Best Reader Consensus?

Computer Hardware
#1

I, like many others, have fallen in love with my IDE drives but my new motherboard won’t allow me to keep them all. I need to buy a new SATA drive where my only concern is how fast it reads and that it supports a broad range of media. Is there any kind of consensus of which current drives (Not brands) are the best at reading (Pressed DVD’s, DVD+R’s, CDR’s)?

Again my criteria:

  1. SATA Drive
  2. Generally considered a great reader.
  3. No riplock (read: hacked firmware supported)
  4. Ability to burn not a factor. Can be DVD-ROM drives, Combo’s, DVD Burners etc.

I’d appreciate any suggestions. Linking to any recent reviews would also be welcome. Thanks in advance.

#2

Welcome to CDF :slight_smile:

Just to start the ball rolling, here’s a mini-review for the LiteOn LH-20A1S, which fits your criteria: http://www.cdfreaks.com/reviews/Lite-On-LH-20A1S-DVD-Burner-Mini-Review

I have the LH-20A1H (LightScribe, IDE version) and it’s read everything I’ve thrown at it, bar a couple of scratched DVDs I bought off eBay. :wink:

#3

[QUOTE=ilnot1;1941301]I, like many others, have fallen in love with my IDE drives but my new motherboard won’t allow me to keep them all. I need to buy a new SATA drive where my only concern is how fast it reads and that it supports a broad range of media. Is there any kind of consensus of which current drives (Not brands) are the best at reading (Pressed DVD’s, DVD+R’s, CDR’s)?

Again my criteria:

  1. SATA Drive
  2. Generally considered a great reader.
  3. No riplock (read: hacked firmware supported)
  4. Ability to burn not a factor. Can be DVD-ROM drives, Combo’s, DVD Burners etc.

I’d appreciate any suggestions. Linking to any recent reviews would also be welcome. Thanks in advance.[/QUOTE]

Where you should be concern on Sata is HDD would improve there but for cd/dvd devices it won’t give you much improvement other then less cables to mess around with. Also you can find a decent PATA IDE controller card to find in your PCI slots to use your older IDE devices rather then jumping all to Sata devices…I for myself have and still use a liteon 832S and a 20A1H LL0C model and both have worked well for me so far. But if your considering buying a burner get a DVD burner as it will burn both CD and DVD media. Plus DVD drives are the usual way to go now as they are the newer technologies in drive reading and burning.

#4

@ [B][B]Arachne[/B]

Thanks, Liteon’s have always been good for me, especially for reading.

@ coolcolors

I appreciate your advice but I’m not looking for any kind of performance upgrade or even better cable management. I physically can only have 2 IDE drives in my system (currently: 1 pretty full 500 GB HDD & my trusty IDE burner). Also all my PCI slots are full - damn peripherals.
When you say your drives have worked well, does that mean they’ve read everything you needed them too?
[/B]

#5

Again @ Arachne

The LiteOn LH-20A1S was on my short list, with your recommendation and this review, which I can’t believe I didn’t find, my decision is made. Thank You. As an aside what exactly about that review is mini?

#6

[QUOTE=ilnot1;1941436]Again @ Arachne

The LiteOn LH-20A1S was on my short list, with your recommendation and this review, which I can’t believe I didn’t find, my decision is made. Thank You. As an aside what exactly about that review is mini?[/QUOTE]

Enjoy the drive! :slight_smile:

A mini review generally has less individual disc tests than a full review, and no “Advanced Tests” section (and probably a couple of other omissions I can’t think of!).