Rating: 
Summary: Nothing is perfect
Review: I had been looking at reviews for a variety of external (needed due to laptop) burners and realized none had overwhelming positive reviews; at least not for the under $200 I wanted to spend. I found I needed one when I got a digital camera and also wanted to backup, permanently, a massive amount of files that I had on numerous floppies. I decided on the HP because of price and a recommendation from a friend.
The unit arrived and the installation of the driver software went smoothly (helped by the easy pictured instructions). The laptop recognized the HP unit (not a small achievement considering other hardware I've tried throught the USB port).
Then I installed the product software and must have done something wrong because the DLA portion would not recognize the drive letter; it disabled the CHANGE button and only showed me my laptop CD drive. I reinstalled but the same problem. Everything else was fine. I could copy files but not through DLA. Then I tried booting with the burner on and connected. That worked.
Rating: 
Summary: good hardware, bad software
Review: i have this product for almost a year,, it's actually burnt me more than 180 cds so far,,seem successful?? nope,, about 100 more blank cds go to the trash,, the madiodre software reported the same stupid error and i think the software itself is not intuitive enough.. i finally come up with a new idea,, borrowed the roxio easy cd creater 5 to use insted of the sucker bunble software,, the newer program just smart enough to detect the drive and it never fail me since,, i uninstalled the sucker HP cd writer software,, and everything work fine,, a lot better than before,, if you found that your machine turned to a piece of junk,, just command it with the roxio software version 5 (should be more choice avaiable,,) don't touch the bundle software,, except the installation diskette for the driver,, and then,, have fun with a new reliable burner,,
i gave it 3 stars coz i hate its software,, it's just a stupid version of burning program,, the hardware itself is very durable,, i throwed it several times ( on the carpet floor, due to the disappointment feeling the software gave) but it still work,,, just change the software,, borrow some one to try,, if you can,, better than the bundle one for sure...
Rating:
Summary: Everything depends on its mood.
Review: Well, i bought this unit since it cost me at 200 bucks,, not a big deal then for one year ago. Sometime it was good enough to burnt me 4-5 cds in a row without any error, sometime this manic-depressive unit just fail with the common error, the high speed cd used. The first time I attempted to install it was a bad experience, insufficient instruction included, but somehow, I got it work in 2 hours. Anyway, after my computer ran to some problem and I got to reinstalled all operating systems, the set up is just a piece of cake. took me about 10 mins to reach the device. Like some other reviewers, this unit needs some cares, I found out that if I reboot the computer before burn a cd, it's tend to work better with a fewer error. Still, it's painful sometime I have to reduced its burnning speed to 2x rater than its full 4x to get the job done. If you have enough budget, you better choose the faster and more reliable device aviable on the market, they are packed with better software (I got some problem updatting the Roxio in my system too, it's cracked) with a buffer underrun protection. Anyway, this unit burnt me more than 150 cds so far, both music and data, that's okey with the cost of 250 blank cds (that stupid error made more than 1/3 of waste blank medias). I think the burner itself is not a problem, but the software come with it is just a soft-brain. I also tried to installed the winoncd which work very well with internal burner with this device, nope, it doesn't recoznized the HP, bad luck.
Like I said, if you have enough money to look for those machines come up with USB 2.0 or firewire, with a buffer underrun protection, go with it, you will not want to wait for 40 mins for a cd (which you'll never know it will be done or not) insted of you'll get 5-10 mins full cd without error massage from those better machines out there. Now I'm looking for a USB 2.0 or firewire machine too, hopefully this time I will make a right choice.
Rating:
Summary: Good unit for novice
Review: While I, too, have had some problems with this unit, I still believe it is a good value. I had this thing up and ready to go in a matter of minutes due to the plug n play capability. I had the previous software, "My CD", at the time. The CR-R supplied with the burner failed to work, prompting a call to HP. I was getting the "high speed media" error and not too happy about it. With the technician's help (we all agree they need an 800 number) this was solved by simply going into "options" and telling it to NOT perform a write speed test. Then we set the write speed at 1X. It seemed to work, but I was having quite a few disks fail during burning, so I called back. This time checking the system performance was done and the whole turning off all startup menu programs. But I would not deal with a product that forced me to turn off my antivirus software and decided that if it took this much trouble, I would return the 8230. I have since discovered that if I simply reboot my system prior to burning, even with all startup items intact, that I have no problems burning either data or audio CD's. You may say this is not ideal, but I find it to be a small inconvenience for a sure thing, instead of a possible coaster.Yes, it is slow, but I don't need speed and am totally uncomfortable with installing anything on my computer. Since updating to "Record Now" software, I have not turned off the write speed test or checked the write speed, but have not had trouble with data CD's and I think my son has been burning audios. We use some WalMart bulk CD's with no problem, as well as anything on sale. For the price (I got mine cheap on a well known auction site) and two phone calls, I still rate it a four.
