Yamaha CRW2100EZ Lightspeed 16x10x40 Internal EIDE CD-RW Drive

Rating:
Summary: Great CD Burner!
Review: I bought this CD burner even though I had read some of the negative reviews. It turned out to be a great buy! It was very easy to install, and I have had no trouble with anything. It is definitly worth every penny.

Rating:
Summary: A fine piece of *****JUNK*****
Review: This is one of the worst pieces of equipment I've ever owned, and after I finish writing this, I'm ordering a Plextor (because of all the positive reviews on this site), then taking this junk back to Office Max where I bought it (not a bad reflection on Office Max). I've spent a lot of time on the phone with tech support and of course they pass the buck to another manufacturer, instead of taking care of it. I have a brand new AMD 1200 MhZ, 256 mb of ram, so I know its not my system! DO NOT BUY THIS!!!!!! The latest was that it was working well, then lately keeps getting buffer underrun errors (which means that the data is not being transferred to the CD RW fast enough). They tried to tell me that its my computer, and switched my computer around to the point that I couldn't get it to boot up without unplugging the burner. Thanks a lot Yamaha. Save yourself the aggrivation and buy something worth your money!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Didn't work with my Windows Me system
Review: Have been searching for a CDRW faster than the current HP 8200 box that I have. Bought this Yamaha CRW2100EZ, but disappointed to discover that it didn't work with my Pentium III 600MHz/Windows Me system. Even if it did, didn't burn any faster than the old one I have. E-mailed Yamaha's technical support team that evening, but by the following afternoon before receiving a reply from them, I had asked my colleagues at work and they all recommended a Plextor PX-W1610TA (16x10x40a). Returned the Yamaha and ordered a Plextor that same day. When I received and installed the Plextor, it immediately worked and suffice it to say, I was so impressed by its quiet and fast performance! The Plextor is heavier than the Yamaha and HP CDRWs, but was advised the weight was due to its virtually non-plastic components; thus making it a much durable workhorse! It also has a special feature that prevents burner underrun errors so, no more wasting anymore of those precious blank CDs. I should mention that I'm a professional in the computer systems engineering industry, and had always preferred building my own PC systems. I do not seek out complex components to show off to my mother and friends; rather, I prefer the simple, dependable and efficient systems and components. The last thing I'd want to do is spend more time configuring/fixing my home PC systems. Nope! I want something that'll do what I've paid for so I'd have more time to spend with my family and friends, as well as on other fun activities.

Rating:
Summary: Noisy!!
Review: ...I thought I was buying one of the best burner available in the market. Well, I was wrong. That burner was noisy whenever it was ready a CD and had some problems reading it. However, it was very quiet when I was burning CD-Rs and CD-RWs. I guess my friend was right when he told me to get a Plextor ... got one now and they are surely the best on the market!!

Rating:
Summary: Yamaha you are the best!
Review: I love it it. All I had to do was upgrade the firmware and had no problems. The software that comes with it works great. I have been burning at 16x for everything, even on 8x cd's. Now that might be because of my computer, 800 p3, 224 ram, 40 gig 7200 hard drive, and WIN 98. My suggestion if you have problems copying it, put it on your hard drive first than burn it from there. I really like it better than the HP's. Install and have a BURNING sensation!

Rating:
Summary: Geez, this thing is fast
Review: I read many of the not so great reviews, But I thought with a name like Yamaha, it had to be a high quality product. I read ALL of the instructions and It burned my 1st CD prefectly right out of the box. It was loud though. BTW - if I'm not mistaken, Yamaha is the only manufacturer that currently has the 16X manufacturing technology.....THEY MAKE PLEXOR 16X CD Burners!!!

Rating:
Summary: Firmware update Yamaha CRW2100EZ
Review: Will this is the story with this drive that I came across. The drive works fine playing data and Audio , but when it comes time to burning this is a different story. For some reason I was not able to burn @ 16x the full's speed of the drive. One after another dead cdroms. The software that comes with the drive is kind of smart ( I started to burn a audio cdrom @ 16x then notice the burning went all the way to 2x) So I had it. I went to Yamaha web site for updates and found a firmware update, so I tried the update. Guest what the system locked up. I had waited a hour for it to finish. But nothing happen. One thing I notice was I heard my hard drive spining up and then down. so I was not going to let the firmware kill my harddrive. I had no choose to turn off the system. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH --- guest what the cdrw2100ez is ready to be fling out the window. Will the drive cost 200.00 new . I guest its worth a dollor now. If anyone knows of anyway to recover this drive from a bad firmware upgrade Please contact me - [e-mail].

Rating:
Summary: Good Burner - BUT WAY TOO LOUD!!
Review: I'm not sure what all the bad reviews are about. Maybe those folks bought earlier models, or didn't read the instructions, or have slow/old computers, or just don't do hardware very well. In any case, I took a chance after reading the horrible reviews and bought this drive anyway. I already own 2 other Yamaha burners; a 4x4x16 SCSI and an 8x4x24 EIDE. They worked perfectly until last week when the SCSI burner blew out (warranty expired). The SCSI burner worked great while it worked! :-) My only complaint about this drive is that it it WAY TOO LOUD! What's up with that, Yamaha?? I don't care if the drive spins a million times a minute, there's no way it has to be THAT loud! Other than the jet plane syndrome, this drive is great. It installed without a hitch. Burned a cd first time out of the gate and works fine all around. If you're thinking about buying this burner, make sure you have a fairly fast pc and go for it! I put this drive on two machines and it worked fine. One is a PII 400 and the other is a PIII 733. Buy this burner, if you can stand a little noise. The price is ok and keeps going lower. It's MUCH better than the HP 12x10 I returned instantly!!

Rating:
Summary: Read The Directions...
Review: I think that most of the people who wrote up bad reviews on this item must've not followed the directions or gotten a drive with a manufacturing default, because I set the thing up in 20 minutes from the box to the write. It absolutely rips through audio cd's and writes as fast as Yamaha claims. Also, many reported that the buffer was not working right, but mine stayed right at 100 for the whole time. With all the bad reviews I had almost considered getting the Plextor, but I am pleased to say that my drive is working perfectly.

Rating:
Summary: It drove me crazy!!!
Review: I bought this unit about two weeks ago and it drove me crazy. I read some bad reviews about it like software and firmware problem . So, as a computer guy, I said to myself, I can fix it. I bought it because I like its speed. Let me tell you, I was in for a surprise. I had so much problems installing it. I tried all posibilities. Finally, I had to return the unit to exchanged another one. On top of that, I had to load the WIMme in order to make it work. I went through hell just to make it work. It's working fine now, and I must say it's fast. The question is, do you want to take this chance to see if it would work on your system? If you have to get a fast drive, this is it. However, I would suggest a slower drive on other brand.