detail information

Positive:

• Retail package.
•  Includes one empty 4X DVD+RW. *
• Includes Nero burning ROM and NTI CD/DVD-maker GOLD *
• High CD reading and writing/rewriting speeds compared to most competitors.
• 4X DVD+RW ReWriting speed that sets it aside from most of the competitors.
• Very good packet writing performance.
• Supports DAO-RAW writing.
• Supports reading and writing of CD-Text information.
• Supports reading and writing of full SubChannel Data.
• Can read and write 99 minutes discs.
• Supports 'Correct EFM encoding of regular bit patterns".
• Built in USB 2.0 hub.
• Built in 9in4 flash card reader.
• Fast reader for protected data discs, good writer for several game protections

Negative:

• No documentation included. * 
• Low DVD-Writing quality with many disc types.
• Reading of recordable DVD media and pressed dual layer discs is limited to 6X.
• Does not support Mt. Rainier.
• Software DVD-Player not included. *
• DVD-Authoring software not included. *
• Questionable possibility to update firmware.
• Drive is a bit noisy compared to similar drives when spinning at full speed.
• Fan in the USB2.0 case is a bit noisy.
• Can't rip music from Cactus Data shield protected music discs.
• Problems with special CD-R discs like pocket card CD-R's and 8cm CD-R discs.

*Our drive is a pre-release sample so this may be different in the shipping version.

Conclusion:

After looking everything over we found a bit more negative points than we would like to see. Not all of them are serious drawbacks, but a few are. So you should consider your needs before getting it.

One area where we could see that this drive is a good choice is in combination with a laptop or a small computer with limited space. Think of it this way; maybe you are a busy person with several cameras with different flash card types and a laptop. Most laptops also have small hard drives that gets filled up very quick. Think of the possibilities with this drive now; you could transfer the images from your cameras with it due to the built in 9in4 flash reader, and when the hard drive fills up you may write it to whatever disc type you want; CD-R, CD-RW, DVDR or DVDRW. And maybe you only have one or two USB ports on your laptop as well, but could use a few more? That's not a problem either as this drive also have a built in 2 port USB 2.0 Hub. Maybe you also have another computer where the drive could be useful? That's not a problem since the drive is external, it could quickly be moved to other computers. And due to its USB interface you may disconnect and connect it without powering off your computer.

Let's continue a bit more with the positive points of this drive; The drive is among the drives with the best specifications, and to our knowledge the only drive with similar specifications is the Lite-On LDW-411S/LDW-451S. The drive is also very good for backing up games, especially safedisc protected games as it backed up all versions we had without problems, and it's among the faster readers for the various protections as well.

But it's not only sunshine with this drive; the program bundle and documentation is not very good, this may be due to the fact that the drive is a Pre-release drive though. There are some other small drawbacks as well; it's a bit noisy at full speed compared to similar drives and the fan in the external case is also a bit annoying, especially when using the drive with a quiet laptop. Another problem is that Mediagear/BTC have not yet made a firmware updating tool that works with external drives, and after the information we have got there is no plans to make such a tool either. This means that you have to take the drive out of the external case and put it on the IDE bus of a computer to be able to update the firmware. First it's a bit troublesome to get the drive out of the external case, due to small plastic tabs that may break and so, we are also unsure if this may void the warranty. This also requires a normal computer, so if you only have a laptop you are out of luck.

There are still a few other drawbacks but we will not comment these more, except one: The DVD-Writing quality. This is the biggest drawback in our book and the drive did not do to well with many disc types, so you should be careful when shopping recordable DVD discs for use with this drive. The drive did also have problems with known manufacturers like Ritek and Mitsubishi which is very disappointing, actually this drive is the only drive beside Plextor PX-708A that have failed with the RITEKG04 discs. To be on the safe side you should try to find Taiyo Yuden manufactured DVDR discs as these worked perfect with this drive.

To sum it all up this is the best we could say 'A feature filled drive with good specifications, but consider the drawbacks before getting it".

So far we have not been able to find any pricing information on this drive. You may discuss/comment this review below or in this forum thread.