Review on 📀 Iomega 31119 Predator 4x4x6 External USB CD-RW Drive: Efficient Solution for External CD Writing by Thomas Unruh

Those who want fast and error-free CD-RW playback should understand that USB-1 connections unfortunately don't allow for this. The original USB was a low-speed technology intended for simple devices like keyboards, mice, and printers. CD-RW buyers are better off buying FireWire, serial, or internal drives. If you need to buy a USB CD-RW drive and you have an old computer that predates USB 2.0, then this drive is a good choice - the software that comes with it is very good. , the drive itself is reliable and setup is easy. I bought my Predator because my computer at the time didn't support devices that required serial or SCSI connections, nor did it support additional internal drives. So USB was my only option. There are a few points to keep in mind: 1. The included software from Adaptec was the best entry-level CD burning software of 2001. Back then, Iomega didn't skimp on bundled software. The packaged software and drivers I received were already a bit out of date and not very suitable for Windows 2000, but the latest updates (including W2K support) were available online.2. Something called "buffer underrun" is a risk for all older USB CD-RW drives, as the slow USB has a hard time keeping up with the high speeds that CD-RW drives need to burn smoothly need from CDs. Since CD burning requires reliable computer speed (even if you're not in a hurry), I wouldn't recommend using this drive with a slow computer, a fragmented hard drive, or limited RAM.3. While I was able to burn CDs at 4x, the slowness of old USB again means you might get lucky keeping your drive at 2x so it doesn't get too ahead of your computer. If you ultimately decide to ditch USB and use FireWire instead, you can overclock the Predator to full speed with confidence.4. I don't know why, but the Verbatim CD-RWs worked better with this drive than the Iomega discs that came with them or the new Imation discs I bought. Neither drive became a stand, but for some reason the Iomega and Imation CDs often suffered from buffer underruns when I was saving a lot of data at once. Maybe it was a coincidence. In any case, the solution was to store less data on these CDs and to reformat them (which takes a lot of time) every time a blank occurred. This drive comes with an included FireWire adapter - much more reliable than older USB technology if your computer supports FireWire connections. Predator meets the basic needs of people limited by USB first generation while delivering performance, speed and reliability in the coming era of FireWire peripherals. However, it would be wiser to buy a more modern drive that supports USB 2.0 as well as slower connections.