Hello. I'm looking to buy a dvd writer. But I'd like some recommendations as to which manufacturer and their model/s I should look for. If any of you still uses, and/or remembers their experiences with these, I'd kindly ask you to share. It will be used to rip audio cds and make 1:1 images of software, operating systems, and the like. And also to burn cds, dvds. So, I'd like something good, durable, maximum compatibility, not sure how to explain it. From my limited experience with these, I'd say I should stay away from asus and lg which, as you might expect, are about all you can find nowadays, new or used. Thanks.
It sounds like there is a lot of information (system record). Maybe consider BD rather than DVD? Of course, the price differs, but the choice depends on the amount of information. Backwards compatible with DVD/CD for smaller capacity. DVD/BD writers. Comparison of prices on Amazon (JP) from the first row of the request.
I repost my suggestions albeit someone, for some reason didn't like them, and deleted my previous message. In short, if you aim for durability go for Japanese brands NEC,, Taiyo Youden, Panasonic/Matsuscita and Avoid LG, Asus, Samsung and any other Korean or Taiwanese brand.
I showed the mainstream internal (i am old school and die hard pc fan) dvd writers which actually exist and are sold in western europe (probably in more regions).
I've had LG and ASUS and they suck. This is why I asked a second opinion. They feel flimsy, and there was one issue that happened to all of them: after some time, the drive tray stops ejecting properly or not at all. And it also gets stuck when inserting the tray back into the drive. I don't know; with older ones this never happened, but newer ones, they were all affected. And they are not the same with what acer posted above. Japanese is very different from China. On top of that, I've noticed that they are also picky on disk manufacturers. The idea is this: these drives are slowly reaching the end of their existence. And once this happens, you will never be able to buy new drives, only used or refurbished, if that. So it needs to be a good one, and last a long time.
i had that many times when i still smoked 2 packs of tobacco a day and the nicotine acted like glue, i have had sony-optiarc aka nec, lg, asus and liteon drives, no difference.
DVD writers nowadays are considered very very low tech, like incandescence lamps, You have no hope to find anything current, that last. They are cheap to buy, they are cheaply built. That is Get a used Japanese one (even a 10 years old one) it will last for sure way more than a current crap sold today.
I still have to buy an external one but i don't find it worth the 30 euros now i hardly ever use dvd's. Although it can be handy in some cases when fixing laptops/ps's for clients, but never really needed it. And we all are bound what the local (web)stores have to offer.
I think an important part of the requirements as per the OP is related to CD ripping and the already mentioned cheap external units are doing the job. CD ripping and exact audio copying and ripping taking in consideration sample offsets are more of a hobby for the hard core fans these days, because for the majority of casual listeners music in decent quality is already available for free or for relatively small ongoing fees.
Did you ever fixed it? And I wonder is dust causes it as well. I never smoked but dust was a problem back then.