Customer Reviews

Iomega 32214 Predator External 24x10x40 USB 1.1 and 2.0 CD-RW Drive

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I'm using this CD-Writer with a 233 MHZ Pentium II PC running Windows 98 (second edition). Somebody mentioned below that this writer cannot be used with Win 98 - that is obviously not true. It is smaller and more portable than the earlier HP External CD-Writer I had. My PC doesn't support USB 2.0; therefore I get a maximum write speed of 4X. This means it takes about 20 minutes to write a full CD-R. When I get a newer computer with Win XP I would be able to use the 24X write speed.

I had some problems with the installation in Win 98. But the installation could be completed and the computer detected the drive after I downloaded a USB patch for Win 98 PCs. The patch (~ 14 MB) is available from the Iomega Website under the 'Support' section.

The Hot-Burn software that comes with the drive is pretty easy to use. I could easily burn a music CD by selecting the appropriate MP3 files from the hard drive. The USB 1.1 allowed only 4X write speed and the CD took around 20 minutes to create. Other options in the software include creating a data CD (useful for backing up your files) and making an exact copy of another CD that you have.

Cons: Doesn't come with detailed instructions. Asks you to print the instructions from the CD.

But very satisfactory overall.

Very solid performance, works real quick. Important to note that its a 4x4x6 drive under USB 1.1. Works great under XP, although it looks like its not quite rugged enough: the cover looks like it can easily break off. Overall its a great drive, well recommended.

I have used Iomega products for seven years now and have never had any problems with their stability, on both PCs and Macs. (Earlier versions of the Zip disk media were another story, if you know what I mean.) The Predator proves itself to be a solid burner with respectable speeds -- if you've got USB 2.0, that is. Without USB 2.0, the Predator achieves speeds of 4x4x6, which according to Iomega is a limit imposed by the slower USB 1.1. On my workhorse Win2k PC with an USB 2.0 adapter card, I'm not sure if I actually get the maximum speed, but I'm happy with being able to create a 60-minute audio CD in about 5 minutes.

The sleekly-built Predator installs easily and quickly and, like most new burners, features buffer underrun technology to prevent writing failures. My previous HP external burner was annoyingly sensitive to buffer underrun, and caused half of all my burns to fail even when the authoring software is the only app running. So far I've experienced a less than 10% failure rate on the Predator. Maybe even less than 5%. And I can actually surf many web sites while burning a CD-R, something I couldn't dream of doing with the HP.

The Predator is one fine product and actually looks cool, which is not something to be said of most PC peripherals. Please note that this product does not work on Macintoshes. Win98, WinME, Win2k, and WinXP only.

Besides the great look, the easy hook-ups and an easy installation, this is a great price. I have always owned internal burners, but I like this one, as I don't have to get inside my tower and mess with all the connections. The best part is this machine burns music CD's in record time. No more 40-60 minute waits for a CD. I burned one in 12 minutes! It is easy to install, but if you are new to CD burners, you might get a little mad about printing out instructions that are not that easy to figure out. That's one fault I have with accessories that don't bother to give you a manual. Otherwise, it's a great bargain and if you don't like it - return it! No hassles with Amazon.com!

Bought the predator drive to go with a Toshiba Satellite laptop after making several coaster, put drive on desktop. Didn't work. Tried a second desktop. Still didn't work. IOMEGA sent two more drives and it still doesn't work. Unreliable, maybe one out of 10 tries makes a usable CD. Bought a TEAC. Built like a Battleship and works on all the computers. Has never made a Coaster. DON'T BUY IOMEGA UNLESS YOU WANT LOUSY SERVICE AND UNUSABLE CDs. Tech line kept saying things like IOMEGA stuff doesn't like Toshiba chip set. Well, the TEAC works find by Doing nothing more than plugging it up. Same PCs, Same software (Adaptec and NERO) Piece of junk - No more buying anything by IOMEGA

I bought this drive in the US a month or two ago and brought it home to India. This Drive works fine even with my 240 Volts domestic power supply. I burned my first CD using this drive and this one took just three and a half minutes to burn 600 MB of data. WOW!!! THAT's FAST!!!

By the way, I bought a USB 2.0 PCI Card and I am getting a full 24X write speed. The software is ... useless. One Star less that perect for this reason. I grabbed a copy of Nero 5.5 and everything works absolutely fine. My suggestion...just buy this one if you want a CDRW drive.

...even if it is no use at all with Windows 98. The installation instructions that come with the drive are not that helpful, and neither is the technical support I got when I went on the Iomega website looking for help. After a week of trying to get this to work I am now racking up expense getting our external IT support company at work to come in and help me TRY to sort this out.

Avoid.

I have a Mac running 9.2.1 and found out that the "Hot Burn" software from iomega is NOT compatible with 9.2.1. The iOmega corp. sent me a new firewire burner that was supposed to work with Mac iTunes or CD Burner software, but it does not. Not only that, they sent me the wrong power cord.
DO NOT PURCHASE iOmega CD-RW products if you are using any Mac OS higher than 9.1!

Easy to install, i've had a couple internal cd-rw drives...but it's such a hassal to move them around....it's much better to get externals that you can just plug into USB port. This is the fastest, cheapest drive i've seen. very cool!

This CD burner is poorly designed with the cables connected to an unstable plug that connects to the drive. While this allows for USB and Firewire connections, given the correct connector, the connections are unbalanced and disconnect often. The burner was not at all Mac friendly, as I tried on several different systems & OS versions - nothing but coasters. The burner is also very finicky about the brand of CDs, and would not burn the manufacturers brand included with the product. Support was not helpful in resolving issues, although I found many many others with similar issues and support was in the form of "you are not alone". I did not ever get this burner to function correctly and eventually bought another brand. My opinion is that new or used the Iomega Predator is a piece of trash ~