Customer Reviews

LG Electronics GH22NP20 22X IDE SecurDisc DVD+/-RW Internal Drive with Software - Bulk (Black)

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

What I needed was an IDE internal DVD player with RW. Currently, most drives on the market are SATA. As this was to be placed in an existing external USB case, it had to be IDE.

This drive fit the bill exactly. I installed into the case and pluged it into the USB drive of a computer and it worked perfect. In a matter of minutes I was a happy camper.

It worked for me and I'm sure it will work for you.

Remember though, it's a raw dvd. No cables, rails, etc. Ask someone familiar with hardware if you are not sure of what you need or know how to install. It's easy, but you need to know what you are buying and how it is to be connected.

Great This LG GH22NP20 DVD drive installs easily and works perfectly with excellent speed, but remember this drive is sold as a bulk drive and not as a retail drive.

What that means is that you get the same drive that you would get if you bought it at a retail store in a printed box that contained the drive with cables, mounting hardware etc. This is the same drive but it was packaged as "bulk" and is sold mainly to professional computer techs who either repair or build computers. So it comes at a much cheaper price with none of the accessories and many times that includes a manual. But not to worry. This excellent drive can still be installed easily.

First off, if you are replacing an existing drive, be sure to save all of the hardware, and that includes mounting screws and sometime mounting rails that are attached to the sides of the old drive.

If you are replacing a drive in a computer that had only one drive installed, just mount the drive in its proper place, reattach the cables and you are good to go.

If your computer has two drives then one is called the master and the other the slave. If you are plugging your drive onto the connecter that is at the end of the cable, it is called the master. If you are attaching it to the connecter that is beneath the end cable, that is called a slave.

If you look at the small section at the back of the drive next to the section where the wide data cable plugs in, you will see a small section with three sets of pins with a small plastic "jumper" on the set of pins on the right end side. That means the drive is set to be the "master", if you need to configure the new drive to be the "slave" take a pair of tweezers or a needle nose pliers and carefully pull the jumper off of the pins and then push it over the set in the center. Install into computer and it should work. Remember do this on a table. It is easy to drop the tiny jumper.

Some computers designate what drive is master or slave. If the above doesn't work, try putting the jumper on the left set of pins. These pins are called "cable select"

Also, it is a good idea to look at where the jumper is on the drive you are removing. In most cases the pin configuration is the same. Just follow the configuration on the old drive and it probably will work on the LG.

You can also get a copy of the manual on LG's website. It is a PDF file that I downloaded onto my desktop.

Don't let the "bare bone" appearance of the packaging intimidate you. It is really very easy to install, is a great drive sold at a giveaway price. It came beautifully packaged by Amazon and arrived two days after I ordered it with free shipping. Can't beat that!

This is an INTERNAL drive for reading and writing CDs and DVDs (including dual layer DVDs). It doesn't include any case, brackets, or cables. It's great for replacing or upgrading an existing drive.

I selected this model because it has excellent specs, including great speed and support for all the popular disc formats. It advertises Windows support, and comes with a Windows driver disk, but I use it in a Macintosh -- I replaced a Plextor PX-740A, which died with its boots on.

I put it in a Power Mac dual G5, running OSX 10.5.6, and it works great. It's quiet, functional, and very fast. Assuming good reliability (as is typical from LG) it's a great drive at a great price.

Important Note for Mac users: Remove the tray-front with the logos on it (it snaps on or off with finger pressure) so that the tray will smoothly open the flap.

The Mac install was typical, no drivers to fuss with, and the only tool required was a T-15 torx to move the spacers. It took me about 7 mins from shutdown until the new drive was reading and burning.

I recently purchased this drive as an upgrade for an older Compaq Presario running 512MB on a 2.5GHz Celeron system. First off, the installation was a breeze! Hardware install took all of 5 minutes and software install took another 10. The installation disc comes with some nice optional DVD editing software that I didn't get to test but looked fine for home use. The drive, itself, has a very fast access speed and smooth operation. The motor noise is only slightly higher than a standard CD rom. You can't beat this one for the price.

I saw some reviews of this drive that mentioned "dead on arrival" or "no instructions regarding jumper settings" That just shows lack of effort on the users part. The dvd drive comes with a driver/software cd, that contains a manual on it. Also it does come with a small paper manual, if you needed it.

Put the dvd drive in, connect it correctly, restart windows vista/7. It is automatically detected and ready to work. You dont even have to install any drivers that come with it. It does provide Nero though.

It writes/burns dvds very quick, however during writing you are able to hear the spinning. I'd say its not loud enough to cause any concerns though.

I ordered this burner to replace the DVD burner in an older Dell. The old unit had become weak and the CD player in my truck would no longer read the disks made from it. I received the unit in the mail in short order with no problems. I have never had any problems receiving stuff from Amazon so this is normal.

Note that I am an experienced technician when it comes to changing out components in a computer so take that as you will on "ease of installation". The old drive came out easily and the new drive went in easily. For those of you who experienced difficulty with "slow" reading drives and hang-ups I suspect that you did not have the jumpers configured correctly. The old drive in my computer had the jumper setting at "cable select" which surprised me as it was configured as a master. Nonetheless, I went ahead and configured it exactly as the old drive which is always the best thing to do.

I closed the case up and fired up the computer. The computer recognized the drive without any prompting from me and I burnt my first disk at the highest available speed setting using Windows Media Player. I tested the disk in the truck player and it worked fine. The player fired right up without the "churning" that I had come to expect with the disks cut from the older player.

The drive came with a disk with a lot of software on it for file management disk burning etc. I haven't used those programs and don't know if I will or not as I am happy with existing software. The software was immaterial to why I ordered the drive.

The only reason I didn't give this a 5 is I have not had it long enough to determine reliability. Assuming that this drive lasts longer than 6 months, it is well worth the price. I will revisit this review after I have put some miles on it.

Update Oct 2010 - Not a single problem. I have upgraded to 5 stars.

I like: competetive price for an IDE DVD/R/RW drive. Straight forward hardware installation and works fine for past 20 min. (After firmware updated!).
I had trouble with: there was a clicking sound playing audio CD's that matched the flashing green light on the front panel. Amazon service was great and promptly (2days!!) and politely replaced the initial unit. However the replacement had the same problem. LG support hadn't heard of the problem - but suggested the firmware update to "improve readability". That has fixed the clicking. Be sure to read the "Read-Me" file on the jumper settings and other settings required to flash update the firmware of the unit.

I have been using this DVD burner for a month. The drive runs quiet and hasn't disappointed me yet. Please note it doesn't have Lightscribe capability.

Somehow during installation, this drive got set to operate in PIO transfer mode. Video was choppy or wouldn't play. The audio was terrible and it took forever to burn a disk. I finally realized what was happening. I changed the transfer mode to DMA and it has worked fine ever since. So, if your audio or video is bad, check the transfer mode.

Very fast and quiet. No issues so far. Just a comment; if you use it for burning DVD movies, use the lowest speed.

Unit arrived from Amazon with latest firmware (1.04). Disconnected old, underperforming unit (different brand) and plugged in LG GH22NP20. Powered up. Unit was recognized immediately and has worked flawlessly since. It makes a bit of noise but I cannot hear it over the noisy fans I have in my mid-tower box.