(Dead) I/O Magic 8x (rebadged Optorite or BTC) DVD±RW internal drive for "$99.94" No Rebates! At Staples

[etherealmoose]

That sounds about right -- about the shrink wrapping and not.

Mine was shrink-wrapped, without a serial number on the back, from Staples, and it's an Optorite.

Is anybody getting Optorites that actually support HD Burn, though?
Mine had the "120I" firmware that didn't support HD Burn.
It shows up as "GENERIC DVD RW 8XMax" in the BIOS.
I went to I/O Magic's firmware site and updated it to "130I", but still no HD Burn, and still "GENERIC..."

I went to Optorite's site and got the offical DD0401 firmware, called "130E", which allegedly does support HD Burn, but it says "Can't update" when I try to flash the I/O Magic drive -- even though it's certainly a DD0401, as it says so on the top.

Anybody having better luck with that?

 

[rudeguy]

OOS...too bad...this sounded perfect

 

[tRaptor]

110E Firmware on mine. Nero says it supports hd burn, what is that again, somthing with CD's writing them as longer? I cant remember....

 

[puppyfriend]

It burns CDs at twice the density. So you can fit 1.4GB on a CD. Good yet bad. You can only read it on another HDBURN capable drive. They are few and far in between.

Originally posted by: tRaptor
110E Firmware on mine. Nero says it supports hd burn, what is that again, somthing with CD's writing them as longer? I cant remember....

 

[MysticMan1]

Originally posted by: rudeguy
OOS...too bad...this sounded perfect

The drive is in stock but Staples messed up and listed the wrong price and instant savings combination on line, so you have order by phone 1-800-333-3330.

 

[vroom1810]

take the (-) out of the code to make it a 5 digit number....worked for me. But the $20 "savings" isn't showing up like the description says when you add it to cart. Guess you DO have to do this by phone!

 

[rudeguy]

ok...you do have to call it in to get the $30 off...my question is, will most DVD players read a DVD burned at 8x?

 

[tRaptor]

Anyone actually burn a HD-Burn CD yet?

I'm almost positive mine is a Optorite DD401, and nero says that it supports HD-Burn, 110E Firmware.
I havent burned HD-Burn CD yet, but i will try after i get back from class (about an hour).

Got mine from Staples, in Sioux Falls. My staples had all shrinkwraps, except for one that i saw. I wish i had looked at it more to confirm what others are saying. I looked at it and i just started thinking "why would I buy a non-shrinkwraped one). I of course thought that it had been opened or something.

My HD-Burn results in an hour.

 

[tRaptor]

Keeps giving me Power Calibration error........

EDIT: Looks like I need to find A certified CD, havent found any yet..............

 

[nycdude]

I went to staples to look around and in a haste picked one of these up. Turns out to be a BTC. I may just return this and get a black one from Newegg since their prices on NEC, Optorite and Lite-on keep falling.

 

[MysticMan1]

Originally posted by: nycdude
I went to staples to look around and in a haste picked one of these up. Turns out to be a BTC. I may just return this and get a black one from Newegg since their prices on NEC, Optorite and Lite-on keep falling.

If you need a black drive Circuit City is selling black I/O Magic 8x drive for $99.99 AR. Ask them to PM the no rebate Staples price.
Remenber the non shrink wrapped boxes should be the ones with the Optorite rebadged drive inside.

 

[V00DOO]

I just picked one up from OD. It is shrink wrapped and doesn't have the sticker on the back. The front bottom left has a PC World Class 2003 and PC Magazine Editor's Choice logo. And above the model number IDVDRW8D has the Pinnacle Systems logo. Is the drive I have BTC or Optorite?

Update:

Nevermind, I opened it up and on top of the drive says Model No: DD0401.

 

[nycdude]

Originally posted by: MysticMan1

Originally posted by: nycdude
I went to staples to look around and in a haste picked one of these up. Turns out to be a BTC. I may just return this and get a black one from Newegg since their prices on NEC, Optorite and Lite-on keep falling.

If you need a black drive Circuit City is selling black I/O Magic 8x drive for $99.99 AR. Ask them to PM the no rebate Staples price.
Remenber the non shrink wrapped boxes should be the ones with the Optorite rebadged drive inside.

Hey MM,

Finding a CC by me is a pain in the arse. I just don't have the time to go far since I have a baby daughter at home to take care of. Also, the time it takes for me to drive there with gas and tax and all, it will prob be the same price if I order it online. Thanks for the advice.

 

[skyeclad]

I just purchased a drive on Sunday, no shrink wrapping. I think it's an Optorite. Well I just tried to make some audio CD's at 8X with TDK discs. Out of 4 cd's I made three coasters! Any idea why this might have happend? I purposely kept the write speed low since I don't remember what speed these CD's were rated at but I'm pretty sure it's 8X.

It looks like the drive gets through the first track and then seems to skip down to a later track and then errors out. It even happens during the simulation. Has anyone had this problem?

The error log mentioned this:

Extended information:#1Device: Generic DVD RW 8XMax (E
ILLEGAL REQUEST: LOGICAL BLOCK ADDRESS OUT OF RANGE

 

[RegisPhilbin]

anyone know if the BTC drive is flash upgradable?

