EXCLUSIVES

LaCie DVD Drives

By Louise Masurat
September 2004

In case you haven't been keeping track, you may not be aware that optical technology has been evolving at an incredible pace (no, I won't say at the speed of light!). Just as computers keep getting better and cheaper, so do optical drives. And it seems that LaCie is always in the forefront, with stylish and reasonably priced products for the Mac.

Less than a year ago, I was reviewing their 4x Dual DVD±RW Drive. I then stated that this attractive external drive offered the perfect solution for backing up large quantities of data (almost 4.5 GB per disc). It came bundled with Roxio's Toast® 6 Titanium, and had a retail price of $269.

Well, not long after that, I learned that LaCie had discontinued that model, in favor of one that was 8x, twice as fast, and you can guess what the price was.

And now LaCie has done it again: the current drive has not only gone to 16x, but is now capable of burning double layer DVDs, which means a whopping 8.5 gigabytes on one disc. The price? An incredible $229, for the version that's bundled with both Toast 6 Titanium (for OS X) and Toast Lite 5.2.2 (for OS 9).

The drive is fast and versatile, easily connected to both Macs and PCs. You can plug your camcorder into your computer and easily create DVD or CD-Video discs with footage transferred directly from the camera. Finished discs can then be played back on virtually any DVD player or computer for sharing with friends and family. Mac OS X users can burn up to two hours of theater-quality video on DVD discs.

Since the universal LaCie Double DVD±RW Drive combines DVD+RW and DVD-RW formats, it eliminates the need to choose one DVD format over another. And with the included powerful Toast 6 Titanium recording software, the drive is also capable of writing to most CD and DVD formats for wide playback compatibility. With its stunning slim, aluminum design, the LaCie drive features FireWire interface for easy connection to any Mac or PC, making it the most versatile drive available.

I don't own a camcorder, but I can still appreciate the ability to back up valuable information, share photos, and archive MP3 collections and personal DVD videos. And now backing up onto CDs is a snap. While I am strongly opposed to piracy in any form, I now find it easier to follow the advice of most software manufacturers, and immediately make a backup disc of any software I buy in case the original disc is destroyed or damaged.

You can create DVD video, Video-CD and Super Video-CD discs in minutes. The multi-format DVD drive affords universal compatibility, and a chapter feature allows you to jump to favorite scenes.

Here are some of the drive's specs:

Capacity: 4.7GB, or 8.5GB using a Double Layer disc
Interface: FireWire
Technology: DVD+R9 (Double Layer),DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, CD-R and CD-RW
Digital Audio Extraction: 40x CAV
DVD speeds (Write, Rewrite, Read):
DVD-RW: 16x4x12x; DVD+RW: 16x4x12x; DVD+R DL: 4x
CD speeds (Write, Rewrite, Read):
CD-R: 32x; CD-RW: 24x; CD-ROM: 40x
Writing Methods:
DVD-R: Disc-at-Once, Incremental recording, Multi-border recording
DVD-RW: Restricted Overwriting
DVD+R: Incremental recording
DVD+RW: Random recording
CD-R/RW: Disc-at-Once, Track-at-Once, Session-at-Once, Packet Writing
Writing Compatibility:
4.7GB DVD±R / DVD±RW, 8.54GB DVD+R9 (Double Layer), 700MB CD-R / CD-RW
Disc Formats:
CD: CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA, CD-DA, Photo CD, CD-R, CD-RW, CD-Extra, CD-Text
DVD: DVD-ROM, DVD+R, DVD-R (General Use only), DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD-Video
High-speed CD-RW Compatibility: Yes
Buffer: 2 MB
Access Time: CD: 130 ms; DVD: 140 ms
System Requirements: Minimum: Macintosh: Mac OS 9.1 and 10.1.2 or later, Power Mac G4 500 Mhz; 64MB RAM; and for Double Layer recording: Macintosh: 10.2.3 or later
Bundled Software: Toast 6 Titanium and Toast Lite 5.2.2.

I would like to commend LaCie for making stylish, cutting-edge optical devices at competitive prices. You can see all of their current offerings on their web site, at
www.lacie.com/products/range.htm?id=10014

Pros: Versatile, fast, stylish, affordable
Cons: I haven't found any yet

Buy it now!