GameBanshee Forums

Here's the situation, I have ASUS CDROM 40x which was borrowed by a friend. He finally return it after sometime....which surprisingly can not read any data, even spin CD inserted to it. Some friend....he'll pay for it !

Anyway I bring the CDROM to the service station and surprisingly they said the repair costs USD20, almost the same cost to get a new one !

The only good thing about this CDROM is it can read scratched disk than any other CDROM I have ever owned. The ASUS 50X got some prob when reading "gold CDs", as the new 52X I still have no idea about it.

So should I repair this old yet reliable CDROM or buy a new one ? Which brand should I buy if I should get a new one ? I need a reliable CDROM since my CDROM always have long working hrs

Thanks in advance

Considering the cost of repair is almost the same as buying a new drive, I'd say get the new one. I haven't had any problems with the Asus 50x and 52x reading CD-R 650 and 700MB discs. Another option is getting a CD-RW instead. They're cheap enough now that you won't really be paying much more, and you'll definintely get full compatability with reading CD-R and CD-RW discs.

Plextor ?

Some of PC hardware stores I know mention that ASUS quality and service are not as they used to be.

Anyway does anyone have knowledge about Plextor IDE CDROM ? I know these guys are good with their SCSI drives, I wonder if they have good IDE drive too.

A couple of months ago, a Plextor drive was listed as the #1 buy for CD-RWs in PCWorld magazine, so my guess is that their CD-ROM drives would be good, too. You might dig a bit and see who actually makes their drives; sure it may say Plextor on the box, but I'll bet that someone else manufactured the drive.

For instance, I just bought a Buslink 48x24x48 CD-RW at Best Buy and it shows up as a Lite-On drive in the BIOS and the Device Manager, just like the Sony CD-RW I put in my stepdaughter's computer. The CD-RW it replaced was branded as Pacific Digital, but it's really a Samsung drive, so there's no telling who's hardware Plextor is putting in the box.

You might also consider taking our friend Mr Flibble's advice and getting a CD-RW because they're so cheap now. The aforementioned Buslink drive cost me $70 (USD) out of pocket, but it came with $50 in rebates. I've also seen retail box CD-RW drives at pricewatch.com in the $40-50 range, which includes shipping.

As for the drops in quality and service, the prices are dropping as well. Computer components are moving to the point where it is cheaper to replace something rather than fix it. If you pay $40 for a CD-RW and it lasts you for two years, you're getting your money's worth. Four years ago, a comparable top of the line drive may have lasted for five or six years, but you'd probably have paid $200 for it and it would have been 1/10 the speed.