Pacific Digital 16x10x40 drive at SAM's Club for $161.95

[flenn]

Don't know anything about this drive but it strikes me as a decent deal. Can anyone shed some light?

 

[maxcom]

read that Pacific Digital= pot luck, seems they are refurb remarketers, someone on Google said they got a Yamaha 2100EZ in their box .....lol

 

[vfwiffo]

Not burn-proof

Drive overview

Here is a link to manufacturers page

Pacific Digital

Doesn't strike me as a great drive, but might be a decent value.

 

[aperry]

Might not be burnproof, but it has an 8MB (!) buffer, so underruns should not be a problem. I have this drive and have burned 50+ CD's with nary a single coaster.

I am quite pleased, and that price is excellent!

 

[chrisbest01]

yamaha has a "waste-proof" technology on their 16x cdrw. I guess this is same as burn-proof. My housemate has one, but it's burn proof, didn't waste a single cd even when open like 10 apts and play game.

 

[Zap]

vfwiffo's post's first link has some nice information on this drive. Basically, it's a Yamaha. So, anyone was in the market for a Yamaha, get this one. But, if you would rather have a CLV drive instead of a PCAV (to save that 15 seconds per disc, ya know) then get another brand.

Personally, I would like CLV, though more for "just because" rather than the actual 15 seconds saved. BUT... I like having the large cache instead of burn-proof. My system (P3@933, 256MB CL2, 2x45GB DiamondMax Plus RAID-0, Abit BX133-RAID) has a Plextor 8x2x20 and I'll do multitasking extreme with it without coasters. My GF has the LG 12x10x32 (that deal from Buy.com) with 8MB cache and no burn-proof. She can also do multitasking (minor at this point, she just started using it so we're increasing the multitasking stress level bit by bit) without coasters. Her system is Celeron2@850, 256MB, IBM GXP75 30GB.

 

[MontyBurns]

Seems like an awesome deal on a 16x drive. My holier-than-thou comments:

1. Burn-Proof is extremely overrated. Yes, I own a Plextor with Burn Proof, which makes me one of the cool kids, but the FOUR other burners I've owned were all without burn proof, and the few coasters I ever made were more due to stupidity on my part than a failing in the drive. Burn-proof is a great thing, but it is in no way worth an extra, say, $100 per drive. Don't worry about not getting burn proof when the drive has an 8 meg buffer.

2. The Yamaha drives are incredibly good drives. However, the reviews make it clear that, like the TDK, they only offer "up to" 16X burning. The review of the new yamaha at CDRInfo makes it clear that the drive takes a long time to ramp up to 16x, so while you may finish a disc at 16x, you won't start there.

3. Audio ripping is a big deal if you're into burning mix CDs, and the Yamaha drive won't rip audio anywhere near 40x. Still, you probably have no NEED to rip audio that fast. Just pointing this out.



Overall, if this is REALLY a Yamaha (and I'm not convinced it is, buyer beware), I'd say you can't go wrong at this price.

 

[nippyjun]

Personally I feel that for not much money more I'd rather have the burnproof, that way I don't have to worry about doing other things while I burn a disc.

 

[Emulex]

it's a yamaha drive. The top of the drive clearly states its a yamaha, there nothing at all to mask it.

Also its a new yamaha mechanism. The old yamaha 16x had a curved faceplate, kinda like a lower lip would curve. The pac. digital 16x yamaha is a newer model with a square faceplate.

I got one, it has a dec 2000 date of build, and 1.0H yamaha factory firmware. Different box, same product. No rebranding whatsoever of the drive.

 

[MontyBurns]

Well, again, I'm not trying to talk anybody out of burnproof.

But my 4-meg buffer HP, with no burn proof, never made a coaster. For what it's worth.

 

[videoho]

Pacific Digital = beware!!! Bought a LS 120 drive that died 30 days after I bought it on sale at Comp USA. Emails....no response, Phoned tech support....no live person. Many times and no reply, zero. Threw the drive out and chalked it up to experience. Beware!

 

[Xmenxmen]

Personally I have both a Yamaha 16x10x32 SCSI, Plextor 12x4x32 SCSI and the Plextor 12x10x32 IDE (burnproof). I really don't care much for speed and have been using the Plextor 12x4x32 when it first came out and really loved it until I got the Plextor 12x10x32.

Here's my take at it.

