52x24x52x Cendyne CD-RW at Staples for $17.95 after $22 instant off and $40 MIR

[altonb1]

Well, I stopped at 2 different Staples on my ride home last night. The first seemed to be completely out of drives, the second had 3 on a table and a bunch in a cabinet. They were all 5224A, I believe. The part numbers were definitely CDIC00173, but I'm not sure that necessarily guarantees that it is Asustek.

So...the general consensus is that Asus is the better drive now?


And...casn you explain SD 2 Killer? I'm assuming that it is a form of copy protection, perhaps? Can anyone enlighten me? Because my Staples had so many, I decided to hold off for a day until i could get more info and confirm that the Asus would be worth buying. (Yeah, I know, it's only $18, but I still would rather do more research, especially when rebates sometimes have issues and I would hate to find that my $18 actually remains $58 and I got hosed.

 

[CheetahMk2]

It is just a good all around CD-RW, although it is loud. I had some hands-on experience witha Benq, it turned up rather high error rates for a scratched up CD I used to test in ScanDisk in Nero's CdSpeed. The Asus read of the 'unreadable' parts to the BenQ, but it also thought a lot of the CD was damaged. And to whoever said the Beq uses a rubber band to eject, get serious. Nearly all cd-rom drives do, if you actually noticed. The Asus is better IMO since it can support Mount Rainier. If I could see how well a LiteOn does, I could say something about that too. But Asus is louder than BenQ by a wide margin [the -----P model especially].

5224W has a nice flat faceplate, the 5224P is rather bulbous. They all do the job. But one note is that the Cendyne Asus doesn't use standard Asus firmares, so you may get some trouble identifying it. But if you actually knew how to work Nero's CD-spee dutil and upgraded it you wouldn't have any problems. And for those who are impatient, as I said before, some people can upgrade their Asus'es to TRUE asus'es with MTKFLASH, and for thosewith the MTKflash UNfirendly drives, a patch is in the works.

*Edit*: The Asus that is unfriendly with MTK can be identified by the wraparound box without the standard Cendyne label at the back. Also, if you look at the bottom, you won't see cardboard. The MTKUnfriendly drives also have 1 LED I think, whereas the regular ones have 2. I suspect the ones with 2 LED's come in the regular Cendyne boxes with brown cardoard on the bottom. That's just my guess, though. HOWEVER, the Asuses that come in the wraparound box have a really high production value, so you'll be happy with what comes out of the box ^_^

 

[altonb1]

So if I follow this correctly, if I find a drive that is shrinkwrapped with a cardboard bottom, I should get that? When I was looking through the boxes yesterday, I think they ALL had the cardboard bottom, but 2-3 did not have the Cendyne label on the back with the model number listed. The only identifying mark was a part number of CDICD00173 at the very bottom of the box, underneath where the drives WITH labels listed the model.

 

[tyoung88]

Thanks CheetahMk2 for the info on the Asus. I wasn't able to totally understand what I was reading regarding the copy protection advantage the Asus drive has. Do you have a link?

I was able to flash my Cendyne CRW-5224A using the firmware and flasher from the ASUS website:

CRW-5224A 1.35 Firmware

For those having flashing problems what brand and model # does your drive report? Out of the box mine said ASUS CRW-5224A.

 

[Awak]

just got mine in Parsippany, NJ...15 BenQ, 1 Lite-On...easy decision! good work on the serial numbers, guys...helped a lot.

 

[CheetahMk2]

Originally posted by: tyoung88
those having flashing problems what brand and model # does your drive report? Out of the box mine said ASUS CRW-5224A.

Aha... That's the problem. I'm willing to bet $.02 that you have a drive either that came in a brown-bottom box, and that it has 2 LED's. I wouldn't be suprised if you used MtkFlash that it would recognize the drive.

Mine reports in SysInfo as CENDYNE5224AU, and more exactly, I extracted the firmware and took a peek around and it identified itself as 'CENDYNE 522452AU'. I hope there is a way to convert it back to a true Asus, so I needa little moral encouragament for the people are Firmware-Flash.com : /

 

[tyoung88]

Originally posted by: CheetahMk2

Originally posted by: tyoung88
those having flashing problems what brand and model # does your drive report? Out of the box mine said ASUS CRW-5224A.

Aha... That's the problem. I'm willing to bet $.02 that you have a drive either that came in a brown-bottom box, and that it has 2 LED's. I wouldn't be suprised if you used MtkFlash that it would recognize the drive.

Mine reports in SysInfo as CENDYNE5224AU, and more exactly, I extracted the firmware and took a peek around and it identified itself as 'CENDYNE 522452AU'. I hope there is a way to convert it back to a true Asus, so I needa little moral encouragament for the people are Firmware-Flash.com : /

Interesting... YES by drive did come with the brown-bottom box! It only has ONE LED on it tho . . . it's located in the exact center of the drive right below the tray and it changes from GREEN, RED/YELLOW depending on what it's currently doing. I was having a hell of a time trying to flash and old TDK 121032A drive yesterday into a Ricoh and stumbled upon a program called WIN MtkFlash that doesn't require you make a boot disk. I would try to WIN MtkFlash your drive with the 1.35 firmware. I don't think it'd be that risky since if the ASUS you have doesn't have a compatible chipset the WIN MtkFlash will tell you so even before it attempts anything.

Good Luck!

 

[CheetahMk2]

lol.. I tried that like 2 days ago. Hence why I was putting up a warning against forcing the flash if the memory isn't identifiable. I posted to Digi and DHC014 over at RPC1 and I hope they can bodge something. A tiny hardware difference like one LED compared to two may be just enough to confuse the firmware.

