Verbatim 52x24x52 CDRW (Lite-On) $19.99 AR @ Best Buy

[Ranger X]

Originally posted by: TheBigCheese
I curious, what is wrong with the Apoen drives compared with Lite On?

I upgraded my AOpen 32x drive with this Lite-On 52x drive. My AOpen wouldn't burn higher than 12x without Just-Link kicking in. The Lite-On burns at 48x (my CDRs only support 48x) but I assume 52x is not a problem.

Originally posted by: OddTSi
My brother just bought this drive from Best Buy. It has the numeric serial number and the faceplate looks exactly like that on the box and the picture in the ad (Someone said that the Lite-Ons look like that). Is there a sure fire way to tell if this is a Lite-On?

Also, I tried installing Nero 5 and 5.5 but neither would detect the burner. When you go to Choose Recorder the only option is "Image Recorder". It does work however with the bundled Nero Express software. Does anyone know why it does this, or if there is a workaround to this?

Check the top of your drive. My drive had a Lite-On sticker with its information on it. Install the Nero that came with your drive. Nero is burner specific, unless it was registered for a universal burner. I had to re-install Nero because I had switched drives. I hope this helps ...

 

[Ranger X]

AFAIK, the only sure-fire 100% way to know it's a Lite-On (if there are no Lite-On or SmartBurn stickers anywhere) is to see if it can be updated with Lite-On firmware. However, the faceplate should be a pretty good giveaway, each OEM manufacturer has their own style.

I'm not sure if this is necessary. The PC should detect it as LTR-XXXXX, if the Lite-On came from Best Buy. The faceplate doesn't say Lite-On so it may be difficult to identify it as a Lite-On indefinitely if one is not familiar with the product.

[EDIT] FYI, for those sending out the rebate ...

The street name for the Verbatim rebate is Macarthur (or McArthur), NOT McAuthur.

 

[OddTSi]

Originally posted by: bigsmooth
AFAIK, the only sure-fire 100% way to know it's a Lite-On (if there are no Lite-On or SmartBurn stickers anywhere) is to see if it can be updated with Lite-On firmware. However, the faceplate should be a pretty good giveaway, each OEM manufacturer has their own style.

As for the second part of your question, maybe you need to d/l the latest Nero updates? EZCD Creator 5 wouldn't see the drive either until I d/l'ed the latest update.

Yeah, I figured this out when I went to Verbatim's website yesterday and noticed that the 52x drive isn't even listed there so I figured it was probably very new. After that my bro went to Nero's site and downloaded the latest update and it finally detected it. Thanks anyways though.

The drive my bro has has a Verbatim sticker on top and no Lite-On/ASUS/etc. badging anywhere, just Verbatim. It doesn't really matter though, it works fine whatever brand it is.

 

[DaveR]

i, too, had the LiteOn and ASUS. I got OM to take the ASUS back and give me a 2nd Liteon. Why???

Because the ASUS had great writting, but was not as good reading. Even cd's it created, gave some yellow bars in Nero's cd-speed quality tests. The same cd...even written on the ASUS had NO errors on my LiteON.

Also, the ASUS will not close by pushing on the door. These are "nits" as the errors were soft errors, and I must say that the ASUS would do a full erase of an UltraSpeed 24x cd-rw in 3+ minutes while the LiteOn requires 5 minutes.

Originally posted by: AAjax

Originally posted by: Slowpc
yea , i must have been the only Asus drive so far. Was hoping for a lite-on , but so far. Been very happy with this drive so far.

I have both the Lite-on and Asus drive running and to be honest I like the Asus drive better. It seems more solid and I like the "feel" of it a bit more. Nothing against the Lite-on its great too but givin the choice I would get another Asus (it might just be the tri-colored all in one led it has)

 

[Ranger X]

The drive my bro has has a Verbatim sticker on top and no Lite-On/ASUS/etc. badging anywhere, just Verbatim. It doesn't really matter though, it works fine whatever brand it is.

What does the computer detect the drive as? My guess is that it's a Lite-On. Try downloading the firmware (I believe 064D is the latest version) update and see if you can execute the file.

 

[Deskstar]

The BB Buslink with SmartBurn label on the front is a LiteOn for $30 (no rebate). YMMV

 

[DaveR]

LiteOn is 6S0D.

Originally posted by: Ranger X

The drive my bro has has a Verbatim sticker on top and no Lite-On/ASUS/etc. badging anywhere, just Verbatim. It doesn't really matter though, it works fine whatever brand it is.

What does the computer detect the drive as? My guess is that it's a Lite-On. Try downloading the firmware (I believe 064D is the latest version) update and see if you can execute the file.

