Rating: 
Summary: BUFFER UNDERRUN
Review: BOUGHT THIS PIECE OF CRAP LAST WEEK NOTHING BUT PROBLEMS.EVERY TIME I TRY TO BURN A CD IT EJECTS A ND SAYS BUFFER UNDERRUN.SPOKE TO SEVERAL TECH'S AND THEY ALL HAVE DIFFERANT ANSWERS AS TO THE PROBLEM. STILL NOT WORKING RIGHT.SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN A INTERNAL DRIVE.LESS PROBLEMS.MOST OF THEM SAID TO GO WITH...
Rating: 
Summary: Useful product
Review: I bought one of the Backpack CD/RW drives, similar to this external model, and I just had a comment to make about the Adapatec CD software that most of these units come with. I have been using the software for a year under Windows '98 and it works great. However, I just installed a new CD/RW on my work system, which is Windows NT, and it's a different story there. The drivers and software installed without a hitch, but the Adaptec software running unter NT is a little flakey. For example, if you press the eject button under Windows '98, a menu comes up that allows you to tell the CD/RW drive you're finished with this CD and to either leave it as is, or to make the file system readable on older non-CD/RW drives. The reason these drives can't read CDs that are formatted for use with newer CD/RW drives is that they use the older ISO 9660 standard. But getting back to my problem. Under NT, however, the Adaptec CD Creator program doesn't pop up automatically to do this, so you need to make sure you launch the program manually and tell it you're through with the disk. This isn't usually a problem, but if you put a new CD for a game or a program in the CD/RW drive to install it, and you forget to tell the drive that you're through with the previous disk, it may accidentally write to your new program disk and trash it. This is because it's waiting for you to tell it to either leave the CD as is or to modify it to use with the older CD ROM drives. I forgot to do this, and when the drive went to take a look at the install CD for a new program I had just purchased, it trashed it and is now unreadable. So beware. Hopefully I can get it exchanged at store where I bought it.
Rating:
Summary: A lot of bang for the bucks
Review: This thing showed up by UPS yesterday, and by nightfall I'd burned 4 discs. It has the trademark HP "quick setup" guide that might as well be called "HP For Dummies"--it tells you all the essentials without any jargon that you wouldn't already know from ownership of your computer. The CD burning software is simple, and as such, might lack the sophistication a real expert might need--but hell, shop for other software! The only problem I had was that a couple of my files resulted in the message "improper format"--they were supposed to be "16 bit stereo" but weren't...I heard somewhere that there's software that'll convert such files--anybody out there who can tell me what it is and where to get it? As for the customer who noticed that the system doesn't save playlists, there are systems that do (like Windows Media Player, for example). If you don't back out of the operation completely, it'll ask you if you want to make another copy of the one you just did. And anyhow, plain ole Windows has the long-term answer--just do up a new folder, slap a name on it, and drag all the files that went onto your CD into it. There's your permanent playlist. Better still, do that first before your burn...
Rating: 
Summary: Expensive paperweight
Review: Well. I don't like HP products, but I bought this as any other external CD burners were impossible to find. I thought that as it was only a cd writer, as opposed to a whole computer product, things would be fine. They weren't. Upon installation, I had problems. The CD drive opened and closed repeatedly. I closed the computer down, (eventually) and then uninstalled the HP software. Upon rebooting, my computer informed me that there was a protection error, and I could not get into Windows. After fixing this problem (still not sure how) I tried yet again. Finally, I started to burn my own CD! I was ecstatic. Then an error message appeared, telling me that the CD could not be written to. Fair enough. I tried another CD. No luck. I uninstalled again, reinstalled. Still no luck. Tried a different USB cord. Nope. I tried a total of five different CDs, with no results. It spent the better part of half an hour 'checking write speed' and after the blue progress bar had filled, it froze. The CD wouldn't eject, so I had to start all over again. I haven't dared try it again, because it might screw up my computer some more. I am taking this piece of unmentionable filth back to the store and replacing it with something more useful, like a life sized bust of Bill Clinton with a clown hat on. My advice is not to waste your money on a HP product. I am severely annoyed.
