Product Description
Amazon.com Hands-On Review
HP's internal IDE DVD100i DVD+RW driver offers impressive power for transporting, backing up, and archiving huge amounts of data. It writes to both 4.7 GB DVD+RW and standard CD-R and CD-RW discs, and can even play DVD movies. The DVD+RW format still isn't compatible with many DVD players, but if you have a compatible device, you can even use this drive to create your own DVD movies.
First, a bit of background. Recordable DVDs come in four flavors. DVD-R is a write-once format that is the most broadly compatible with DVD players. DVD-RAM, a rewritable format, works mostly on PCS and is compatible with very few DVD players. DVD-RW and DVD+RW, the two newest rewritable formats, are compatible with many, though not all, DVD players and DVD-ROM drives on PCs. The DVD100i uses the DVD+RW format; it can't write to any other kind of writable DVD disc. HP has a list on its Web site (www.hp.com) of players compatible with the DVD+RW format, and we strongly recommend you consult this list before purchasing this drive.
Installation went as expected for an internal drive. All necessary cables came in the box along with an illustrated poster with simple instructions, but there was no escaping the need to crack open the PC case, set jumpers, and physically install the drive in an available bay. A single CD installed a host of helpful applications including a DVD playback utility, MyDVD for creating your own DVDs, RecordNow CD and DVD burning software, an easy-to-use utility called SimpleBackup, and DLA (Drive Letter Access) software which lets you copy data to the drive like a hard drive.
Once installed, the DVD100i's power became clear immediately. We just inserted a blank DVD+RW disc (the package includes one) and the drive functioned like a 4.7 GB hard drive. Using the DLA software, which works transparently in the background, it took less than six minutes to copy 1 GB of data to the drive. That's faster than even the fastest drive can write to a much smaller-capacity CD-RW disc. The SimpleBackup utility made it easy to create a backup of our entire system, including rescue discs for booting the PC in an emergency.
Of course, a big dream for consumers is the ability to create their own DVD movie discs, but the DVD100i satisfies that dream only part way. The included MyDVD software made it surprisingly simple to create a DVD disc from practically any video file. Using the software's intuitive interface, it took us only minutes to create a DVD with a colorful navigation screen filled with video clips. However, when we tried to play this DVD on our Apex AD-800 DVD player, we ran into trouble; the Apex wouldn't recognize the disc. If you plan on using this drive to create your own DVD movies, you need to check to see if your DVD player supports the DVD+RW format.
Bottom line, if you're looking to create your own DVD movies and need broad compatibility with DVD players, a write-once DVD-R drive might be a better choice. However, if you're looking for an extremely fast drive that offers 4.7 GB of storage capacity on a single, rewritable disc, it's hard to beat the DVD100i in terms of price and features. --Ken Feinstein
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