TDK External 4x Multiformat External DVD-Rewritable Drive

I've been watching the price of external DVD writers for over a year. This particular item has dropped from over $400 to a little more than $200 (with a current $30 TDK rebate and careful comparison shopping --not neccesarily via Amazon) during that time. It has many positive points to recommend it, and only a few minor issues.

Strenghts:

(1) The external option is a blessing if you are not comfortable with --or simply don't want to spend the time-messing around inside your computer. Even though my currrent desktop is homebuilt and I'm fine with working inside the case, both of my IDE controller "master" settings are already dedicated (one to the hard drive, one to an existing CD-RW. The latter is capability I'll want to retain for a while longer).

(2) The presence of both USB 2.0 and FireWire interfaces adds obvious flexibility to this unit. Since the data transfer rates are nearly the same, this is a matter of personal preference (unless you only have one type available on your computer, of course).

(3) The ability to write in both DVD+RW and DVD-RW formats spares consumers any painful -and possibly regretable-"vhs vs. beta" type decisions as this market segment matures.

(4) This unit shipped with a surprisingly good printed users manual for both hardware and software operation.

(5) Worked great first time out of the box. Extensive data backups of up to 4.7 GB on a single DVD....how cool is that!

Nitpicks:

(1) The CD drawer operation is a little on the noisy side.

(2) Personal preference issue: The included burning software is Roxio's EZ CD Creator. I prefer Ahead Software's Nero package based on a couple years of experience with both. Your mileage and user experience may vary, of course.

The customers service and quality of service was excellent. I received the order the same day that it was esimated to be shipped. Previous to my order, I read consumer reports that provided positive reviews about the hardware and negative reports about the software that came with it. I had purchased new software and had no problems.

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