DVD Burners - where's best to buy?

[rokkstar]

I've done a search on this subject and found a few interesting threads but none that have an answer.

I have just copied some edited photos and RAW files onto my external HD and the fucking thing is now full. So that's two of the bastards full up now....I'm running out of desk real estate with all of them. And beginning to think that I am severly pushing my luck by not actually having hard copies of them. By hard caopies I mean on disc - they are ALL on the HD!!!!!

Where is the best place to pick up a cheap DVD burner? Harvey Norman, DIck Smith?

Also, once you have gone through the shots off the camera, and PP'd the ones you like, do you archive the rest of the sessions shots or simply delete them?

Cheers

[Alpha_7]

Matt,

At the moment I keep all my shots. I keep 1 - 2 copies on HD, usually in two different locations and once I have checked out a session I burn it onto DVD. I've only taken 8000+ shots so it's ok to manage at the moment, but I'm still working on revising my strategy.

At the moment I am using a 250gb at work, maybe 300gb at home in my PC, and another 250gb in external HDs.

If I can I always try to have 2 copies of the photo's before formatting the CF card, but it isn't always possible.

[rokkstar]

Craig, I only have 2x 80gb HD and 1 x 60gb and they are all pretty much full. I think I need a bigger xHD but i'm just wondering whether getting a DVD burner would be better in the long run.

I haven't really bought electrical/computer gear in australia yet and was wondering where the best place would be to go.

[shutterbug]

http://www.msy.com.au at Auburn.

[Alpha_7]

I'd check with Birdie before making a purchase, especially as your going to the mini-meet on Saturday. I usually shop around at computer fairs you get good deals there, but they aren't really convenient for most people. Shopping online is good, lets you compare prices etc, I have a list of shops somewhere I can dig up (I've used http://www.eyo.com.au when building pc's for friends).

I would recommend getting a DVD burner and another HD, I'd also recommend keeping at least one copy off site (I sound like a broken record but it's important) Make a collection of DVD archives and leave them in a safe place at a friends, at work... somewhere that won't burn down when your house does...

[Greg B]

Matt

You can get a 300 gig HDD for $200, external case for $60ish.

DVD burners- I have a liteon 1673, cost $80. Don't be put off by the cheap price, it works like a dream, up to 16x speed, dual layer (haven't tried that yet) +R or -R (I am using TDK DVD-R 16x printable which cost around $35-$40 for a spindle of 50.)

Either solution is cost effective.

[Jamie]

I dont know if the Syd store is anywhere near you but ive found their prices to be VERY good in the past.

http://www.msy.com.au/

[Paul]

If you can put up with the service from fast Eddie then try..
http://www.fluidtek.com.au
He's based in Carlingford next to the Bunnings store.
It's always a laugh when you go in!

[DaveB]

Where is the best place to pick up a cheap DVD burner? Harvey Norman, DIck Smith?

An external USB2/Firewire one, or an internal one? I have some suggestions for Melbourne, but not for Sydney (and they're NOT places like Dick Smith or Hardly Normal).

Also, once you have gone through the shots off the camera, and PP'd the ones you like, do you archive the rest of the sessions shots or simply delete them?

The crap ones get deleted, but I do keep a lot of stuff beyond just what I think are the best ones. Sometimes on later review some of the "maybe" shots become favourites. Occasionally I will trawl through the old images and do a review. Not only do some get picked out for further work, but many get trashed (in light of my added experience, and in light of what else I have in my collection by now). At the moment I've got 50,000+ images in my library.

As to whether I archive them or not, EVERYTHING gets archived at some level. That's what hard drives are for.

For the same amount of data they're cheaper, faster, and smaller than the equivalent DVD solution. When a set of drives is getting full I know it's time to go out and get another pair (and/or time to review the archives and make some space ). But unlike DVDs where you buy a drive and then continually pay money for more media (and storage), with drives you do pay bigger chunks of money. BTW the cost of a system has to include coasters, and the amount of time you spend writing (and later accessing) the media. Also keep in mind that you should make at least two copies of everything.

Some people use a split system, with a combination of hard disks and DVDs. But having used a CD/DVD-based system for a few years, it's not something I'm keen on going back to...

[birddog114]

The latest DVD burner model (16x) is around Sixty Aussie bucks, why would you searching too much around! Anything in DVD Burner today will do the job, blind your eyes and grab one without any question mark!
If it's broken, chuck it in the bin and get another ones.

