A good drive when it came out
Written: Jan 14 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Wide software support, true SCSI compliance, 16x DAE
Cons: Outdated product
The Bottom Line: Compared to other offerings in the same performance and price class, the CRW4416S is a good reliable product.
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| towwang's Full Review: Yamaha CRW4416S 16X/4X/4X ReWritable SCSI CD-RW 44... |
Performance:
This drive delivers exactly what its specifications say: 4x write, 4x re-write and 16x read. I found its Digital Audio Extraction speed to be 16x too; quite impressive for its time.
Software compatibility:
I have tested it using Adaptec "Easy CD creator" 4.0, Nero "Burning ROM" 5.5 and Prassi "Primo CD plus" 2.0; all these applications support the CRW4416S under Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 4.1 ("98").
Media compatibility:
I have used WORM (CDR) discs by Verbatim, Ricoh and Sony; occasionally the drive will report a "medium error" and mis-burn a Ricoh disc. Note that this is a media compatibility problem, as opposed to a "buffer under-run", which is a performance problem. The drive almost never fails discs of the other brands.
(To be fair, I did not list "lack of underrun prevention" as a con, since that technology did not yet exist when this drive hit the market.)
As for rewritable (CDRW) media, I've used OEM Ricoh's and GQ ("Great quality"). No problems at all here.
Connectivity:
The CRW4416S uses a standard 50-pin (low density, narrow) SCSI interface, and will readily plug into common host adapters by Adaptec, QLogic, Advansys, etc. You will need to set jumpers for the SCSI id. and termination, so inexperienced users who refuse to read manuals will have a hard time with this (and any other SCSI) device.
One esoteric thing I do want to stress is that this drive has a functional passive SCSI bus terminator. I've used endless batches of SCSI CD drives that do not terminate the bus properly, even after setting the appropriate jumper, leading to very sporadic and mysterious system crashes. (The only way to use these defective implementations was to buy a $40 external termination module.) I've been using the CRW4416S at the narrow end of the bus as the terminator device, and it has worked completely problem-free.
[Review written on 14 January 2003 by Tow Wang.]
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
towwang
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Member: Tow Wang
Location: California; U.S.A.
Reviews written: 45
Trusted by: 8 members
About Me:
Rabidly passionate about computers and electronics!
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