Iomega ZipCD 12x10x32 CompUSA Dec31/Jan01 for $99 after rebate - Thread II - MODS Please lock!

[DesignDawg]

JoeFoster,

Not exactly. If it is truly a re-badged Plextor, it's not a matter of "doing things a plextor can do." What rebadged means is, IT IS A PLEXTOR, with An iomega label on it. Kinda like, if I go out an put a Ford magnet on my toyota, it is still a toyota. It just says Ford now. And Im thinking it is indeed a rebadged plex, since I've never heard of a flash program actually working on a drive that it wasn't made for. --And the flash making it do 32x DAE is pretty convincing too. BTW, add me to the list of "I JUST ORDERED MINE!! WOOHOO!!!" people.

Ricky
DesignDawg

 

[dcdomain]

DAMN!!! HOT HOT HOT DEAL... wish I never bought my TDK (by the way, has anyone received their rebate?). Anyway, bought one for one of the other computers in my household. Figure, since it's so damn fast and it has burnproof already, probably the last CD-r we'll ever buy. Next thing up will probably be DVD-Ram... so our current burners should last us at least a good three years or more. Right? =)

 

[xDeLiRiOuSx]

dcdomain, that's what I thought to myself last year when I picked up the 8x20 imation that really was a plextor (exactly). Costed me $150-$50 rebate but it came with external scsi case and adaptec 2930U scsi card. But hey, it's been EXACTLY one year since that day, and I just finish ordering a ZipCD

David

By the way, website saids "limited to supply" could it be possible that our orders will be cancelled?

 

[JACKHAMMER]

Is there anyway to flash these drives so they show plextor in the ID string? It would help when upgrading to future BIOS versions, work well w/ my ultraplex, etc. I wish I knew how to do it, but alas I do not - Some brave soul needs to do this WEDESDO - do you know how to do this?

 

[pokeineye]

Does this drive support creating bootable CD-Rs? At one time Adaptec had a "bootable" category in their list of "CD Recorder Characteristics and Capabilities" -- can't seem to find it anymore. Can't seem to locate this info on either the Plextor or Iomega pages for this drive.

Thanks in advance.

 

[stevesurfing10]

 

[mrVW]

Guys, go to the forum I mentioned for these minor technical questions! Yes, it can make bootable CD-R's, that has nothing to do with the recorder. Any cd-recorder can make one... El Torito doesn't do anything special in terms of burning - even an old 2x I used works for bootable! It is the software that doesn't always make it right (Adaptec = Suck, lots of feature but crappy and confusing design if you ask me - and I know how to use it, I just don't like it).

IMPORTANT NOTE: Just so everyone is clear that this drive is not identical to the Plextor in terms of the name. Even though you can flash it with Plextor firmware, it will still tell programs that it is an Iomega. In other words, it is an identical twin except the name will be different. Sometimes you get a program that doesn't "support" this drive -- it isn't because it can't do the same things as the Plextor -- just that the name change confuses it. A updated version of the program (that recognizes the different name) fixes the problem.

 

[hunge]

Does anyone know how I can return this drives to Bestbuy for full credit w/o a single receipt? Just like it is a gift? If I buy one of this from CompUSA for 140 and then goto BB saying that it is a gift will they give me 240 of storecredit? Then maybe I can buy almost 2 of this drive at the pricematched price. Sorry for being greedy here... but I just think this will be a cool idea.

 

[DesignDawg]

Hunge, that's theft, and you're not even the first in this thread to bring it up. And I'm not the first to mention that the mods don't like that kind of discussion here. DOn't even attempt it. It's in NO WAY right or acceptable.

Ricky
DesignDawg

 

[mrVW]

Hunge -- man, I hate crap like that. You are the EXACT REASON that people can't return stuff at most stored without receipt -- even when they are legit. What you propose is theft and fraud.

 

[kendogg]

just ordered mine online total came out too ~140ish

1.8 mb buffer? how does this compare to a 4 mb buffer that i currently have on my plextor 8x cd-r?

I hope i dont regreat buying this thing

 

[hunge]

Well I am a poor college student who is rite now in heavy debt trying every way to save mah own asz... And at least I am not trying to make heavy profit here... Did I mention 1 to 2 drives? When people can buy 10 of these for 20.
But well... I do think it is bad and theft. Solly.

And also IMHO, if this works, people are gonna make big profit outta it. And the reason for that is because there is a loophole with their policy. And I did expect the answer is no. We are just like hackers. Many people think hackers are bad, but they aren't. OS needs them to get better. W/o hackers we will never know if the current OS is good enough. Just the same thing in the real world.

 

[immortalis]

KeNDoGG:
That is exactly my problem with this drive. What's the point of a 10x or 12x drive, if the ultimate time it takes to burn a CD is like a 6x drive?
It will be quite slower because of the "turn off - relocate sector - burn again" procedure, which takes several turns of the CD.

I think we will see more and more "burn proof" drives, because they all strip the valuable cache memory and thus MUST support that feature.
And yes, for several turns or so it will in fact burn with a 12x speed, but then...