And other members, please note:
Our Rokkstar does not have a car, pls. don't send him to Auburn today and Flemington market tomorrow or North Rocks PC market on Sunday. It won't help him.

[Glen]

Matt, I am with Birddy, they are as cheap as chips, just buy whatever is handy or one from Birddy if he has one. Would also see if he has any of the hard drives left, Dave B theory of a big drive works. I run a 250gb internal just for photos (internal is a bit faster) with a 400gb external to back up, then at my leisure back up to DVD. I would suggest starting with a decent internal and DVD backup, probably only cost $250 in total.

[stubbsy]

My god Matt. No wonder your Hds are full. I have 2 x 250Gb and their starting to fill up. I have a new even bigger HD on order.

I keep all but the really bad pics (blurry or unrecoverable detail) on my HD. Periodically these get burnt to TWO dvd copies plus I now have a WD 250Gb Media Centre courtesy of birddog's cave of treasures and keep a copy on it as well. Go buy a DVD burner AND a big HD

[Killakoala]

Matt, pick a model and punch it into www.staticice.com and one of the <300 retailers will have a great price on it.

[marcotrov]

Greg I have a liteon too and its great. Reliable DVD burner and cheap too. I've dealt with EYO online and they've been pretty good if that's a help.
cheers
marco

[rokkstar]

Samsung DVD writer $65. Sorted.

Many thanks for the responses guys. I really got to get to grips with Australian computer shops et al.

[Geoff]

Matt - I also have one of the WD 250gb hdd from Birdy - can't really go wrong, combine this with a decent DVD burner and you, my friend are laughing

Good luck!

[yogi]

Hi Matt,

I saw an add for external DVD burners at Office Works that looked cheap,but when I was there they had Internal DVD burners that were even cheaper ($80).
I asked how hard it was to fit one, and the guy just pulled the side off a computer and said you put two screws in there, push a plug in there , a plug in there , and a plug in there. Done.

Can you drive a screwdriver ???

Nero software came with it; it seems easier to burn some stuff as "data" rather than as "images".???

Any way it's a very handy device to have,wouldn't be with out it now.

Regards David.

[/b]

[Onyx]

It's relatively simple affair to strip the current HD from an exisiting external drive box and replace it with a higher capacity one.

Here's some computer retailers in Sydney CBD off the top of my head:
CWorld & Adelong computers (both on that street behind QVB... whatsit called?!)
Can't recall the name - Telstra Building on Pitt St (directly behind George St cinemas). In fact, there's 2-3 smallish hardware vendors around there.
Oh, and there's a whole shopping mall of computer hardware vendors along George St, Haymarket. I forgot what it's called but it's upstairs between the Acer laptop shop and convenience store, by the tram stop.

These may appear semi-dodgy compared to your Harvey Normans or wherever rich people shop, but you should def. pick one of them as your 'regular' computer shop. Personally, I don't mind the dodgiest of places out in the suburbs (Fluidtek Carlo, MSY Auburn, etc) - they're not dodgy per se, but to a layperson not conversed in computer hardware the apperance of the shops may appear to be so.

[Geoff]

It's relatively simple affair to strip the current HD from an exisiting external drive box and replace it with a higher capacity one.

Here's some computer retailers in Sydney CBD off the top of my head:
CWorld & Adelong computers (both on that street behind QVB... whatsit called?!)
Can't recall the name - Telstra Building on Pitt St (directly behind George St cinemas). In fact, there's 2-3 smallish hardware vendors around there.
Oh, and there's a whole shopping mall of computer hardware vendors along George St, Haymarket. I forgot what it's called but it's upstairs between the Acer laptop shop and convenience store, by the tram stop.

These may appear semi-dodgy compared to your Harvey Normans or wherever rich people shop, but you should def. pick one of them as your 'regular' computer shop. Personally, I don't mind the dodgiest of places out in the suburbs (Fluidtek Carlo, MSY Auburn, etc) - they're not dodgy per se, but to a layperson not conversed in computer hardwar
e the apperance of the shops may appear to be so.

The St behind QVB is York St, well I know that CWORLD are on York St

[Banjo]

When using DVD's try to use the best quality you can get some of the cheaper dvd's might not have a very a long archival life i backup all of mine onto Taiyo Yuden discs
Features archival quality AZO metal dye for today's longest archival playback capabilities. Should last up to 100 years or longer in normal cool dark storage conditions.

