Recommend a DVD Burner

[kerpow]

Hi, I'm planning on getting a Powerbook a little later this year but need to buy an external DVD burner now to back up all my data from my PC before I cast it aside. I like the idea of having an external drive so that when I have the Mac I can copy CD's and DVD's. It will also make the cost of the Powerbook a little cheaper without the super-drive.

So ideally I need a USB 2.0 and Firewire connection, 4x DVD/12x CD-R and obviously be compatible with both Windows and OS X. Can anyone recommend one for around $150? Had a look on some hardware sites eg. Tigerdirect but they don't specify whether the devices listed are Mac compatible.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Hi, I'm planning on getting a Powerbook a little later this year but need to buy an external DVD burner now to back up all my data from my PC before I cast it aside. I like the idea of having an external drive so that when I have the Mac I can copy CD's and DVD's. It will also make the cost of the Powerbook a little cheaper without the super-drive.

So ideally I need a USB 2.0 and Firewire connection, 4x DVD/12x CD-R and obviously be compatible with both Windows and OS X. Can anyone recommend one for around $150? Had a look on some hardware sites eg. Tigerdirect but they don't specify whether the devices listed are Mac compatible.

How about this? It burns both -R and +R at 8x, it burns CD-Rs at 40x, it's compatible with both PC and Mac, and it's only $120. It lacks a USB connection, though (FireWire only).
<edit> Wait, I found something better - Mac + PC compatible, FireWire & USB, 8x write to DVD-R and DVD+R, 16x8x32 CD speed, $219.

 

[kerpow]

Thanks, thats a good side. That first one would have been good but for the lack of USB support (my POS PC isn't even USB 2.0)

The LaCie drive looks good but is a little pricey. I guess LaCie is a premium brand. Looks like Iomega is fairly Mac friendly aswell.

 

[timsq]

External DVD +/- R(/W) Firewire (that works)

Put together a Pioneer 107 IDE drive into a CompUSA generic 5.25" firewire/USB2 enclosure. This drive works sooo well. It's 10x better than the internal "Superdrive" that came with my iMac TFT. Haven't tried it with "i"-apps yet, but I've read that "patchburn" can enable that. Works perfectly with Toast 6 Titanium. Using Verbatim 4x DVD-R media, burned 4GB of data in 13min. Not bad. Use to take 80min. ~$150