Life Expectancy Of CD RW drive

tinofapples

As the title says how long should you get out of one of these with moderate use ?

I bought a Compaq PC two years ago from Compustore but the CD RW has been fuked for the last 6 weeks .

If you put a cd into it it will attempt to read it and cause the PC to crash .

I tried rebooting the PC last night but that brought another problem , there's a CD error message appearing before windows loads which causes the load to begin all over again and again.

Anyway I got pissed off with it last night disconnected the drive and wnet to bed , will have another look this evening , any recommendations , if all else fails I think I'll just buy an external CD RW , is there any issues with these ? As opposed to internal ones ? Besides them being more expensive ?

Cheers,
Dave

Nitrox

Sounds like the drive is faulty yes, i asume you have tried more than one cd?
The life expectancy is usually called MTBF and will sometimes be available on the manufactureres website.
If it is a Compaq the CD RW will most likely not have been made by Compaq, so you need to find out what drive they have used and check the wbe accordingly.

As for external the only difference really is that the drive has been put in a external drive cage with own power supply and interface to connect to your pc, this is where the extra cost come from.
In some shops you can get these cages and then install your own drive inside, this is very easy and you can reuse the drive cage if the drive gets faulty.

tinofapples

Yeah , you're right about the drive not been Compaq .

My DVD drive is a Compaq model but the Writer is a Philips , I guess I'll need a model number though .

Is it fuked do you think or will it work again ?

I have tried numerous CD's .

Mixie

I have the exact same problem with a Philips CDRW 2400 Series drive. It has been replaced several times, and each time after a varied period of use it would exhibit those same symptoms you described.

Tech support said it is a known problem with some Philips drives and kept replacing them for me.

Unfortunately my drive went again last week, but I'm out of my coverage period

Occidental

Any bog standard CD-RW will work fine in your PC, with at most a new set of drivers for your writing software. Decent brands would include LG(Hitachi) and Lite-On, plus many more. Shouldn't set you back more than about €80 max and you should be getting at least 2 or 3 years out of each unit (unless your PC is sitting on shagpile carpet and you eat toast while working at it).

Nitrox

Go for quality like Plextor, but most of the hardware in Plextor is available in Lite-on also, but still Plextor is the Champ!!

tinofapples

My CD Writer is a Philips Model No:CDD4801/72.

Theres a sticker wrapped around one corner stating "Warranty Void If Seal Is Broken"

It was manufactured in Feb 2001 would I have a warranty on it ? Unlikely I'm sure .

There's another wee sticker that says "Replace with Compaq Spare 4/4/32X CD Quartz [191162-001]"

Whats this about ?

Where's the best place to get a new one cheap ?

maxpower

I think it'd be better to go for a new one! komplette have some good cheep ones.... but ya need a credit card!!!

tinofapples

What are Iomega (Predator) like ?

There's an external one in PC World on the paper today for €119.99 :

40x Write, 12x rewrite , 40x Read
USb 1.1 and 2.0 interface , Buffer underrun protection.
Bundled s/ware included.

Creamy Goodness

they alright if ya have usb2 if ya don't get an internal one

Sir Random

I've managed to "rescue" a couple of drives by cleaning the reading eye with a cotton bud. If you smoke, there's probably a layer of tar on the glass eye. They can be awkward to get at, but it's worth the hassle if you get another 6 months out of it.

Meadows

do your self a favour and buy a new one
you can get a fairly kick ass one for €90
(wasnt like that in my day)

elsoldemayo

Originally posted by tinofapples
What are Iomega (Predator) like ?

There's an external one in PC World on the paper today for €119.99 :

40x Write, 12x rewrite , 40x Read
USb 1.1 and 2.0 interface , Buffer underrun protection.
Bundled s/ware included.

I have an Iomega Predator and it is excellent. It came with a usb 2 pci card aswell so I can write full cd's in about 3 mins.
Only annoyance is when it spins up to full speed it sounds like it is going to take off.

Meadows

i tell a lie
there are 52 speeds on komplett for just €42

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?action=info&p=38145&t=1226&l=1&AvdID=1&CatID=3&GrpID=6&s=pl

im getting two of them
one for me and a friend
you should get one too