[bloop]

Sorry to say but Lite-On is well cr@p.

I have a Lite-On, all I use it for now is ripping and scanning Pi's and Pif's. All my burning is done with an NEC. Lite-On burns OK with good quality discs, like Verbatim. Try using it with Princos, forget it, even Riteks don't burn properly. If you don't scan your burnt disc's Pi's and Pif's you probably think it performs well, as with a good reader, you won't notice all the errors it produces.

NEC, BenQ, Pioneer all great burners.

[Nnnnsic]

Well, I wouldn't burn using a Princo if I were paid to.

They're among the worst quality discs in existence.

Lite-On are okay... but if you're going to buy a Sony, buy a Lite-On instead.
They're the same.

The brands I would suggest would be Pioneer and NEC.

[skyva]

I have had good product from http://www.msy.com.au, but you need to know what you want. In my experience they will not give you advice. However, as far as I have seen they gave the best price on most pc stuff, excepting Birddogs excellent prices. A tip is to always buy good quality dvd media to back up to. I think TDK are ok, but I would start looking at sites such as http://www.cdfreaks.com to check what media is good at the moment. I have had a liteon cd drive and it was good, but I hear bad storeies about liteon dvd burners. I have an LG super multi drive, and it has burnt everything well (and I mean everything, useful for those occasions when you need to break copyright protection to make legitmate backups of your downloaded Swedish movie collection). But the LG doesn't like other dvd drives on the same ide cable.
My advice would be buy a NEC or LG, and make sure you get quality media.

[ozczecho]

Well, I wouldn't burn using a Princo if I were paid to.

They're among the worst quality discs in existence.

Lite-On are okay... but if you're going to buy a Sony, buy a Lite-On instead.
They're the same.

The brands I would suggest would be Pioneer and NEC.

Pioneer all the way....

[stubbsy]

Well, I wouldn't burn using a Princo if I were paid to.

They're among the worst quality discs in existence.

Lite-On are okay... but if you're going to buy a Sony, buy a Lite-On instead.
They're the same.

The brands I would suggest would be Pioneer and NEC.

Leigh

I've been using Princo A grade DVD-Rs for ages with no problems.

[MCWB]

For the same amount of data [hard drives are] cheaper, faster, and smaller than the equivalent DVD solution.

Faster and smaller, yes, but certainly not cheaper. When you consider a 4.7 GB DVD costs less than a dollar these days, you're getting 470 GB for <$100. No HDD gets close to this in terms of capacity per dollar.

[losfp]

Definitely use one of the price search engines (I think someone posted staticice?) - I normally use shopbot.com.au or ausprices.com

Even though some of the retailers might have limited, dodgy shopfronts (or none at all for those that are purely online), as long as you know exactly what brand/model you want, you'll be fine.

For burners I've had good experiences with Pioneer drives, and less fulfilling ones with LG drives.

[MATT]

I get my blanks here http://www.jpldisplays.com.au if that helps


MATT

[rokkstar]

Thanks for all the help people. I've got myself an internal dvd burner for $65. Excellent.

[stubbsy]

Thanks for all the help people. I've got myself an internal dvd burner for $65. Excellent.

Hope you got it from birddog!

[rokkstar]

Thanks for all the help people. I've got myself an internal dvd burner for $65. Excellent.

Hope you got it from birddog!

ERm...no I didn't - Retravision. Does Birdy have a better deal then?

[Glen]

Matt, there was another $1.50 to be saved At that price there is not much which can be saved.

[MCWB]

Agreed Glen, demonstrates why the PC hardware business is so cut-throat!

[birddog114]

Matt, there was another $1.50 to be saved At that price there is not much which can be saved.

There's an ads for $56.00 so 9 bucks to be saved.

[birddog114]

Agreed Glen, demonstrates why the PC hardware business is so cut-throat!

Hope the Nikon glass will have the same way! but it's not or it does not go far down like the PC hardware.

[stubbsy]

Thanks for all the help people. I've got myself an internal dvd burner for $65. Excellent.

Hope you got it from birddog!

ERm...no I didn't - Retravision. Does Birdy have a better deal then?

Sorry Matt

Figured you'd see this thread since you're going to the meet