DVDRW DRIVE OPTIONS

DVDRW DRIVE OPTIONS

     I need a dvdrw drive can overburn cds, burn cds at 40-40x. And also burn dvds. I came across a few selections of various brands, from LG, NEC, BENQ, LITEON, SONY, and PIONEER. Which are the best options for me? Let’s look at some reviews.
Will head over to www.cdrlabs.com and take a look at some drives.

From the reviews

NEC ND-4550A
Highspeed cd burn 48x Good CD writing quality
Overburns upto 90mins
Overall performance/overall 7/8

NEC ND-3540A
Highspeed cd burn 48x
Overburns upto ?
Overall performance/overall 8/8

Pioneer DVR-R100
Highspeed cd burn 40x
Overburns upto 94mins
Overall performance/overall 5/7

LG GSA-4167B
Highspeed cd burn 48x
Overburns upto 95mins
Overall performance/overall 8/9

Sony DRU-810A
Highspeed cd burn 48x
Overburns upto ?
Overall performance/overall 9/9

BENQ DW1640
Highspeed cd burn 48x Good CD writing quality
Overburns upto ?
Overall performance/overall 9/9

Plextor PX-740A
Highspeed cd burn 48x
Overburns upto ?
Overall performance/overall 9/9

Plextor PX-716A
Highspeed cd burn 48x
Overburns upto ?
Overall performance/overall 9/9

The optical drive test show LG and Sony as winners, at this moment in time.  If by any chance Plextor will drop in price, it will moved to top of my list.

STORAGE PLANS APRIL 2006

STORAGE PLANS APRIL 2006

     I have been going on for a long time about getting a 1 terabyte disk storage solution, but this time it is getting more and more necessary that I need a good and reliable storage system. I am still trying to decide between raid5 or raid10. Now that most motherboards offer cheap raid5 solution, using on chip controllers –there’s no more need for expensive raid controllers.  The biggest advantage of raid10 is performance, and possibly safer in case of failure. Raid5 may be cheaper since I need less drives, also offering more space, but a reduction on performance when using less drives.
     I have chosen, Western digital Sata raid edition hard drives, either 400gb or 500gb models.

Calculations

Raid10
4x500 1tb 4*458=$1940 $1.94/gb
4x400 800gig – a bit too small, but less expensive 4*282 = $1128 $1.41/gb

Raid5
4x500 1.5tb lots of space, a bit pricy to buy the drives, low performance.  4*458=$1940 $1.29/gb
4x400 1.2tb less expensive 4*282 = $1128 $0.94/gb

Cost per Gigabyte

Western Digital 400gig SataII raid edition $244+tax$282 $0.705/gb
Western Digital 500gig SataII re2  $399+tax$458 $0.916/gb

     Things that I need to consider. The 500gb hard drives are new on the markets, therefore they are expensive. I should really lean towards 400gb drives. Also need to consider, most motherboard offer only 4 sata ports for raid5/10. Also the price per gigabyte clearly point to 400gig drives and using raid5 solution.
     For now, I need to keep a close eye on storage pricing over the summer. Hopefully there will be some drops in pricing, or newer drives will be released.