Hi all, long time reader, first time writer.ive just backed up almost 70 DVD's to date (Thanks to reading advice, problem solutions from Creaky, Alkohol, Nephilim etc). I have a Dell Inspirion 510 with a NEC ND 6100A 104D 8x burner, i have used all my Verbs 8x discs and purchased 50 Verb 16x but my burner would accept them, so im thinking i need a new burner, should i go for an External or Internal (for my Dell Dimension 3100 desktop). What make/model would any of you guys recommend? My Desktop is only 3 months old so im reluctlant to open casing to fit Internal- dont want to validate the warranty! Thanks in advance for any advice or recommendations. Hopefully i wont bother you again, keep up the good work-Cheers.
Don't assume your burner is bad because it isn't burning 16X media. That's newer media for which the firmware probably doesn't have a write strategy in its table. There are a couple of options here. Get some 8X media. There's lots of that around or update the firmware.
There weren't any firmware updates for that burner. Instead it is flashed with the NEC 6500 firmware. Flashing with the firmware from the link below should make it a dual format NEC 6500:
Opening your Dell case to install a DVD burner shouldn't void the warranty but I don't own a Dell and stranger things have happened. You can always uninstall the drive if you need warranty service if that's an issue. I wouldn't use an external burner with a desktop system unless I wanted dual use between the laptop and the desktop. I assume both have USB2 ports. Instead of buying an external burner (if you want one), buy an internal and an external enclosure and make your own. It's often cheaper.
As for brands, it changes based on which manufacturer is making the guts for the various vendors and I'll leave that to others.
There's no firmware updates available for that NEC 6100 Lap top burner,which totally sucks a**.
104D is the only firmware version for it and those about a year and a half old.You're screwed until NEC issues a newer firmware version.
Internal or External: I highly favor internal. Drives are a heck of a lot cheaper,more durable. You have to watch out for some of those external drives.
Internal: Go with Benq 1640 or 1650. The only place to find them is at zipzoomfly.com. I'll post the thread that has the link for them. They WERE around $35 with free shipping.Liteon bought out benq,so their drives are getting scarce,but they are some awesome booktyping drives,frequent firmware updates,and can last you a very long time.
Very easy to put in.Basically find the open bay-slide drive in.Find an empty connector on your ide ribbon-usually the middle connector,hook it up,set the pins in the back to match - for dell,set the pins to cable select-C/S.
Hook up the 4 wire power harness,which you should have several plugs.
Dell is like HP,Compaq,etc- Their warranty is usually BS. Terrible customer service,unless you've got the corporate dell pcs.If problems occur,they usually ship you the part after taking hours of trouble shooting questions,LOL.Then you have to do the repair yourself.
As long as you turn off all power,hit the power button on to drain remaining power, ground yourself before opening the case,set jumpers to match the ide ribbon connectors-then it's a pc of cake,a 5 min job at the most.
If I had to go the external route, I'd go with an internal drive like the NEC 3500A,and place it in an external enclosure to hook up via USB2.0. They've got those enclosures at newegg.com and runs $20-$30. The NEC 3500A runs about $35 with S+H at the egg. I suggest NEC because some internal drives aren't compatable of being rigged for those external enclosures.
Edit: Here's the link for zipzoomfly.com,but they are out of the 1640's and upped the price of the Benq 1650 to $99 which tripled in the last 2 days, UGGH!