Rating: 
Summary: Worked even after I dropped it!
Review: This cd writer has worked nearly perfectly for me. I have two computers, one at college and one at home, and I take the drive back and forth alot. I've bumped it and bruised it, and I even dropped it once from about 5 feet, but it still works flawlessly. The software only takes about 5 minutes to install, and then all you have to do is plug it in and the computer recognizes the drive. I had some problems when I first bought it because I was using cheap cd's, but then I switched to Memorex 80 minute CD-R's and I haven't had a problem yet. And the Memorex cd's aren't very expensive either, I bought 50 on Amazon for ($). It isn't the fastest drive on the market, but it isn't too expensive either, and the portability of the drive is a big plus.
Rating:
Summary: Bad product
Review: I bought the hp 8220e with the expectation it was a middle of the road, slow but effective cd burner. Unfortunately it was slow and ineffective. I was able to burn my first cd ok, but then went 1 for the next 15. I tried three types of blank media (memorex, memorex rw, and verbatim) then tried slower speed (2x) and keeping all other programs from running while burning (all of this on the advice of the helpful but ineffective hp customer service person which cost a $10 phone call). I downloaded the latest drivers and version of myHP CD and still no luck. For $200 bucks I could accept a few missed burns but this thing is a piece of junk. I found out the HP doesn't even make this thing- it's made by mitsumi and if I complained enough to customer service they might send me a hp-labeled Sony burner instead. I'll cut my losses and look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: EFFECTIVE
Review: When i was browsing through all the available burners this one seemed to hit home, since I wanted a not to expensive but effective burner. I installed it, which is simple to do, and I was about to make my first cd when I noticed the only complaint I have with this product, I does not read mp3 files that are under 96 bits. Aside from that it burns cd's in my computer in about 12 minutes. It's perfectly compatible with both Windows 98 and Me, and if you are looking for a effective and not expensive product, this is the one. Just a recommendation, you need at least 64 MB RAM for it to work flawlessly.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely Poor and Frustrating
Review: If your looking for a good reliable CDRW, look else where. Installation was simple, the software interface was simple, but performance is absolutely horrible. Even at the slowest writing speed 1X, this CDRW failed to write a CD without an underrun error or giving me an error message stating a dirty disc when the discs that I was using were sealed and from HP. My end result, 7 HP coasters and 1 successful burn. 1 out of 7 succeeded and that is unacceptable for any burner. Concerning the 8220's re-write ability, everytime I attempeted to re-write the disc, it errored resulting in not one sussessful re-write.I contacted CS to no avail. I tried a new driver, no improvement. There was nothing else running, only the CDRW. I installed it on another computer and again the same result, adding two new coasters to my collection. I ended up returning it extremely frustrated. You also might want to stay away from the HP 8230 since they are virtually identical excluding the upgraded software. My advice go with an internal and buy a 12x/10x/36x CDRW from TDK or Plextor (they share most of their parts and both have BURN-PROOF technology). I purchased the TDK VeloCD for . . . Since I purchased my TDK VeloCD I have been 30 for 30 writing at 12X and all recordingshave been bit for bit perfect. Good Luck if you still buy the HP, your going to need it.
Rating:
Summary: not bad; weak software
Review: This is an attractive-looking device, though it does take up a fair bit of desk space. I'm using it on a Thinkpad 570 (PII 233) with Windows 2000. I've had errors trying to record at 4x but 2x seems to work OK. Biggest complaint - the software that comes with it, while VERY easy to use, is also very underpowered. It allows almost no configuration and doesn't even allow, for example, saving & retrieving CD templates. That means that when I create the contents of a CD, but the recording fails, there's no record of what my contents had been (I have to start over from scratch!).
Rating:
Summary: Got it today, three cds already burned
Review: I got the burner today and within an hour of opening it I had successfuly completed burning 3 cds. I don't know much about computers, but this was very easy and self explanatory. Each Cd took about 10 minutes to burn and I've listened to parts of all three of them-they sound great! I would definitely reccomend this to any propspective buyers who don't know much about computers but want to convert all of their mp3 files to cds. It's easy to use, and as far as I can tell works great!
|
