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What To Look For
Recommendations

Recommendations (for CD-ROM, CD-RW drives, DVD drives, DVD burners, and Combo Drives):

CD-ROM:

• In all honesty, just about any CD-ROM drive will do. In fact, there isn't much need for them at all since you will likely want DVD drives instead. However, there are some that stand out above others in speed, but the extra speed isn't usually very necessary except for the rare times you are installing games or extracting audio. Having said that, I recommend Lite-On's 52x.  Lite-On has recently built an excellent reputation in optical drives, and I can now highly recommend them.  The best part is that their drives are very cheap!  Lite-On is my number one pick in CD-ROM drives. 
• For SCSI, the Plextor UltraPlex 40x MAX is the best you can get, but it carries a pretty big price tag too. Their older version (the UltraPlex) is also great, but a little cheaper. It does extremely fast digital audio extraction, it spins at 6890 rpms, has a 512k buffer, is capable of burst transfer rates up to 20 MB/sec, and has an access time of 85 ms.
  The UltraPlex Wide will run on a 68 pin UW connector, but I advise against it unless you won't be using a burner or any other Narrow devices.

CD-ROM Burner:

• Soon, CD-Burners won't even be necessary, but right now, they're still somewhat cheaper than DVD burners (which also burn CDs). I highly recommend Lite-On's line of burners, particularly their 52x32x52x (model LTR-52327S) drive (52x write, 32x rewrite, and 52x read). Lite-On also makes some similar burners that are able to read DVDs. These have worked well for me and are a good way to get an all-in-one drive (except for DVD writing).
• Plextor makes an even better "PlexWriter Premium," but it's about twice the cost of the Lite-On above. It's a 52x32x52x drive with 8 MB cache.

DVD-ROM:

• Lite-On makes a great DVD drive as well as great CD-ROM and CD-RW drives.  Their LTD-163 is a 16x DVD drive like the Pioneer below, but it's a little faster with CD-ROMs and audio CDs at 48x. It's also less expensive than the Pioneer.
• Pioneer's 16x DVD (model DVD-120) is my 2nd choice for speed and reliability. The optional slotted interface is also a nice change of pace!  The price isn't overly expensive either.  I highly recommend Pioneer's DVD drives.  This one reads DVDs at 16x and reads CDs at 40x.
• Toshiba also makes good DVD drives, and their 16x DVD would be a good choice.

DVD Burners:

• Before I get into specific recommendations, be aware that today's burners are mostly single layer, and dual layer burners will be available soon.  These burners will be able to hold twice the amount of data on a single disc (from about 4.7 GB to about 9.4 GB). If you don't have a DVD burner yet, it may be worth waiting for one of these.  For now, there are plenty of good 8x single layer DVD burners to choose from. Here are just a few of the many good choices:
• The Lite-On DVD burners have all worked well for me. Their current best burner is the SOHW-812S.  I can highly recommend this burner as I've used it personally.
• The Toshiba SD-R5272 is an 8x dual format drive (records DVD-R and DVD+R at 8x) that's also able to properly backup copyright protected games. It's inexpensive to boot.
• NuTech DDW-082 is also a great choice. It's a great performer, it's inexpensive, and what sets it apart from other drives is that can burn at 8x on 4x media!
• Pioneer's DVR-A08 is a great dual format drive, but it's a little on the pricey side. The rumor is that this Pioneer's drives may also be able to be upgraded to dual-layer when dual-layer drives and media come out.  That's just speculation though, and it may never happen...
• Plextor's PX-708A is another good drive that's also a great CD burner.  Like the Pioneer, it's also very pricey.
• Another drive to consider is the Optorite DD0405. It's a burner I don't know a whole lot about personally, but it has a unique feature in that it can burn HD CDs (twice the data on a single CD-R disc).  That's kind of a moot point since DVD holds much more, but CD-Rs are so much cheaper...

Combo Drives:

• I don't normally recommend combo drives because of the additional moving parts (more likely to fail), but they can be convenient, particularly if you have limited space in your case. Also, they're usually more expensive and have slower speeds, but I've found that Lite-On makes a great combo drive that costs little more than their regular CD burners.  This drive reads DVDs as well as CDs and burning CDs. The drive's model number is SOHC-5232K, and it reads CDs at 52x, reads DVDs at 16x, writes at 52x, and rewrites at 32x. With no speed or price tradeoffs, why not? :)

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What To Look For