LG GE20LU10 DVD/CD Rewriter Drive

LG GE20LU10 DVD/CD Rewriter Drive
Manufacturer: LG Electronics
MSRP: $99.95

Features:
• 20x External DVD Rewriter
• IBM and Mac Compatible
• Compatible with all current Standard Disc Formats
• DVD±R 20x Burning Speed
• USB Interface
• SecurDisc™ Feature
• Lightscribe Disc Labeling

What this drive boils down to for me is speedy burning on just about any format disc I have available!

I haven't yet purchased DVD media that allows 20X speeds but hey, the option is there for when I decide to go that route. But for now, in all honesty, the drive burns quickly enough even 16X DVDs. And burning CDs at 52X makes it a cinch to burn a small stack in a very short period of time.

The USB 2.0 interface is lightning-quick and more-or-less allowed me to "plug-n-play" in mere minutes.

Yes. This drive works on Windows and Macs. And despite what the Mac and Windows commercials would have you believe, there are other operating systems. Not only does this drive work seamlessly for me on Linux (Ubuntu) but I used the drive to rapidly create my Linux LiveDisc to boot to and install Linux on my box.

Initially, I thought I was unhappy with this drive and it would have received a negative review however it turns out that the constant problems I had been experiencing were due to my buggy Windows install. Each disc would still burn quickly no matter what format disc but it was always unable to verify the burn and the disc wouldn't play in CD players or DVD players (according to the format of the disc of course). But I have had no problems at all after switching my OS.

LightScribe is a great added feature which allows you to flip the disc over to the top side in the drive and burn a 'silkscreen' image label as opposed to printing an image onto an adhesive paper label and applying it to the top of the disc. The LightScribe install allows you to create the label in a manner similar to most image editing programs that are frequently used. This does require specific LightScribe media which will cost a little more per disc but personally I find the slight extra expense to be worth it.

And as with many other drives the GE20 allows multi-session burning where you can use a disc that you've burned but can also add more data to it (EG: more songs, more files you want backed up) until you finalize the disc. After which no further burning is possible.

All-in-all I give this drive high marks for features, ease-of-use and the price.

For more specs such as what media can be used with the drive, please check the product's official site and click on the "Specifications" tab (next to the "Key Features" tab) in the box towards the bottom of the page. It will show the read and write speeds for each type of media available for use with this drive as well as overall transfer speeds over the USB2.0 connection.

Buy it!