I have managed to get the Artec 16x DVD-ROM drive for $9 after price match and rebate at Staples. The drive is a replacement for the CD-ROM drive I had before (another drive bay is taken by the BUSLink CD-RW drive).

Software

The Artec drive comes with PowerDVD DVD-Video playback software, which refused to work at my 1024x1280 resolution (I have a NEC 18.1” LCD screen, which is mostly in “portrait” orientation). So I have to rotate my LCD monitor to “landscape” when I need to watch DVD. Which I almost never do anyway – the DVD-Video looks much better on a standalone DVD player and my TV. The main reason I got this drive is to read DVD-ROM discs.

Compatibility

I have Windows 98 and the drive works flawlessly. It also works with NT, 2000, 95, OS3, 3.1, Linux, SCO Unix and Novell. The supported formats include DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, CD-DA, CD-R/RW, Video CD, CD-ROM Mode 1, CD-Extra, Photo CD, CD-I, CD-Text, CD-Bridge, UDF and bootable CD.

The drive can read (according to manufacturer) DVDs of up to 17Gb, which means it can read 2-layer 2-sided discs.

Speed

The drive can read CD at up to 48x, DVD at up to 16x and has a 512K buffer. In my tests, the audio extraction was very slow however – around 3x. Now I use my CD-RW drive for audio extraction and it does it several times faster.

Noise

The drive is surprisingly quiet – almost completely silent. It is among the least noisy drives I have seen, which is a good thing.

Mounting

The drive comes with mounting screws and includes a audio cable you can use to connect it to your audio card. It can work in both horizontal and vertical positions. I use it in horizontal position and it is installed on the secondary channel as secondary slave with my CD-RW drive being a secondary master.

The drive has a headphone jack with volume control, “Eject” and “Play/Skip” buttons, access LED.

Installation took no more than 10 minutes and Windows immediately recognized the drive.

Warranty

The drive comes with a 1-year warranty.

Bottom Line

If you need a quiet DVD-ROM drive with multiple-format reading capability, this drive is a good choice. But for fast digital audio extraction (CD ripping), you will need another drive.


Recommended: Yes