Rip my Liteon 16x Dvd-R Drive

[LadyLiete]

Time purchased: May 2005

Dvd's: 744 burned, 2151 read

Original Price: $49.99

Cause of death: (I guess a broken dvd spindle belt, I probably wore it out)

Any suggestions for a replacement?

[CWR03]

I'm using a Pacific Digital which has done well over 1,000 burns and is still going strong. In fact my combo drive has failed and I've been using the Pacific Digital to rip and play disks as well. I believe it cost $79.95 about 18 months ago. When I Google search for "2X16X4X16X" which is how it displays as a drive, I get results of BenQ and not Pacific Digital if that means anything.

Avoid Emprex - A friend and I each bought one within a week of each other, and they both failed within a few days of each other (at about six months). His had only a dozen burns, mine might've had 150.

[setarip_old]

I've had great continuing success with my Pioneer burner...

[Blue_MiSfit]

I've had my LiteON dual layer for over 2 years and have burned hundreds. Not a hitch.

Plus I spraypainted the face to match my p180 case :D

~MiSfit

[jdrumstik]

Total Newb question; but how do you know how many burns you have? Just by how many 50 Disc DVD Spindals you've filled?

Sorry, I know.

[Sharktooth]

I would recommend NEC drives... 4550A is very cheap and can be easily flashed with 4551A firmware with label flash and DVD-RAM support.
Writing quality is excelent too, and there are tons of unofficial firmwares with tons of unlocks (extraction speed, RPC1, etc).

[jm1647]

The new 6s series LiteOn drives are great also - the 160P6S is one of them and the LiteOn drives have fantastic support from C0deKing

[TomBrooklyn]

I would recommend NEC drives... 4550A is very cheap
I've heard about the 4550, I've read reviews about them, but never been able to find anyone who sells them. I've searched the web for them unsuccessfully.

Can you advise where they can be purchased?

[TomBrooklyn]

The new 6s series LiteOn drives are great also - the 160P6S is one of them and the LiteOn drives have fantastic support from C0deKing


I just bought a LiteOn Drive. I searched for CodeKing and their website seems to be out of business.

What does CodeKing have or do and where can I find them?

[TomBrooklyn]

Total Newb question; but how do you know how many burns you have?
I'm not a total newb but I have the same question. Did you keep track of how many burns you did or is there a log hidden somewhere in my computer that will tell me.

[CWR03]

It's "c0deking" (with a zero instead of the letter o). It's a listing of firmwares for LiteOn drives.

http://codeguys.rpc1.org/

I just count the spindles of burned disks and full organizers to know how many I've done. I've put a lot in slimline cases in organizers, and each organizer holds 60.

[Sharktooth]

I've heard about the 4550, I've read reviews about them, but never been able to find anyone who sells them. I've searched the web for them unsuccessfully.

Can you advise where they can be purchased?
It's quite popular here in italy... however i saw you already bought a LiteOn... so ... :)

[TomBrooklyn]

It's quite popular here in italy...
I was just curious because when I was shopping for a drive, I saw reviews and discussion about the NEC 4550 but could never find one for sale. I figured maybe they weren't being marketed in the USA.
Cheers.


PS: I found the c0deKing site. I don't think I want to mess around with that firmware though unless I find a compelling reason to do so. I don't understand how to work with that stuff.

[CWR03]

There's not always a reason to update the firmware unless you're having problems with something, like media compatibility. If it works, it's best to leave it alone. A power failure during a firmware flash can ruin the device.

[Sharktooth]

Not necessarily. Most drives have a bootblock firmware that doesnt get rewritten during the firmware flashing.
It ensures the drive will be re-flashable if something goes wrong...

[Shinigami-Sama]

There's not always a reason to update the firmware unless you're having problems with something, like media compatibility. If it works, it's best to leave it alone. A power failure during a firmware flash can ruin the device.

if you're not on a UPS when you're doing something like flashing a drive you deserve the problems you get.

that said I have an old LG that's still going strong after about 1500 reads and 500 writes and a firmware flash so that I could my flacky media on it.

[TomBrooklyn]

There's not always a reason to update the firmware unless you're having problems with something, like media compatibility. If it works, it's best to leave it alone. A power failure during a firmware flash can ruin the device.
Wilco. Thanks for advisement. Out.