 

[BigSmooth]

Originally posted by: Ranger X

The drive my bro has has a Verbatim sticker on top and no Lite-On/ASUS/etc. badging anywhere, just Verbatim. It doesn't really matter though, it works fine whatever brand it is.

What does the computer detect the drive as? My guess is that it's a Lite-On. Try downloading the firmware (I believe 064D is the latest version) update and see if you can execute the file.

Actually, with the Verbatim firmware, Windows, Nero, and EZCD Creator all see it as a Verbatim drive. No LTR or Lite-On decriptors to be found.

 

[overpower]

Picked one up this morning in Emeryville, there were 2 lite-ons left. So I went back with my roommate late afternoon so he could get one, and they were all out of Lite-ons. Pinole also was out for those who care.

Oh yah, Serial number was 232245008564. They had tons of 2CDM.... still.
OP

 

[Richardito]

Originally posted by: OddTSi
My brother just bought this drive from Best Buy. It has the numeric serial number and the faceplate looks exactly like that on the box and the picture in the ad (Someone said that the Lite-Ons look like that). Is there a sure fire way to tell if this is a Lite-On?

Also, I tried installing Nero 5 and 5.5 but neither would detect the burner. When you go to Choose Recorder the only option is "Image Recorder". It does work however with the bundled Nero Express software. Does anyone know why it does this, or if there is a workaround to this?

You need to get the new version of Nero. I had the same problem with it. But I simply downloaded the latest Nero v.5.5.10 and it was able to identify the drive. Sweet... :beer:

 

[Ranger X]

Originally posted by: Richardito

Originally posted by: OddTSi
My brother just bought this drive from Best Buy. It has the numeric serial number and the faceplate looks exactly like that on the box and the picture in the ad (Someone said that the Lite-Ons look like that). Is there a sure fire way to tell if this is a Lite-On?

Also, I tried installing Nero 5 and 5.5 but neither would detect the burner. When you go to Choose Recorder the only option is "Image Recorder". It does work however with the bundled Nero Express software. Does anyone know why it does this, or if there is a workaround to this?

You need to get the new version of Nero. I had the same problem with it. But I simply downloaded the latest Nero v.5.5.10 and it was able to identify the drive. Sweet... :beer:

The Nero version that came with my drive was v5.5.9.13 and that works with my drive.

Whomever corrected me on the firmware, thanks. I checked and it is 6S0D, not what I had stated previously.

 

[LordThing]

Went and bought one last night while I was picking up other stuff. Mine still had the Lite On sticker on top. I couldn't tell what firmware it is. It came up as a LTR-52246S. Even Nero calls it a lite on.

May attempt to flash it tonight, but not sure if i really need to.

 

[lebowsky]

Picked up the last Buslink ($29.99) at my local BB but I haven't gotten a chance to open the box yet. It says SmartBurn on the box so I am crossing my fingers that it is a Lite-On. This is replacing my External USB 4x writer so even if it is made by Kia, I don't care.

 

[Ranger X]

Originally posted by: LordThing
Went and bought one last night while I was picking up other stuff. Mine still had the Lite On sticker on top. I couldn't tell what firmware it is. It came up as a LTR-52246S. Even Nero calls it a lite on.

May attempt to flash it tonight, but not sure if i really need to.

You should flash it. The firmware that comes with the drive is fairly old (well, at least mine was). Lite-On's latest firmware was released in March.

 

[Mallow]

tried but OOS in my part of texas :/

 

[AAjax]

Originally posted by: DaveR
i, too, had the LiteOn and ASUS. I got OM to take the ASUS back and give me a 2nd Liteon. Why???

Because the ASUS had great writting, but was not as good reading. Even cd's it created, gave some yellow bars in Nero's cd-speed quality tests. The same cd...even written on the ASUS had NO errors on my LiteON.

Also, the ASUS will not close by pushing on the door. These are "nits" as the errors were soft errors, and I must say that the ASUS would do a full erase of an UltraSpeed 24x cd-rw in 3+ minutes while the LiteOn requires 5 minutes.

Originally posted by: AAjax

Originally posted by: Slowpc
yea , i must have been the only Asus drive so far. Was hoping for a lite-on , but so far. Been very happy with this drive so far.

I have both the Lite-on and Asus drive running and to be honest I like the Asus drive better. It seems more solid and I like the "feel" of it a bit more. Nothing against the Lite-on its great too but givin the choice I would get another Asus (it might just be the tri-colored all in one led it has)

Actually the ASUS will close by pushing the door, you just have to give it a little bit more of a nudge and it works fine, I allways use the buttons anyway

 

[Toddlizzle]

Got the Buslink yesterday and installed it last night. Man, it feels good to copy an audio CD at 52x...disabled SmartBurn and went to town, never slowed down, no hiccups...and the firmware was Lite-On!

