By Randall Hull
Some options to consider if you want your CD drive to do the writing
Q: My current PC doesn’t have a way to write CDs. What should I consider in order to make CDs for backing up data, archiving and, perhaps, music?
** missed drop char **A: What you need is a CD-RW drive (CD-Recordable/reWritable). You can get a CD-R drive but you won’t be able to create music CDs. CD-RWs are available for internal and external installation. Internal drives for PCs are typically IDE / EIDE/ATAPI interface - don’t go for SCSI. External drives come in two formats: USB and FireWire (also known as i.Link or IEEE 1394). Some models are available with both. The current speed package for most drives is 24X write speed,10X rewrite speed and 40X read speed. There are low-priced drives with slower speeds, but for my money I’d go with this.
Unless you are very familiar with the guts of your PC you may want to hire a pro to install an internal drive. You can, however, add an external CD-RW as easily as adding a printer.
Most PCs built in the last few years have at least one USB port and some newer models come with FireWire ports. USB is cheaper, easy to start using and can be moved from one PC to another or to a Mac. But this all comes with one big trade-off - speed. Most USB drives can only write at 4X speeds. USB 2.0 offers high rates but is not readily available yet. You’ll need a USB 2.0 adapter card if you really want to go this route. FireWire, on the other hand, is available in 24X/10X/40X speed and is pretty much plug and play.
There are a number of brand names on the market; those worth consideration include HP, La Cie, Maxtor, Panasonic, Plextor, QPS, Ricoh, Sony, Toshiba and Yamaha.
If you’re new to burning CDs choose your CD-RW drive based not only on speed but what software is bundled with it, particularly if you want to rip and burn music CDs. Two of the best software programs are Adaptec’s Easy CD Creator and Nero Burning ROM.
Next you will need discs. There are two formats here as well: CD-R and CD-RW. The difference? CD-R means the disc is permanent and unalterable once it is written, comes in 650MB or 700MB capacities, and most CD drives can handle them. CD-RW means the disc is rewriteable, holds just 530MB but allows multi-session writing. Your new drive will create both, but if you want to make music CDs to play on your stereo, CD-R is the format to choose. CD-RW is just for computer playback.
Please keep questions to 100 words or less. Send to: Tech Talk, Town Crier, 138 Main St., Los Altos 94022 or e-mail: techtalk@latc.com. Randall Hull is a Los Altos resident and owner of The Br@nd Ranch, a marketing firm.
