Please recommend DVD burner & media

I was on this forum a couple months ago, and it seemed like there were alot of issures with TrueImage writing to DVD's.

I want to use TrueImage to copy hard drive images to an external usb DVD burner. I do not own one yet, but I am planning on buying one. I was wondering if anyone could suggest a particular make/model that seems to work well with TrueImage? Also, what kind of media do you think I would have the fewest problems with (DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, or DVD-RW, ...)?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Paul

 

To be honest I would check with www.cdfreaks.com (or the forum there). The last time I paid any attention to this NEC burners had the best compatability and reliability.

As for media, it depends on the burner but I usually find Maxell and Verbatim are good brands. Tayo Yuden manufactured disks tend to be the best but in the UK you usually have to buy TY disks branded as Maxell or some other brand.

Fairy

PS- avoid bulk brands including various Ritek ones (which can be great but can suck and have variable quality)

 

You may not want to hear my advice, but I'll offer it anyway...

ATI is a great backup app, but (based on my experience) ATI is not very dependable for burning/restoring images to/from DVD and even when it works, it is a major hassle!

Since you say you haven't yet made the investment, I suggest that you consider buying an external USB/Firewire HDD instead of a DVD Burner. For backup/restore, you will find an external HDD to be much faster than using a DVD Burner and far more reliable (with ATI)!

~pv

 

I agree with Surfer. There have been issues with using Acronis Direct Burning plug ins. After all my testing, I've found that the files are actually GOOD ....IF you take the very same DVD that Acronis Directly burns to, ...and RE-COPY it to another DVD at Slower speeds (8x & below).
**My opinion regarding the DVD Burn problems is that Acronis is set for Max Burn, which is causing it to NOT Read the DVD's that are burned. This is a classic sign of ANY software that burns Large files to fast...not just Acronis.

Another thing to keep in mind about DVD's.... is that even when everything is working correctly, you still have that SIZE LIMIT! You'll either have to "Disc Span" (multiple DVD's), or use "Dual Layer" media. I don't like either of these. Disc Spanning causes problems - even with the best burning software out there, ...and Dual Layer is expensive.

You're much better off just investing in a External USB 2.0 HD to back up all your files to. It's a easier, quicker, and a much smoother process.

If you are going to use DVD, then use "Taiyo Yuden". You can get them dirt cheap from www.rima.com

 

I've just tried my first backup direct to DVD and am very disappointed. For one thing it looks like it was going to use SEVEN single-sided DVDs even though it announced beforehand that the backup size was 14gb so should fit on THREE. And then.. the speed ...! I gave up.

I see you can backup to an external HD and split the archive into DVD-size chunks. Would it work to do this, get three files, and put each directly onto a DVD?

As for DVD vs External HD: well Ext HD is absolutely the way to go. BUT.. I want an off-site backup too. A set of 3 or 4 DVDs would do nicely, as long as they are reasonably convenient to make, and above all are reliable when it comes to restore them.

Any suggestions??

 

Here's my suggestion:

1) I use TI to create my backup as one large file and store it either on my homemade external 3.5" Seagate 120GB 7200 RPM drive in a CompUSA USB2 enclosure or on on my homemade external 2.5" Hitachi 60GB 5400 RPM drive in a CompUSA 2.5" USB2 enclosure. Then, I burn the image to a Memorex DVD+R DL disk and store it off-site. This works for me because my largest backup image is around 5GB which is about 3GB less than a DVD+R DL will hold. I use Roxio to create my data disks. Never had a problem reading, writing or anything else.

2) When my backup images exceed about 8GB (DVD+R DL maximum size) I create my TI backup image and split it into 4.3GB chunks and save them to my external USB drive. I go back and burn them to individual Sony DVD+R single layer disks and store them off-site. Singles are much faster than DL's. Never had a problem with any of these, either.

3) I burn and restore everything with my internal laptop Matshita UJ841S DVD-RAM drive. TI8 v937 and TI9 v3677 recognize these drives with no problem. I use BartPE with the TI9 v3677 plugin for all my restores because it is very fast on my Dell laptop. I use the regular TI9 v3677 Recovery CD with my Toshiba laptops because it's fast as it is - no need for BartPE.

I don't trust TI9's flawed and slow implementation of direct-to-DVD burning capability. Third-party solutions are well-proven and much faster (Roxio, Nero, etc.)

Hope this is helpful.

 

Also, I can't recommend a specific DVD burner as I have used several internal and external USB2 types including LG, Sony, HP, Matshita and all worked flawlessly. As for DVD blanks, I have always had perfect results with Sony and recently Memorex DL's.

I think most user difficulty arises more from their computer's hardware/software mix than does which brand of DVD burner or disks one uses.

 

I just bought a Plexwriter PX 216 Al (I have 2 IDE HDs), it is supposed to be very fast up to 8x. But that depends on the media, for example: - or +; R or RW; Brand. I went to the makers website to see what they recommend for speed.While there I got the latest version of firmware for the DVD burner.

 

Hi Alec,

You have hit on the best solution. Backup to an external drive for speed but split the image into 4.3GB pieces (OK, TI says 4.7GB to match the label on DVD disks, but they are really 4.38GB and that's the size pieces TI creates.) Use your burning software to burn the pieces to as many DVDs as requred. That will be faster than directly burning to DVDs in TI.

Before burning, you will know how many disks it will take, and you can repeat the backup and increase the compression to reduce the number of disks if you want.

Backups burned this way to DVDs are very reliable.

 

Much thanks to all of you for your suggestions.

Backing up to an external usb hard drive while choosing to split the image into DVD size files, and then burning these files to DVD as a separate step would work fine for me.

One question...Let's say I only have one DVD drive in my PC and I want to restore from an image that is split onto multiple DVD's. If I boot to the Acronis boot rescue cd, can I restore directly from the DVD's? Or do I have to first copy the files back to my external usb hard drive.

Thanks again,
Paul

 

You can restore directly from the DVD's. It's much slower than restoring from the USB drive and involves disk-swapping.

 

All the burners are made under license from just two or three companies/designs aren't they, lite-on being one of the most prevalent.

I think it's right that it's hardware combos and not the drives that usually make for problems.

I heard recently that long terms tests have shown CDs and DVDs have a reliable lifespan about equivalent to magnetic tape or disk except for high quality disks. This is true more so for disks that are burned (home users) than ones that are pressed (commerically prepared).

So I'd stick with the blue chips if I valued the data for more than 5 or 10 years.

sh

 

There are standards in which Optical Drives are made. There are many companies out now that make Burners. Lite-On has been pushed back a little since Plextor, BenQ, NEC, and LG have hit the market. They are more preferred now. I personaly prefer NEC.

The #1 issue with Hardware problems concerning Optical Drives is the Firmware. Usually many problems can be corrected by flashing the drives with New-Updated FW.

If CD's/ DVD's are properly taken care of, they can last a lifetime. A lot longer than 5 or 10 years.

 

Thanks John. I've done that now. It actually ran to 4 x single-layer DVDs but that's OK. I haven't tested the backup but shall do so in due course. Thanks for the reassurance, and thanks everyone for the advice.
Alec