Replacing old CD drive with new CD-RW

Hill Farmer

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Ok, I'm gonna give it bash. First, is it straight forward? Do I need to remove old CD drivers - I've lost the manual? Any suggestions as to what is a good/fast CD-RW drive, i.e. which one? I have a budget of about £200. Thanks.
 
There is a "master /slave " jumper link on the back of both CD's- make sure the new one is set the same if you are going to replace one with the other.Most people, however, use two drives to enable CD to CD copying,and use their existing CD for ALL normal use.If you have two CD's on one cable, one has to be set to "master" the other to "slave".
No need to remove ANY drivers.
Cost wise, there are two choices.
An 8x4x32 CDRW ( any make) for around £85.00 inc, that will suffice as a general purpose CDRW. You may not be able to do CD to CD at 8x, but you will certainly be able to do Image to CD at 8x.
At the other end, a Plextor "Burnproof" is the Doggs doo dahs, and will be around £225 ish inc. vat. You still may not be able to de CD to CD at 8x, because of your read only CD performance( normal problem for most people)However , if your PC is less than 500 MHz, then there will be better reliability using "burnproof" technonogy. This basically slows the machine down and gives priority to the burning process.
Personally, I use a cheapo £85 job for the odd times that I use a CDW.
You pays yer money and takes yer choice, as you do with so many things in life.
 
...and who sells the Plextor? Not PC World, 'cos I had a look. I'm still not sure why I'd want to have two CDs? Thanks.
 
I just knew that it would not all be so simple. I went to dabs.com and looked at the Plextor. Do I want a SCSI or IDE drive? I suppose all that depends on what I already have (an IDE?).
 
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OK, thanks. One final Q. Is a Plextor easy to come by , say from along Tottenham Court Road somewhere, or is it best ordered from someone like dabs.com?
 
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