Wandering round my local computer fair, looking at one of the junk tables, I looked (for no particular reason) at a stack of ex-equipment CD-ROM drives.
The name TEAC caught my eye (on the one at the top, actually) - and the number CD-W548E, I thought sounded like a writer - the High speed Rewritable logo confiormed that at least.
Now my memory doesn't cover all the range, but a friend had a W54 (4x) - I knew the the W58 was 8x, and kind of placed it at the 12/10/32 level (same as what I've got, and ok for a spare machine if it works).
Was going to ask the price, but as someone else was looking at a a card, the guy went through it all anyway.
Passing over the pile, he said "they're all CD-ROM drives - tested, 3 quid".
Picking up the top drive, I said "might as well" and handed over my 3 pound pretty damn sharpish.
I must admit feeling a little bit doutful if I'd done the right thing, but actually, with BOXED, brand new (and, I thought, much faster) CD-RW drives at under £30, unless it was going to be guaranteed as a writer (and in some cases, a writer will read, but can't write a thing if the laser is getting weak), then it probably isn't worth any more than a nondescript CD-ROM anyway.
Looking up the number, I might have thought differently - if it WORKS, it's a 48/16/48 - with Mediatek chipset and as good as the current Liteons at Safedisk writing if I ever need to backup one. Not so hot on audio protection reading, an while it supports Mount Rainer packet, it was problematic in the test.
Well, when I get time to pull my ridiculously cluttered layout apart (NEVER let the PC case become a shelf support!), I'll find out if I got a great writer or a paperweight!
Wish me luck - on a secondhand writer, I'll probably need it!
The name TEAC caught my eye (on the one at the top, actually) - and the number CD-W548E, I thought sounded like a writer - the High speed Rewritable logo confiormed that at least.
Now my memory doesn't cover all the range, but a friend had a W54 (4x) - I knew the the W58 was 8x, and kind of placed it at the 12/10/32 level (same as what I've got, and ok for a spare machine if it works).
Was going to ask the price, but as someone else was looking at a a card, the guy went through it all anyway.
Passing over the pile, he said "they're all CD-ROM drives - tested, 3 quid".
Picking up the top drive, I said "might as well" and handed over my 3 pound pretty damn sharpish.
I must admit feeling a little bit doutful if I'd done the right thing, but actually, with BOXED, brand new (and, I thought, much faster) CD-RW drives at under £30, unless it was going to be guaranteed as a writer (and in some cases, a writer will read, but can't write a thing if the laser is getting weak), then it probably isn't worth any more than a nondescript CD-ROM anyway.
Looking up the number, I might have thought differently - if it WORKS, it's a 48/16/48 - with Mediatek chipset and as good as the current Liteons at Safedisk writing if I ever need to backup one. Not so hot on audio protection reading, an while it supports Mount Rainer packet, it was problematic in the test.
Well, when I get time to pull my ridiculously cluttered layout apart (NEVER let the PC case become a shelf support!), I'll find out if I got a great writer or a paperweight!
Wish me luck - on a secondhand writer, I'll probably need it!