Has anybody done an actual timelaps of the burning speed under normal working conditions?

With my 6x drive and it's 4MB cache I had never had a ruined CD, allthough I work at the same time with other applications.

And it is really and actually 6x !

Not to say that I bought one of these too but I haven't opened it yet.....

Anyhow, thanks for all the useful input of the donators.

 

[dc]

it is just plain wrong and is theft.
excuses to screw over a company because of your sad story. blech.

edit: and how the f$#% are we like hackers? do you know what a real hacker is? real hackers don't go around stealing money from bestbuy or compusa. pathetic...

 

[kendogg]

heres a review on it from gamersdepot

http://www.gamersdepot.com/hardware/storage/iomega/zipcdrw_12x10x32/005.htm

basically they were content with the drive but they claimed that it didnt perform 20x DAE as stated on front of the box

 

[mrVW]

immortalis - what are you talking about

Why would a 8MB buffer make any difference? If your system is to sllow to stream the recorder data at 1800K/second then all an 8MB buffer is going do is run out in 4 seconds! That's the whole point, you can't just keep increasing the buffer with each faster generation of CD-RECORDER. Burnproof solves the stupid problem in the first place, if the recorder runs out of data it just waits for more data instead of aborting the entire recording and making a "coaster".

The bottom line is that with ANY recorder you have to be able to feed data to the drive at rated speed (12x in this case). The buffer just gives you a chance to have a few short system delays. Burnproff is like an INFINATE BUFFER! It doesn't slow things down!

THes recorders are already 6 months old, the really do work I've burned 10 CD's at 12x so far without any problems. 4 were 80 minute SVCD's, the rest were 74 minute data CD's.

 

[mrVW]

KenDOGG -- that review is out of date. With the latest Plextor 1.07 firmware, you can now do DAE at 32x!

 

[ElFenix]

i got my online order in at 4 am eastern, hope thats good enough. the updated firmware makes this already super-nova hot deal even hotter! (singularity corona, anyone?)


theft is theft. buying a couple and then selling them on eb@y at a price higher than what you paid but lower than retail is just arbitrage.

 

[immortalis]

mrVW:
Why would a 8MB buffer make any difference?
As Windoze is not a realtime OS, a simple harddrive reseek or a browser's cache management can stop the feeding of the buffer for one or two seconds. I am sure we have all monitored that, that suddenly the PC is not responding (like the mouse or so).
Unfortunately the Buffer is not of a FIFO (first in, first out) type, therefore it is based on a circular filling system. Also the data itself is supplied in chunks of blocks.
All this can lead to a worst case scenario, where data might not be available for a few seconds, and a buffer underrun occurs.

Nowadays PC's are much faster but they still are bound to the SAME timing problems with the SAME time period.

So therefore a larger Buffer can much better compensate those temporary small "lock up's" or "a few short system delays" as you mention them.

Burnproff is like an INFINATE BUFFER! It doesn't slow things down!
That is simply not true.
Each time a buffer underrun is detected from the drive, it suspends the pulsing of the LASER and has to switch back into the read/seek mode. This takes a few rotations of the spinning CD.
Once the data is available again, it has to readjust the LASER and wait for the appropiate sector and start burning again. This again takes a few turns.

So basically a larger Buffer in the range of 2x the occuring "delays" is adequate.

Based on calculations and real world experiences a 2MB buffer is too small to compensate those delays.

And again: Those delays have NOTHING to do with generally what your PC is able to feed data to the drive at rated speed.

Sadly those delays can (and do) happen with even the fastest PC's.

But I am curious in what extend the "burn proof" will delay the procedure.

Therefore I asked if somebody has done an actual speed test on that.

 

[Schmo]

These guys on e*ay are leaving their personal numbers? I am not sure that is such a great idea.

 

[Owned]

Ah, I love it how the smoking deals brings out the
Broken-englished-Up AnD DoWn LeTtErEd lurkers out of the wood works.

 

[Sepen]

Thanks for the link to Comp mrVW. I ordered it online, worth the $5 instead of doing the line waggle. I also have the Plextor 1210a, and it is a gem.



Sam

 

[Zorro]

Will Office Depot B&M Match Comp USA Pricing. Does anyone know there price match policy now..

 

[sunilJM]

actually, plextor burnproof is licensed from sanyo. the irony!

 

[TonDef]

A word of caution trying to do the online thing w/ CompUSA. A couple of weeks ago CompUSA had a decent deal ($99 after instant and mail-in rebates) on the Cendyne 8x8x32 which is a rebadged Ricoh 7083A. I made it to the store too late, so came back home and was happy to see that this item was still "in stock" online. I placed my order, and waited, and waited. Then almost two weeks later on 12/28 I got an email telling me "CompUSA regrets to inform you the product you ordered is currently unavailable" and that while it may come back in stock there are no guarantees. I cancelled the order once I saw this Iomega deal, but I wouldn't necessarily count on the online order coming through until it actually arrives in the mail, folks.