Introduction

I was on yet another trip to the mall with my wife spending some quality time with her when we got to go to one of my favorite stores... Babbages aka Software Etc. We sifted through their collection of software and I happened to notice some DVD drives along with some CD-RW drives. I glanced at the prices and much to my delight there was a PC-DVD Ovation 12X drive for little more than $100. That made for a great deal since I purchased said drive in Mid-Jan 2001.

What it comes with

Once I got the box home I cracked it open, and much to my enjoyment I found that it did not have the average controller card like most other DVD drives, and the only resource I needed open on my system was a freespace for a drive.

Inside the box there was the CD with drivers, the DVD-ROM drive itself, pamphlet with installation instructions, the cable to connect the drive to your soundcard (it is good if you have one of the soundblaster Live! line since you will have an aux port for more than one CD-ROM drive), and another IDE cable to connect the computer in a drive space.

How to Install

The instructions that come with the drive are good, but here is a brief run down of the installation steps. First, you want to ensure that the jumper on the back of the drive is set right for where you will be placing the DVD-ROM.

Next, you will want place the drive in a docking station for it, and screw in the eight screws to lock it into position.

Third, you will want to connect the cables to their respective places, not forgetting to plug in a power cable.

Last, you just need to place the CD-ROM with all the software into the newly plugged in drive and it will install the software.

How it works

This drive doesn't use the usual adapter card instead it uses the software on the disk to read DVD type format. The drive runs with no interruption in the viewing via the software (unless, of course, you pause it yourself). In fact it works so well that when I purchased a DVD from the same place I tried to view it, even though there was some odd markings on the disk itself. This drive read all the way through it with only a few skips at the point of error. When I took it back to the store they said it was warped by the factory, and replaced the disk without a problem. I was just amazed that the software worked so well that it could even read such a disk.

The drive itself is a little loud at boot up, but it seems like a lot of the faster drives these days tend to make a rush of air sound when the come up.

Conclusion

This is a great drive with little need for resources and has little to no cons about it.

Recommended: Yes