 

[conehead433]

"I just purchased a drive on Sunday, no shrink wrapping. I think it's an Optorite. Well I just tried to make some audio CD's at 8X with TDK discs. Out of 4 cd's I made three coasters!"

Based on what others have said in this thread if your package wasn't shrink wrapped it is a BTC. If it didn't perform any better than what you say I would take it back and swap for the shink wrapped carton ( Optorite hiopefully) or get a refund.

Edit: Before doing this determine exactly which drive you have and see if you can upgrade the firmware. Then try again and see if it works any better.

 

[Chadder007]

Just got mine today. No shrink wrapping but its a BTC Drive and it doesn't have Pinnacle. Instead it has Roxio Easy CD/DVD Creator and PowerDVD.
$99 price match at Office Depot.

 

[Vikroda]

Originally posted by: RegisPhilbin
anyone know if the BTC drive is flash upgradable?

You can download the BTC firmware 0.54 (0.55 coming soon) at CDR-Info or from the BTC website.BTC website
I tried flashing my firmware (came with 0.52) but Windows crashed both times I tried to update the firmware . Also, I had problems getting the drive to burn a DVD+R or CD-R. Both times I got an error saying "Medium Error". I think it's time to exchange my burner. The review on CDR-Info made me favor the BTC over the Optorite, but now I'm having second thoughts.

 

[MysticMan1]

Originally posted by: skyeclad
I just purchased a drive on Sunday, no shrink wrapping. I think it's an Optorite. Well I just tried to make some audio CD's at 8X with TDK discs. Out of 4 cd's I made three coasters! Any idea why this might have happend? I purposely kept the write speed low since I don't remember what speed these CD's were rated at but I'm pretty sure it's 8X.

It looks like the drive gets through the first track and then seems to skip down to a later track and then errors out. It even happens during the simulation. Has anyone had this problem?

The error log mentioned this:

Extended information:#1Device: Generic DVD RW 8XMax (E
ILLEGAL REQUEST: LOGICAL BLOCK ADDRESS OUT OF RANGE

The audio CD's you are trying to back up may use some kind of copy protection, like CDS200, that the BTC drive can't copy.
Read the BTC DRW1008IM review posted at the beginning of this thread for more info.

 

[DarkNephree]

If you are lucky you may be able to order by phone (1-800-333-3330) and talk a clueless CSR into selling you the drive for $79.99 after the $50 off instant savings by telling them the $50 off instant savings isn't working on line.

Not a bad idea. Probably best bet.

 

[MysticMan1]

Originally posted by: DarkNephree

If you are lucky you may be able to order by phone (1-800-333-3330) and talk a clueless CSR into selling you the drive for $79.99 after the $50 off instant savings by telling them the $50 off instant savings isn't working on line.

Not a bad idea. Probably best bet.

It's to late, they fixed the problem with the instant savings code not working unless the total was $150, now it's $129.94 - $30 instant savings, code 37876 (not 378-76) = $99.94

 

[MysticMan1]

Originally posted by: Vikroda

Originally posted by: RegisPhilbin
anyone know if the BTC drive is flash upgradable?

You can download the BTC firmware 0.54 (0.55 coming soon) at CDR-Info or from the BTC website.BTC website
I tried flashing my firmware (came with 0.52) but Windows crashed both times I tried to update the firmware . Also, I had problems getting the drive to burn a DVD+R or CD-R. Both times I got an error saying "Medium Error". I think it's time to exchange my burner. The review on CDR-Info made me favor the BTC over the Optorite, but now I'm having second thoughts.

There's a BTC DVD drive forum over on cdfreaks.com that seems to be hosted by a person fron BTC support, you might find answers to BTC drive problems there.
BTC Forum

 

[tRaptor]

My Update:

I have an Optorite.

Came with firmware 110E Firmware, supported HD-Burn.
Flashed to 120E Firmware, supported HD-Burn.
Flashed to 130I Firmware, no HD-Burn.
Flashed Back to 120E.

HD-Burn works, and its great (if you have supported CD's)
Have burned Numerous DVD+RW's with Nero and DVD Shrink, with no problems. Also, have burned numerous DVD-R's with no problems.

Pics of drive AND Box:
Top
Back
Back of Box

In my opinion of having this burner for a few days and using it quite a bit, I think it is a great drive. Of course i can say anything about other drives on the market. But for $100 (maybe less) out the door this is a great deal. Also, the Optorite's are supposed to have an update for 8X DVD-R burning, hopefully that wont disable HD-Burn....we can only hope.

Anyone with questions feel free to PM me or reply.

~Tyler

 

[huesmann]

The BTC auto update thing installed the 0.55 firmware for me.

Any word on a hacked firmware that lets you burn 8x on 4x media?

 

[sdadlani]

I got this for 79.94 plus tax, I printed out the internet price and took it to staples, the checkout clerk spotted my error but when we showed it to the manager he called the clerk stupid and gave me the extra $20 off..... Seems like the higher you go the dumber you get....