For $29 out the door, no rebates...you can't get a better deal than that. Get a Buslink and never look back!

 

[overpower]

...disabled SmartBurn and went to town, never slowed down, no hiccups...

Out of curiosity, why would you want to disable it? Does it make the drive faster? I thought it provided buffer underrun protection which is normally good?

 

[Supermercado]

Just got one of these today, but I don't know anything about updating firmware. I've got the 12-digit serial number, it looks just like my roommate's Lite-On, and shows up in Nero as a Verbatim 522452AL. If I just go to Lite-On's site and get the firmware (they've only got one listed for 52x24x52 drives) and run the installer thing, that's it, right? At this point, I'm pretty sure that I do have a Lite-On, but say that it's not... will the installer work at all? What would happen? Thanks.

 

[Toddlizzle]

Originally posted by: overpower

...disabled SmartBurn and went to town, never slowed down, no hiccups...

Out of curiosity, why would you want to disable it? Does it make the drive faster? I thought it provided buffer underrun protection which is normally good?

SmartBurn does good but it also senses your media's max speed (or what it thinks is the fastest it can reliably burn to it). I wasn't using certified 52x media, so SmartBurn was limiting me to 32x. I disabled it just for fun for my test burn and it copied my audio CD flawlessly at 52x, but I enabled it again for normal use (32x is just fine by me).

 

[Toddlizzle]

Originally posted by: SuperCommando
Just got one of these today, but I don't know anything about updating firmware. I've got the 12-digit serial number, it looks just like my roommate's Lite-On, and shows up in Nero as a Verbatim 522452AL. If I just go to Lite-On's site and get the firmware (they've only got one listed for 52x24x52 drives) and run the installer thing, that's it, right? At this point, I'm pretty sure that I do have a Lite-On, but say that it's not... will the installer work at all? What would happen? Thanks.

You have to find a raw LiteOn BIN file and a special hacked utility for burning it to your Verbatim drive. Once you do that, your drive is a LiteOn (assuming it works). After that, you can flash with LiteOn FW. Be careful, *someone* I know burned up a Verbatim trying to flash it...not sure what went wrong, all the on-screen prompts said "OK" during flash, but after reboot the PC wouldn't recognize there was even a drive attached to the system, and the tray would not open, green light stayed lit at all times. Drive was toast.

Better to get the Buslink if you're not brave and if you can find it. If you really want to flash your Verbatim, go to www.cdfreaks.com and search the LiteOn CD-RW forums. Good luck.

 

[DaveR]

Originally posted by: SuperCommando
Just got one of these today, but I don't know anything about updating firmware. I've got the 12-digit serial number, it looks just like my roommate's Lite-On, and shows up in Nero as a Verbatim 522452AL. If I just go to Lite-On's site and get the firmware (they've only got one listed for 52x24x52 drives) and run the installer thing, that's it, right? At this point, I'm pretty sure that I do have a Lite-On, but say that it's not... will the installer work at all? What would happen? Thanks.

Go to forum.cdfreaks.com and find mtkflash.

It is put on a bootable floppy. Then run mtkflash X c and it will show the Flash prom. X is ide port. 1 is Primary master 2 is slave 3 is Secondary Master., etc.

Then run mtkflash X r etc to save current firmware. Then use the BIN (on cdfreaks) and write to Verbatim. You actually only need 3 commands and the format is on the dos screen..

This takes very little time. Go to cdfreaks and look at FIRMWARE and read mtkflash forum.

You can also do a GOOGLE on mtkflash! Also, mtkflash IS listing the Verbatim 522452AL as OK with the program!

...

 

[BigSmooth]

I'd say if your drive is working fine as a Verbatim, you might consider leaving the firmware as-is. If you are having problems or it's not burning as fast as you think it should, then try flashing the firmware. If it ain't broke don't try to fix it.

 

[Supermercado]

Thanks, guys. Now I just need to decide if I really need to flash it or not.

 

[DaveR]

Originally posted by: SuperCommando
Thanks, guys. Now I just need to decide if I really need to flash it or not.

I would...and NOW. Why? Because the newer firmware adjusts for more media types. Also, once the drive thinks it is a LiteON, most software will work just fine.

With mtkflash, you can flash (and fix) any version of firmware. So, even if you get 6S07, or 6S02...you can then boot back to windows, and from then on, use the LiteON windows 6S0D.flash from their site.

Why do I say do it NOW?

Because IF you kill it, you can bring it back to the store as a DOA. BUT, MTKFLASH will let you flash as long as it is connected. It does not check for previous firmware being OK.

www.firmware-flash.com/~dhc014/mtkflash.htm

That will tell it all...use latest. mtkflash X r /b /m myoldfirmware.bin
that will save the old one. The /b says to use .bin format.