rhoulihan
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SCSI External CD-RW for laptop
I wish to purchase a CD-RW, where I can record my own CD's and use the CD-Roms I presently have. Is SCSI the best option? and which models would you suggest. The laptop I have is an old compaq armada (16Mb). Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I think to laptop will be to slow tho make CDs.
I don't think its to slow, as long as its harddisk does the 600KB required for a 4speed writer I see no problem.
rhoulihan, do you have PCMCIA / Cardbus or only a parallel port? Did you measure the speed of your HD?
rhoulihan, do you have PCMCIA / Cardbus or only a parallel port? Did you measure the speed of your HD?
Tho hold a data-flow rate of 600KB with 16MB and a slow laptop (maybe a 486 CPU) with Windows 95 is very hard (almost impossible). Only with little fragmentation this will drop below.
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SCSI right now is the best option for CD-RW's. They have the best data-transfer rate, I have seen Parallel CD RW's that take twice as long time to write a CD.
Now, although HP makes a good CD-RW, I would suggest something from Mitsubishi, or Yamaha. In fact, I work with Yamaha CD RW's, and I have found that they are the best performance wise. They come with Adaptec software, which is one of the best software packages out there.
SCSI is going to cost more. With the SCSI PCMCIA card (which you will need, unless you have a SCSI interface), you may have to pay up to $700. But do not fret. I had just purchased a SCSI external CD RW for around $300, and best buy sells a lower end SCSI card for $100.
Big chains like Best Buy and Comp USA do not carry SCSI CD RW's. Only IDE or Parallel. You will have to order the drive through a local computer store or Catalog.
CD-RW's are dropping in price nowadays. Drives that cost $600 6 months ago, are now $300. I expect that once the DVD-RW's are out, then CDRW's will drop conciderably. That won't happen for 6-12 months, though.
Hope this helps with your purchase.
Now, although HP makes a good CD-RW, I would suggest something from Mitsubishi, or Yamaha. In fact, I work with Yamaha CD RW's, and I have found that they are the best performance wise. They come with Adaptec software, which is one of the best software packages out there.
SCSI is going to cost more. With the SCSI PCMCIA card (which you will need, unless you have a SCSI interface), you may have to pay up to $700. But do not fret. I had just purchased a SCSI external CD RW for around $300, and best buy sells a lower end SCSI card for $100.
Big chains like Best Buy and Comp USA do not carry SCSI CD RW's. Only IDE or Parallel. You will have to order the drive through a local computer store or Catalog.
CD-RW's are dropping in price nowadays. Drives that cost $600 6 months ago, are now $300. I expect that once the DVD-RW's are out, then CDRW's will drop conciderably. That won't happen for 6-12 months, though.
Hope this helps with your purchase.
ASKER
Thanks guys, your advice has been very helpful. Happy new year.