Features:
- CD-rewritable external SCSI drive with 8x/4x/32x performance
- Create, share, and store data, photos, and music
- Record up to 650 MB of data (about 1.2 GB compressed)
- Record up to 74 minutes of audio
- SCSI-2 controller and cable not included
Description:
If you're looking for a fast CD-rewritable drive with an excellent software bundle, Hewlett-Packard offers its CD-Writer Plus 9210e. This 8x/4x/32x drive may be a bit pricier than similar drives, but if you need a portable SCSI drive you can't do much better.Since the drive uses a SCSI interface, you'll need a SCSI controller card and cable, which unfortunately are not included with this package. If you don't have a SCSI system and don't have any desire to transport the drive, you might be better off with a less expensive internal EIDE model. But if you're SCSI ready and want to hot-swap the drive between systems, it's an excellent option. With a SCSI card preinstalled, the drive hookup was simple: we ran the installation program, set the drive to the SCSI number recommended, plugged it in, and rebooted our computer. SCSI is the fastest way to handle an external drive (and often internal as well), and we were pleased at how fast this drive wrote data. We filled a 650 MB CD in about 10 minutes on a Celeron 300 MHz system. The CD-Writer Plus also features a nice software bundle. In addition to Adaptec's standard write software, Direct CD and Easy CD Creator, the drive ships with HP Disaster Recovery (for restoring your system after a crash) as well as Neato's CD Labeler to create your own CD labels. Another nice feature of a SCSI drive is its easy portability. Just unplug the cable and carry this drive to wherever you need it. It's not particularly compact (the drive alone weighs almost five pounds), but it's much easier than swapping out an internal drive. A SCSI drive isn't the easiest to configure, and we would have liked to see more installation and troubleshooting information than Hewlett-Packard offered in the thin manual and short setup guide. But if you know your way around SCSI peripherals, the CD-Writer Plus won't be a problem--and you'll enjoy its speed and versatility. --J. Curtis Pros:
- Fast and portable
- Easily accessible
Cons:
- Requires SCSI card and cable
- Expensive
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