Iomega 31361 Predator 8x4x32 External CD-RW for Firewire

by Iomega

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005ICC6
• Item model number: 31361
• Average Customer Review: 1.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 4, 1999

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the most reliable for it's price, June 19, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Iomega 31361 Predator 8x4x32 External CD-RW for Firewire (Personal Computers)

I spent the extra money on the Firewire over the USB connection because I thought there was going to be a big difference in speed. Nope. I have consistently been unable to write a disk at 8x on my G4, but I have heard this is the most common complaint with just about every cd-burner on the market. The manual Iomega gives you is extremely basic (how to plug in your cd-burner) providing barely any software information for PC users, and provides NOTHING for Mac users. It tells Mac users to refer to Toast's pdf manual. Not good insofar as service goes for a [price] product. I have had the following infuriating problems with it: it has been unable to read expensive cd-rws from Maxell and Fuji; the first time I tried to burn an audio cd and this happened, the cd-burner just stopped reading EVERY disk I put in it and I had to restart the computer several times until the burner decided to work again; the software is incompatible with MacOS 9.1, which is a pretty old OS. I mean, c'mon, don't sell us a burner without software that you can actually use with your computer. I was able to write a 680mb cd-rw in about 9 minutes at 4x, but it took me 20 minutes to write an 80 minute audio cd on a cd-r at 6x. You're not getting a lot of speed for the price, but I have yet to ruin a disc and the fact that power has to be running through the burner for it to eject a disc is obnoxious. The power supply is bulky and you can feel the burner getting very hot unless it's either unplugged or there's no cd in it. Fire hazard. If speed, portability, and price are issues for you, you may want to look elsewhere. The thing is also actually huge, despite how small the pictures make it look.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars unreliable and feels cheap, July 16, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Iomega 31361 Predator 8x4x32 External CD-RW for Firewire (Personal Computers)

I bought this product thinking that it would be a good addition to my laptop. Wow... I was wrong. To start off, I was surprised by the size of the product-- It is bulky, requires an external power supply AND an external firewire converter that plugs onto the unit.

Next after looking over the case, I could tell it was super cheap quality. The plastic and lid begged to be broken or cracked in a laptop bag.

Finally I decided to try to burn some CD's. After making 12 CD coasters, I packed it up and sent it back. The only successful burn I did was using the CDR that came in the box at a 2X burn speed. All my other tests failed. In addition, the Adaptec add-on that comes with Media Player didn't recognize the drive.

I think Iomega needs to redo their drivers and fix a few things. This product is half-baked and needs to go back for reengineering.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Really loud, August 10, 2001

By 

t9k (Bethesda, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Iomega 31361 Predator 8x4x32 External CD-RW for Firewire (Personal Computers)

In addition to the other problems noted here, it is very, very loud -- a combination of a noisy motor and a lot of vibration as well (so it both hums and buzzes). The QUE QPS drive is much quieter, but also about twice as thick.