USB CD-RW...help selecting one please......

[DJR]

I am going to be getting a CD-RW in about 1 month....and really want to get a USB one so i can take it with me, and to friends houses, and the such. What one would you recomend?? I have been looking at the HP and Sony so far....dont really know of any others out there....

What would be better for CD sounds....makeing my own Cd's...and backing up files?? Price isnt that much of a matter...but would like to stay under $300 at most....well...$310 would be fine...LOL

Thanks for you help and look forward to seeing what you have to say!!

Oh...my CPU is a 400mhz celeron....128ram....8.4gig hd (need the CD-RW to help clean up some space...LOL)

Thanks again!!

[Coppermine]

Stay away from those things. USB CDRW drives have insanely high CPU overheads. Like 80% or higher CPU Util during a burn. You'd be much better off going with an external Parallel Port drive or external SCSI. The external Parallel port isn't that good either your choice of burner speeds will be limited considering the speed of the parallel port interface. I can't really recommend any external CDRW drives since my 2 burners are both Internal ones. 1 IDE and 1 SCSI. On my system I can burn 2 cds at the same time and still do other stuff like internet browsing etc. I've got an Athlon 550 and 256M RAM and a UDMA 66 hard drive with pretty low CPU util.

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[Hell_Yes]

From what I have heard the HP product seems to be you best choice for USB. Does Plextor make one yet?
Coppermine is correct that USB is not the ideal way to go (although parallel port drives, I feel, are an even bigger headache). I understand the need for snagging files from friends computers and vice versa. Just remember, you are paying more for the convenience in terms of cash and speed.

good luck
david