burns CD extremely well as well at up to 48X and CD-RW up to 32X. For CD-RW media, the fastest ones I have are 12X variety. And all of the types of medias so far I've tried works extremely well on this burner. So far it did not produce any coasters. Being my newest burner, this unit also handles buffer overrun extremely well to avoid getting coasters. Because of this I feel very confident of using the higher speed to burn with this unit than otherwise with a lesser unit. This combination CD and DVD burner basically able to handle all your burning needs to a point where it's not necessary to have another burner on your computer other than this one. To put it in another way, I feel this would be all the CD DVD burner you would ever need on your computer and relatively inexpensive to boot. The types of media that I didn't get a chance to try on this burner, because I did not have them such as the minus variety CD-R and dual layer DVD medias of which this burner is capable of burning. This model also features SecurDisc™ Technology which I didn't use. It doesn't have the LightScribe feature, for that get model NO # LG GSA-H55LI instead.
This LG GSA-H55NK is the OEM version, there is also a retail version as well and that one is the LG GSA-H55NBRL also with the black faceplate. These models only comes with the black faceplate presently. A few places also sells one with the rare beige faceplate as well. Nero Express burning software was provided with this OEM version. This unit is also about 1/2" shorter than the average burners. This would help a lot when it comes to ventilation in a small form factor computer case. To fully utilize the capability of this burner its best to have it install in the reasonably fast computer such as a Pentium 4 or equivalent with at least 3 GHz or better and with 512 MB of RAM or better. It's also best to have enough free hard drive space no less than 20 GB and be sure to defrag the hard drive regularly. The problem with most DVD burners on slow computer is you would be unable to use the higher speed without making coasters. On the other hand, burning CDs uses far less resources from your computer then DVD burning. Hard drive access speed also is very important when it comes to DVD burning because it has to be able to feed a uninterrupted data stream to the burner. In a brief interruption, burner's buffer feeds the burner and if that isn't enough burning is temporary slowed or turned off to avoid messing up the burn. This is the reason why a unit like this would perform its best on a fairly recent computer with quick hardware. From my experience, a DVD or CD burner will in time fail from wear and tear on the laser or the optics long before the electronics and motors failure. This failure is probably caused by the laser either losing calibration or weakening from prolonging use. Using a CD lens cleaner disk does not help to restore operation. In time, you would have to reduce your burning speed more and more to avoid coasters. CD or DVD reading operation is less affected. I've even tried taking a drive apart to clean the lens manually with no affect. When you reach that point,its best to replace the drive. Also by then, better and cheaper drives will be on the market with more features. In time DVD will become obsolete because of the Blue Ray DVD format. The price of the combination Blue Ray DVD, CD and DVD burners will come down in price even more in the same way that CDs and DVD drives has became.
Specifications:
Write Speed (DVD+R) 2.4x, 4x (CLV), 8x (ZCLV), 12x (PCAV), 16x, 18x,20x (CAV)
Write Speed (DVD+R DL) 2.4x, 4x (CLV), 6x , 8x(ZCLV), 10x (PCAV)
Write Speed (DVD-R) 2x, 4x(CLV), 8x (ZCLV), 12x (PCAV), 16x, 18x,20x (CAV)
Write Speed (DVD-R DL) 4x (CLV), 6x, 8x (ZCLV), 10x (PCAV)
Write Speed (DVD+RW) 2.4x, 4x,6x (CLV), 8x (ZCLV)
Write Speed (DVD-RW) 1x, 2x, 4x , 6x (CLV)
Write Speed (DVD-RAM) 2x, 3x (CLV) , 5x, 6x, 8x,12x PCAV (Ver. 2.0 & Higher )
Write Speed (CD-R) 16x (CLV), 24x (ZCLV), 40x, 48x (CAV)
Write Speed (CD-RW) 4x, 10x, 16x (CLV), 24x, 32x (ZCLV)
(High Speed: 10x . Ultra Speed ≥ 16x)
Read Speed (CD-R/RW/ROM) 48x/40x/48xmax
Read Speed (DVD-R/RW/ROM) 16x/12x/16x max
Read Speed (DVD-ROM) 16x/12x max (Single/Dual)
Read Speed (DVD-RAM) 5x, 12x PCAV
Read Speed (DVD-Video(CSS Compliant Disc)) 8x max. (Single/Dual layer)
Write Method(DVD-RAM/+RW) Random Write
Write Method(DVD-R/RW) Disc at Once
Incremental Recording
Restricted Overwrite (DVD-RW only)
Write Method(DVD+R) Sequential Recording
Write Method(DVD+RW) Random Write
Write Method(CD-R/RW) Disc at Once (DAO)
Session at Once (SAO)
Track at Once (TAO)
Packet Writing
Access Time DVD-ROM (SL/DL) 140/175 ms typ / CD-ROM 120 ms typ
Buffer Size 2MB
Loading Type Tray type
Interface Type X3T13 ATA/ATAPI5/1321D
W x D x H 148 x 42 x 17 mm
Weight Max 800g (Net)
Sustained Transfer rate DVD-ROM 22.16 Mbytes/s (16x) max
maxCD-ROM 7,200 kB/s (48x) max
SecurDisc™ Technology
- Password Protection
- Digital Signature
- Data Integrity Check
- Data Reliability
- Copy Protection (Supports PDF file only)
▶ SecurDisc™ Technology has been jointly developed by LG and Nero and is an innovative hardware/software package, based on security technology, providing reliable, highly secure data protection and content access control for data recorded on regular CD and DVD formats.
* For more information, visit http://www.securdisc.net
I will update this review as I learn more about this product
Recommended:
Yes
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