> I am contemplating the purchase of one of 3 the following (IDE)  CD-R
>  drives:
>
>  HP 8200i (4x/4x/24x)
>  Iomega ZipCD (4x/4x/24x)
>  Ricoh MP7060a (6x/4x/24x)
>
>  In Canada, all are obtainable at about the same price, but of course the
>  Ricoh is a bit faster in the write department (6x vs. 4x). On the
>  surface therefore, the Ricoh seems the better buy, but of course the
>  surface is only the surface :)
>
>  Any folks out there have direct experiences (good or bad) with any of
>  these drives and wish to share suggestions/advice?
>
>  Thanks to all.
>
>  Michael
>
    I would go with the fastest unit. I have installed several units of
different brands over the past year and a half and at the beginning, I had
some problems with compatibility which was later corrected with driver and
software updates. I am not sure and this is only a guess, but if you checked,
you would probably find that some or all of the units you listed are made by
a mfg. other than the company that actually brands it.
    As far as the write speeds, I don't know the speed, memory specs, CPU,
etc., of your system, but to write at 6X, you will have to have a pretty
quick setup or you could ruin allot of CD-Rs. You can always change the
settings to make it write a slower rate if need be.

Dennis Noble
www.hungryfireman.com

               PCBUILD mailing list is brought to you by:
                            The NOSPIN Group
                  http://nospin.com - http://nospin.org