[the_moose]

Hi. I've got a Dell Dimension 8300 which is a few years old and still has the original disc drives in it (spec at the bottom) I am thinking about upgrading to a DVD burner that will burn dual layer, and and hopefully both dvd+r/rw and dvd-r/rw, as my current one will only do -r/rw (or maybe just +r/rw.... I forget!)

Has anyone got any recommendations (I'm in the uk if that makes a difference), and is it as easy as it sounds (switch it all off, take off cover, remove old one, put in new one, install software using the other disc tray is about how I believe it should go) or am I being over simplistic? Is there any point in getting one that does both + and - ? I'm not sure what the difference is to be honest, but it just seemed a good idea to get one that does as much as possible.

Also, my plan would be to replace the drive that at the moment is just a CD drive, giving me 2 read/write drives (and covering the likelihood that I might mess up the installation of the new one!)... is that a good idea or is there the possibility of conflicts?

Cheers for any help, as always, Moose :up:

My spec, should it matter...
Dell dimension 8300 with a Pentium 4 with hyperthreading technology (no idea, just copying it!)
3.0GHz 800fsb and 1MB cache
8x/4x DVD+R/+RW and 16x DVD
120GB 1st SATA hard drive (7200rpm) with 8MB Databurst cache
512MB DDR 400 Dual channel memory (2x256)
Creative Labs 5.1 Audigy2 Audio card
128MB DDR NVidia GeForce FX 5200
Windows XP Pro SP2

(If I've read it correctly, the "reader" drive is a HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8162B, and the burner one is an NEC DVD+RW ND-2100AD)

... and in an effort to keep all the horrible things away, I've got: AVG 7.5, Norton Personal Firewall, AdAware SE+, Spybot S+D, Spyware Blaster, Spyware Guard, Spyware Doctor, Reg Mech, Windows Defender, CCleaner,

 

[dustyjay]

Choice of a drive is really dependant on the budget you set for the drive. There are affordable drives in the Lite-on line. And in the Samsung and Benq lines also. If you have a large budget you could go for a Plextor. Check here for drives available in the UK. http://www.misco.co.uk/categories/~510~/Internal.htm

As far as having two writable drives in your system, so long as there is no conflict between the drives themselves (SHOULDNT BE) there really is no problem. I have two different manufacturer and model DVD nurners in my desktop system and they both work great. If you have a dvd rom and a dvd writer it is usually best to have the burner set as master to the reader. Some will not work properly if you dont. If you have two burners for some reason it doesnt seem to matter which one is set to master. You just have to make sure that the jumpers are set properly as master and slave, or being you have a Dell it may need to have them set as Cable Select then cable position determines which is master and which is slave. Use an 80 coonductor/40 pin cable.

 

[the_moose]

Hi Dustyjay, thanks for the quick reply. I have to confess that my knowledge isn't what it should be and you've lost me a bit here with the master/slave and cable select stuff...

If you have a dvd rom and a dvd writer it is usually best to have the burner set as master to the reader. Some will not work properly if you dont. If you have two burners for some reason it doesnt seem to matter which one is set to master. You just have to make sure that the jumpers are set properly as master and slave, or being you have a Dell it may need to have them set as Cable Select then cable position determines which is master and which is slave. Use an 80 coonductor/40 pin cable.

Is this a settting I can access through the drive properties, or is it a physical switch inside the box when I get the cover off please? Sorry if this is really basic

 

[brite750]

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/storage/59273/back.gif

on the back of the drive

 

[the_moose]

Ta Brite, in the words of the big Austrian lump "I'll be back" if I still can't get it sorted (and that's not a reflection on your advice, just my own ability to make a mess of things - without fail )

Cheers, Moose.

 

[johnpost]

Hi Dustyjay, thanks for the quick reply. I have to confess that my knowledge isn't what it should be and you've lost me a bit here with the master/slave and cable select stuff...

Is this a settting I can access through the drive properties, or is it a physical switch inside the box when I get the cover off please? Sorry if this is really basic

selecting cable select, master or slave is done by jumpers
on the back of dvd, cd or hard drive.

cable select means that the drives position on the cable
(middle or end) determines which is master and slave.
you need an 80 conductor cable for this. end is master
and middle is slave.

master or slave can also be specified by the jumpers.

 

[brite750]

selecting cable select, master or slave is done by jumpers
on the back of dvd, cd or hard drive.

cable select means that the drives position on the cable
(middle or end) determines which is master and slave.
you need an 80 conductor cable for this. end is master
and middle is slave.

master or slave can also be specified by the jumpers.

yeah I dont take any chances I set the jumpers master/slave and then I put them on the master/slave plugs on the ribbon also