 

[fflix]

Went to staples but the 52x was OOS. Picked up a 48x cendyne instead. Where can I find out what brand it is? Thanks.

 

[MuffD]

So if you get a Lite-On, will it be recognized as a Lite-on from the start or do I need to do anything to it? Also, can this be flashed with the latest firmware from lite-on?

TIA

This is what I came up with
Cendyne burner for 58.00
Maxtor 40gb for 80.00
Cheap CDR for 10.00
Filler stuff 2.00
Total ________
150.00
-30.00 printable coupon
-90.00 in MIR's.
Equals _____________
$30.00 after tax, stamps, etc..

 

[Metalloid]

I hate Staples. They have been so conveniently out of stock for the last 4 days online. I might go back to the store tommorow, or call. And I'm really pissed because I have a coupon for $50 off a $200 purchase online and this would put me at $210.

 

[MuffD]

I just picked up my combo and grabbed a lite-on.

 

[Ziptar]

Originally posted by: Metalloid15
I hate Staples. They have been so conveniently out of stock for the last 4 days online. I might go back to the store tommorow, or call. And I'm really pissed because I have a coupon for $50 off a $200 purchase online and this would put me at $210.

I went to look today, they were still out but, they had

Cendyne 48X CD-RW on Clearence for $41.50 + $20 MIR.I added a $10 coupon and got it for $11.50

 

[MuffD]

For those in San Diego, there are plenty at National City and Sports Arena.

 

[time4cash]

Originally posted by: muffstah
So if you get a Lite-On, will it be recognized as a Lite-on from the start or do I need to do anything to it? Also, can this be flashed with the latest firmware from lite-on?

q]

Went to staples.. just one left.. it's a Lite-on!!!!!
I would like to know also....
can I just use the latest firmware from liteon (5/16)
http://www.liteonit.com.tw/webfw/LTR-52246S/R526S0F.zip

or do i use the one from cencedyne??
http://www.cendyne.com/downloads/files/R526S0C.zip

I have a feeling that the "C" version on cendyne.com is the same as the "C" version from liteon.
They are both the same size and have the same CRC

I've never done this before, so am checking first!!!
Thanks

 

[Metalloid]

Originally posted by: Ziptar

Originally posted by: Metalloid15
I hate Staples. They have been so conveniently out of stock for the last 4 days online. I might go back to the store tommorow, or call. And I'm really pissed because I have a coupon for $50 off a $200 purchase online and this would put me at $210.

I went to look today, they were still out but, they had

Cendyne 48X CD-RW on Clearence for $41.50 + $20 MIR.I added a $10 coupon and got it for $11.50

Do they not have this drive online or something?

 

[quincy2002]

Originally posted by: time4cash

Went to staples.. just one left.. it's a Lite-on!!!!!
I would like to know also....
can I just use the latest firmware from liteon (5/16)
http://www.liteonit.com.tw/webfw/LTR-52246S/R526S0F.zip

or do i use the one from cencedyne??
http://www.cendyne.com/downloads/files/R526S0C.zip

I have a feeling that the "C" version on cendyne.com is the same as the "C" version from liteon.
They are both the same size and have the same CRC

I've never done this before, so am checking first!!!
Thanks

Try the firmware from lite-on. If it flashes, great. If it doesn't (because your drive identifies itself as a Cendyne), no harm done. There is an easy way to flash to the liteon firmware even if your drive says its a cendyne. Go read the forums at cdfreaks.com. They have a firmware forum and a liteon forum. You will find numerous posts about flashing your drive with liteon firmware. PM me if you want more details.

 

[EF9]

The Staples on Valley in Alhambra has AT LEAST 15 drives. I picked one up and it is a Benq, i didnt wanna ask the manager to take all the drives down. I dont mind what company its from.

 

[AlfB]

I was thinking about doing this an others from Staples online but can't seem to find a coupon code that currently works. Anyone else having this problem?

 

[nycdude]

Originally posted by: CheetahMk2
lol.. I tried that like 2 days ago. Hence why I was putting up a warning against forcing the flash if the memory isn't identifiable. I posted to Digi and DHC014 over at RPC1 and I hope they can bodge something. A tiny hardware difference like one LED compared to two may be just enough to confuse the firmware.

Hey CheetahMk2,

Thanks for all your postings. In a similiar situation as you. please post when you get a resolution.

 

[soogiebro]

i'm gonna step in on this deal...but, is this deal still alive?

 

[MuffD]

Originally posted by: soogiebro
i'm gonna step in on this deal...but, is this deal still alive?

This was over last week.

 

[altonb1]

Don't quote me on this, but Best Buy or Circuit City, I think, has a drive with similar specs on sale this week. I think after rebates, it ends up being in the low $20s. Different mfr, and I didn't pay much attention to the deal, but if you are really looking for a drive, that might be an option for you to pursue.

 

[Karsten]

Yeap... BB has a 15$ after rebate fast burner. Not sure what brand though

 

[savx]

I grabbed one from staples.com and I got an ASUS version. I just installed it, and I have not burned CD?s with it yet, but noticed that the CD tray isn?t sensitive enough to a person?s tap (vs. all CD/CDRW-ROM I?ve owned in the past). You really have to tap it hard to close it, or push the eject/close button.

I?m thinking about trying and exchange it for Lite-on one (if I can find one at a local staples), but I am wondering whether or not all I?ll experience the same thing.

Anyone else noticed the sensitivity on the ASUS version? Are the Lite-on better?