-Burning anything (audio and data) from hd to cd, all 3 burners all do great.
-Burning cd to cd is great on all 3 except when you start hitting the 12x or greater.
*If your cdrom used to read is really not fast enough, you will definitely run into problem with the Yamaha and Plextor without burnproof. Before anybody says anything against that, try doing about 50 or so cds and then tell me how reliable your burner is, take some music cd, data cd or a bunch of different combination of all you can toss at it. As I would say as well, there's always a few out there that have the perfect system and never run into problem, but we are talking about everybody else.

That's always one of my complain about my Plextor scsi even when it was pair with my plextor 40x, still get underrun once in a while. With burnproof, one just don't have to worry, althrough it might take longer sometime.



So if you really want something that you don't have to babysit, burnproof is the way to go. As for Yamaha's Wasteproof or whatever it is call is a complete joke, cause it really doesn't do anything to prevent it from underrun. To prove my point again, try burning at 16x and do a few things and see if you can guarantee your cd will not underrun.

 

[thegreatjeff]

I have a 12*10*32 TDK and it's fine for me, especially since it has BURN-Proof...I wouldn't ever get one that doesn't have it.

So since this doesn't have Burn-proof, I wouldn't get it. I'd rather spend a bit more and get Burn-proof. But hey 16x is pretty fast.

Just my $.02

 

[mrVW]

Of course ANY DRIVE works fine without Burn-P if everything is perfect.

With Burn-Proof I don't have to worry what I'm doing... I actually burn 700MB dics with the source off of my network server! My 4x HP recorder with 4MB buffer wouldn't do this reliably....

The server is also running heavy applications like Exchange Server doing hundreds of email an hour, hosting the RoundSparrow.com web site, etc.

Yes, you can do without Burn-p, but that doesn't mean it isn't good! People act like it has some disadvantage, it doesn't... a good program like Nero allows you to disable it.

Frankly, I bet you ask ANY CD-R MFG and if they could have figured out how to do burn-p from the start, it would have been standard on all drives long ago. IT only seems logical that if data runs out you pause... not trash the disc

 

[mrVW]

Oh yha, forgot to say... $162 for a RETAIL Yammy is an awesome deal.

16x burners are going to be available for $130 within 3 months... the price of these things has gone way down in the last 6, no bottom yet.

 

[MontyBurns]

16x burners -- from the likes of plextor, yamaha and tdk anyway -- are NOT going to be $130 in 3 months. Plextor's 16x burner is barely a month old, and TDKs is only slightly older. They're not going to drop prices that fast. No way.

 

[youDIEjoe]

I picked up the PD 16x10x40 at Fry's here in LA for 190....The reviews are very accurate on these...VERY VERY noisy drive. I don't really care for it so.....

Just got my Plex 16x10x40 ....from newegg.com for 210+tax. I look forward to returning the Yamaha...opps I mean PD drive tonight.

yDj

(FYI....Yes these PD are Yamaha drives, the sticker on the drive clearly states as much and the firmware comes up as Yamaha EZ2100)

***Addition****
WOW!!!! Installed the new drive. The PLEX is amazingly quiet and FAST, great drive, don't waste your time with the Yamaha.

 

[echozero]

i'm using the plextor 12x10x32a right now, and even with burnproof you can, only if you're really talented, make coasters. =) i was bored and tried running a few programs while burning and yeup, it failed like mad. burnproof guards against buffer underruns, but it still underruns if you put it in a bad situation. =)

 

[Scrounger]

I got a Pac Digital back when I was waiting for a 2x burner to drop below $200. It lasted for about six burns and then crapped out. No matter what software I used or what system I installed it in, no mo go. This is the only one of their products I tried but I can promise you that I will pay the extra $50 for something better from now on. Buyer beware!

 

[RichieZ]

Burn Proof is highly over-rated, there is something called SCSI that solved this problem from the beginning . Although I will probably get the IDE 16x pelxtor or the IDE 24x (saw this news about sanyo mech 24x!) whenever it comes out. Although what is the CPU usage whiling burning CD's w/ IDE? W/ my SCSI system it ranges from 0 to 4%

Wow post #666, SATAN IS COMING

 

[Bleep]

A lot of talk here about "Burn Proof" This is a copyrighted statement.
A burner with some amount of memory for a buffer will allow for burns without underruns. Mostly buffer underruns are the result of direct burning from a CD rom that is not up to snuff. I bought this drive yesterday and put it one of my machines to test it and it is as good a drive that I have owned.
Bleep

 

[wjones]

I agree with youDIEjoe. I've the Yamaha 16x and it is VERY NOISY. Actually when I put my hand on the case, I can feel the shaking (not the little shake that you got from usual CD drive or CD burner)!

 

[VBboy]

Pacific Digital sucks!