Write your life away... to CD! (HP Surestore CD-Writer Plus 8210e)

Member Name: burgess

Product:	HP Surestore CD-Writer Plus 8210e
Date:	30/01/01 (71 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Sturdy drive, good software

Disadvantages: Maybe not fast enough for some and software may need upgrading to get the best performance.

The Hewlett Packard CD Writer Plus 8210e, to give it it's full name, may not be the first choice of every technical revhead. It is bigger and bulkier than the Iomega or Amacom external drive. Then again the HP drive is also sturdier. It only reads at 6x speed, but then again you aren't buying it to replace your internal CD Rom drive, are you? It writes and rewrites at 4x, but in order to successfully write at a faster speed than that on a faster drive, you may need to find some good discs. Anyway is writing a disc in 20 minutes (4x) really such a problem? Why not buy an internal CD RW drive? Well, do you really fancy taking the top off your computer and fiddling around inside? It isn't difficult to do, but it is easier to plug this beast into the USB of your PC. The software is a breeze to install and I have to say that the included software (Adaptec/Roxio Easy CD suite) is a lot more solid and easier to use than the stuff you get shipped with other drives. The software I got with my drive, which was about a year ago, was version 3.5 and I couldn't get it to work with 80 minute/700MB discs. I upgraded to Easy CD 4 and that works fine. That might only be a small stubbling block, but whether this drive or the newer version (8230e) come with the newer version of the software, I am unsure. Basically the hardware is great, even if it is a little bulky now and the software is easy to use, but you may need to upgrade if you want to get the full capacity out of the new 700Mb media. I still say it is a worthy bit of kit to spend your money on.

Summary: