Pioneer DVR-S18LBK DVDRW SATA Alternative

[pav]

Hi,

I have the Pioneer DVR-S18LBK DVDRW SATA in my Windows 7 desktop, however I am finding that attempting to read from the CD is impossible when it's Audio CD's expecially. The sound is jerky. It also takes a comsiderabel amoutn of time for the CD to get recognised.

I'm findign the similar issues with data discs as well.

I've heard it may be a common issue with these drives and Windows 7 recently.

Any suggestions on any alternative drives ?

Thanks,

Pav

[vinnyT]

I've always had good results with Plextor drives (http://www.scan.co.uk/products/plext...e-black-retail), but really most drives are now considered equal, so Pioneer, Sony dosn't really matter. (Plus the Plextor is out of stock ATM).

[Unique]

what software are you using to rip cds? have you tried different software? it's likely to be a software thing more than hardware if the drive reads other stuff okay, like dvds

[Pob255]

Personally I prefer the LG and samsung drives mainly because they tend to be quieter than the pioneer

If dvd's read fine then I'd agree with Unique that it sounds like a software/driver issue
But is could be a hardware issue, data CD's are spun a lot faster than dvd's although normal music cd's are not, could be that the lens needs cleaning or that the laser is failing
(which happens over time, although not normally on pc's as the optical driver doesn't get used that much, more common on consoles)

[Sohaib.27]

Pioneer drives were excellent at one time! I've had the DVR-116DBK (ide) DVR 215DBK (SATA). Both were excellent, I had to install the 215 into a desktop that had a faulty drive before selling on ebay. The 116 drive couldn't be installed onto my new M5A99X EVO R2.0 because there were no IDE ports. This meant I had do buy new drives. Of course natrually I had to buy pioneers because of the good service given by the 116 and 215.
I was wrong when I bought the pioneer S19LBK and S220LBK – Both are really noisy, unreliable and incompatible with a few of my games and films. There was a region error with the S19LBK with a movie.
For this reason I’m going to buy a Plextor PX-891SA, much much reliable and bundled with more than you need. Lots of software and utilities included not to mention firmware updates.

PS: I always use nero to burn disks, both dvr-s19lbk/s220lbk were bundled with nero multimedia suite 10 essentials - the only good point about the drives!