This drive was my first CD-R/RW. It was 2x/2x/6x. It utilized the Adaptec Direct CD system. It was never able to duplicate a music CD without crashing. It would sieze the system every 15 minutes for about 10 seconds- very annoying. It worked as a backup device which is what I bought it for. Duplicating a CD-ROM it was a "coaster machine" requiring 3-5 CD's to make one, of those very few it could copy. The HP website features more patches than can be easily downloaded and upgraded, and even with ALL of them applied there was no difference. In short, a hardware virus attached to the system.

Finally fed up after almost two years, out of desperation, I wrote HP and explained the difficulties in detail. I also explained that the CD performed with the same errors across 2 computers (Win 95/MediaGX 180, and a Win 98SE 475 K6-2). The "expert" talked about pinging, hadn't read my letter at all, and said the best he could do was send me a replacement after arguing with me on the phone.

Needless to say, the replacement did the same things. I took the drive out of its box and mounted it as an internal device. Also, after extensive research, I found out this was a rebadged Phillips drive. I was able to flash the firmware which helped somewhat. At least the newer firmware supported the 700 mb discs, it was getting harder and harder to find 650 mb discs. HP had never released a more up to date firmware. These manuevers stopped the periodic seizing, and I was able actually copy a few CD's including some music. After two short months, it crashed my computer, and when I used the system restore disc it would not work until the CD was removed. The next day I bought a new drive "http://www.epinions.com/content_12423958148"
and have not looked back.

In short, it was a lousy experience that occupied way too much of my time, that ended with a worse experience with customer service. I even told the HP guy that this was one of three HP peripherals including an HP printer (722C), and scanner (3200). If this is how they treat a dedicated repeat customer, good luck.

I would not only stay away from this drive, but all HP drives as they are problem prone, have poor support when they do, and currently technologically inferior without Burn-Proof or equivalent technology. I have still not purchased anything from HP or Compaq for the very poor support I received on this very expensive peripheral. For the price, there should have been several firmware updates from HP. They shouldn't rely on the ignorance of the public to cover their poor support.

Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 379
Operating System: Windows