Rating:
Summary: Very sensitive burning, but still an excellent product
Review: At first I had problems with errors occuring while attemtping to burn cds (from mp3s). I read somewhere that the cds have to be completely dust/dirt free in order to burn at all, so I started to clean my cds before burning, making sure that they were clean, and I have had much fewer errors since...
I read other reviews and I understand other people's frustration. I have a few cd coasters myself, but it works fine if you make sure that the cd is clean before inserting into the burner.
I used multispeed/highspeed cds, but I don't think that is the problem. Cds have to be 'pure' if they are empty and about to be burned. I mean 'pure' from dirt. Obviously you can play cds that already contain data if they are dirty, but you have to start with clean cds in the Beginning.
I have been quite pleased with my finished cds.
Rating: 
Summary: Great product!
Review: I received this particular CD-writer as a gift, and have had no problems with it thus far. Installation was simple, and the MusicMatch software is easy to use. I have already created several CD's with complete success. Although, it does take about 30 to 40 minutes to write a CD, I find this characteristic to be unimportant. To me, it dosen't matter how long it takes to write the CD, just as long as it gets the job done. Just to let you know, I am running Windows 98 on a 4-year old Compaq Presario--practically obsolete considering today's technological advances--and the HP CD-writer still works great! I would recommend this product to anyone who wants the flexibility of being able to create their own CD's, without having to pay a great deal for it.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolute Garbage
Review: This is without a doubt the worst computer hardware that I've ever encountered in all of my years. It is very unreliable. I got it to burn ONE cd (the disc that came with it) out of TWENTY. The customer support people were friendly enough, but very unhelpful. After my third call, I was told to buy yet ANOTHER pack of discs. I was very hopeful that this would work...however I got the same silly error message over, and over, and over again. I worked with this for three days straight, and got one CD. Finally, I returned it. Save yourself the trouble.....don't buy this. Don't even THINK about buying it. Stay FAR FAR FAR FAR away from it!
Rating:
Summary: Awful, Awful, Awful!
Review: This device is awful! Once I finally figured out how to install and format (no thanks to the inadequate instructions) I was able to burn a few pictures on a disc. However, repeated attempts to burn music were unsuccessful. I kept getting a variety of error messages, all of which I did exactly what the computer help instructed me to do to fix them. Once I fixed an error, I would get another one. THis was on my Compaq desktop system. After purchasing a brand new Gateway laptop computer, I installed the software for the burner (also Roxio software) on the computer. It refused to burn data cd's, let alone audio cd's, and crashed my computer several times. I had to completely re install all of my hard drive. I gave up. A few months later, I tried to work with it on my laptop again...and surprise, it did not work. After repeated attempts, it showed me an error message that the damn thing wasn't plugged in! Do not purchase this device. Not only does it not work, but it always crashes my computer! It is the worst purchase I have made this decade!
Rating:
Summary: This is an EVIL Product
Review: Listen to me, people. This thing is EVIL. I know, I read all the reviews but I figured I could make it work. WRONG!! I'm running a very clean, very stable, Dell with W98se. Install was a breeze, after that all down hill. I've wasted a box of cd-r's, including the freebie from HP. EVERY ATTEMPT to burn a cd was interrupted by the infamous "high-speed cd-rw media" error message. I downloaded the latest driver and software, which crashed my system. I made all the system changes recommended on their support page, same result. I asked for email support help. Do I expect a reply in this lifetime?
Rating:
Summary: Dont read this all bad!!!
Review: I know some of you have read bad reviews on this
product. What makes it bad is there are no real instructions
for installing it. I bought one ,defective,got another works very well! I had read one of these reviews. When you get this product,there is one booklet that says help(printed in 5 languages). Call the number where it says"under 30 day warranty",
when you first get the burner. HP were great!!! They spent almost two hours with me,getting everything done,including getting the "kinks" out of my computer. I did have to download a new version of HP Record Now 3.5,but everything fell into place!
And get this product from Amazon,they were very good about the
delivery and their warranty. Give this burner another try,dont use it as you favorite beverage coaster!!!
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