Customer Reviews

I/O Magic Internal DVD+/-RW Drive (IDVDRW8D) (IDVDRW8D)

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

 

 

The problems most people encountered with this drive are caused

by the fact that some people purchase a better quality drive than

others, even though they come from an identical retail box.

This is because I/O Magic repackages and resells Optorite DVD

Drives (DD0401, DD0405). Recently they started reselling BTC

drives. Optorite drives are higher quality than BTC, so check the

back of the box at what drive you are purchasing.

Another reason is a great variance in the quality of DVD media

available on the market.

These are the only certified high speed media for this drive as

of this writing (Fall 04):

YUDEN000T01

RICOHJPNR01

MCC 002

CMC MAG F01

The above media are sold under brand names:

Memorex 4x, TDK 4x, Maxell 4x, and Sony 4x, and Verbatim 4x.

There are no 8x speed DVD blanks available. However, Memorex

DVD+R 4x and SONY DVD+R 4x could be spinned faster than 4x,

close to 10Mb/s.

Even with a correct media you would still need to flash the drive

to enable higher speeds. After the flashing the drive works

great, flawless operation and not a single failure using any of

several types of media.

After 1 defective drive and 4 coasters, I would say this drive has by far been one of the biggest computer headaches I've ever dealt with. It doesn't burn at 8x even with the appropriate media. If you are planning on backing up home movies, I would strongly urge against this drive as the backups I have made freeze at the 12 minute mark. Back to the store!

When I put a DVD+R in the drive it takes forever to load and it hangs up and i have to keep starting the computer again. Packet Writing works only on DVD+RW and DVD+R it can't read the last session that is read and it reads as a Blank Disc.

One question:
How can the reviewer from Michigan say that he has had this drive for a yr. when 8x burners have not been out that long ?

If you want this to backup your personal DVD's it is a bad choice, I bought this thinking it would be a great burner but it stops burning 1/4 of the way through the burn, I tried using several differnt burning software programs, so I know it's not the programs. I think im going with Sony this is going back to the store. I ended up with 5-6 "coasters" trying to get this thing to work before I gave up!

IOMAGIC is not a listed supported DVD burner on the Pinnacle Systems (www.pinnaclesys.com) website (this drive comes with Pinnacle software). No wonder, I have wasted 3 DVDs and precious hours trying to coax the software to create one successful DVD from this drive! I have had the same problems are others in this forum - drive not recognized, burner software troubles etc....

Please do not buy this drive if you value your time and money!!

Bought it, and it could not burn a DVD_R or a DVD-RW disck. At my dime (no toll-free number to call) I had to sit through a long hold time, just to be told that the alloted time to wait had expired and to leave a message. Yep, they didn't return the call. So I emailed them. Nothing! Back to calling/left message again, and in three days, they returned my call. I was told to pack it up and mail it back at my expense, though they agreed that it was defective. Did I mention all my new coasters? :-0

Well, they sent a different model for some reason. And to their credit, they did send FedEx to pick it up, at no expense to me. Is the new drive any better? Nope! This one won't burn or erase now. Not even a DVD+R or a DVD+RW, nor any CD-R/RWs! So back to the drawing board. Their home page is loading fine, but the rest of their site (including the page used to email them) will not. Not last night nor today. There phone system is giving me the same garbage, and I KNOW they'll insist that I pay to return THEIR defective joke. Goody. Here I was trying to buy from a company located in my county (yes and country too). My mistake---Japan here I come!

Update--again! The third drive (this they sent to me on the last RMA, which is the second one) and at first it didn't work at all. I had to re-call, on my dime, of course, and they wanted me to go online to update the firmware. First of all, the drive they sent me this time was made six months before I purchased the original drive! So not only did they send me used goods (the DVD included was unusable, as it was all scratched up), but they didn't bother to make sure it worked (as I had again requested that they do) nor did they bother to flash the firmware. So the first thing I had tried-again- was to go online, and I got the same thing! Yep, it would not load any other page but the home page. weeee So the nice tech (and he was nice) emailed it to me. Now it finaly erased one disc, but choked on writing a DVD-R. I can't afford more coasters, as this RMA joke of a process is costing me more than this drive is worth--and isn't that exactly what this corporation is hoping for? That I'll give up and just simply go away. doh?

OK 3rd and 4th update! They had to replace the drive several more times! The last one I have used infrequently, since I am sick and tired of coasters, and even so, it has failed yet again! It had been erasing and writing to my Memorex CD-RWs (I won't any other media in this drive but RWs, due to the coasters it loves to make), though that isn't something I do too often. Needless to say, I use my newer NEC DVD burner more often, and it NEVER has a complaint! It is also a 8x multi-format. So I am contacting IOMagic again, and you can bet, they'll just send me another lump of junk--as is their wont. I can say that I am permanently done with this company! People, NO savings is worth the headaches! I've been burning discs ever since burners have been and NEVER with the failure rate of this drive--NO MATTER WHICH BRAND/SPEED OF MEDIA!

Despite all the bad reviews I've read on this product, I decided to give it a try. (...) so I figured I'd try it and return it if it didn't work. When I first installed it, it didn't work. The bundled software didn't work, the drive wasn't recognized by my existing burning software.. I was ready to take it back. Then I decided to upgrade the firmware on the drive and get the latest patch for the Instant CD/DVD writer program and now it works like a charm. IO Magic recommends Maxell media, and I've burned 3 DVD's with no coasters since the firmware upgrade. If you get this drive, make sure to visit the IO Magic website and download the firmware!!!! (...)

The purpose of this review is to inform customers of the poor service provided by I/O Magic. I had bought a problematic DVD drive. A technician suggested I acquire an RMA but subsequent attempts to do so were unsuccessful. After a couple of months of no replies, I decided to simply buy a new drive from another manufacturer which got rave reviews.

I bought this at circuit city as it was one of the cheapest they had. Went home, took it out of the box and installed in my computer. Installed the drivers and burned an ISO file, worked fine. I've only had 1 failed disk as my computer locked up while burning a dvd. It's not the fastest burning but for the price it's great, takes about 5-10 minutes to burn a dvd, much quicker for cd's. If your not looking to waiste too much money go with this.