Best Solution, Burning CD

[Loedown]

Greetings,
Firstly, thanks to Calgor for his advice regarding Acard's hardware.

So, I have two routes I can go;

Option 1, Buy Acard's 50 pin SCSi ---> IDE adapter for $175 USD + shipping.

Option 2, Buy Amigakit's Buddha Flash Pheonix for 44 pounds + shipping.


My Miggy is a rather antiquated Amiga 2000 with a GVP 030 Combo board, X-Surf card, GVP SCSI II with HDD. I currently have a very old Matsushita / panasonic CDR, probably a CW7502, so old, the label's gone from the top, which doesn't want to burn properly, reads fine, even 80 min CD.

I want to use Makecd and only Makecd, Fryingpain crashes the machine.

All I want to do is burn from the internal HDD to CD, just a simple backup.

Now, what I need is who has tried each of these options and what they would recommend?

Paul

[DC33]

I would get another burner and use MakeCD. I did this with my 2000 without any issues. As a matter of fact, I think my setup was the same as what you have. A new (older type) SCSI burner should do the trick and will avoid all the spending you are about to be embarking into.

I might have one around if you are interested. I have a few SCSI external units so I would need to check if any are burners.

[Loedown]

Originally Posted by DC33

I would get another burner and use MakeCD. I did this with my 2000 without any issues. As a matter of fact, I think my setup was the same as what you have. A new (older type) SCSI burner should do the trick and will avoid all the spending you are about to be embarking into.

I might have one around if you are interested. I have a few SCSI external units so I would need to check if any are burners.

If you would be kind enough to have a look, yes, that would be good, although I need a 100% working one and fussy me, not one of those stupid caddy types. The Miggy is that slow, even a 1X burner would be good, it cannot handle much more.

Payment arrived, magazines on Monday.

Cheers,

Paul

[Calgor]

Unluckily for you, the cheap ebay seller who used to sell the Acard adapters for about $US60 seems like he may have run out of them. The price of these have also gone up by something like 50% since I got them. Your $US175 seems steep. Hmmmm....

Therefore sounds like it may be more worthwhile getting a cheap second hand SCSI burner (Plextor are among the best - check MakeCD docs for compatibilities). Maybe wait for DC33 to get back.

If you have money to burn I would go with the Acard and a new DVD Writer as it should write to CDs with better quality and you get more flexibility with the DVDs.

[DC33]

Will let you know sometime tomorrow Paul.
PM me your email

[rkauer]

IIRC, there is an USA guy who sells ACARDS for little as 30 bucks each, plus postage.

Edit:

found this lovely auction.

Also, here is the cheap as chips buy it now link.

[Loedown]

Greetings,
Every day I am reminded of the awesome nature of this community, very helpful, even for the most obscure problems.

I would still like to know if anyone has bought a Buddha card before and what they think of them Vs. the Acard variety. I see the driver is written by Elabourate Bytes, a company that I do know, originaly responsible for CloneCD, before Slysoft took it over.

Paul

[prowler]

Hi Loedown,

I urge you to choose Acard's 50 pin SCSi ---> IDE adapter. I have one, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.
FYI, here are some relevant threads:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=41108
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=41425
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=41981

However, see this post related to the Buddha Flash Phoenix:
http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=449945&postcount=9

prowler

[Loedown]

Greetings,
Many thanks to all that have made suggestions and I have contacted the US seller of the 7720U, he doesn't ship to Australia, but I have asked him nicely anyway.

Shame about the Buddha card, manuals are always good things, with concise information on things like errors and causes.

Paul

[prowler]

Originally Posted by Loedown

Greetings,
Many thanks to all that have made suggestions and I have contacted the US seller of the 7720U, he doesn't ship to Australia, but I have asked him nicely anyway.

Paul

Hi Paul,

I wonder what he's got against shipping to Australia (or anywhere else, for that matter)? If the buyer covers the cost of shipping, then what difference does it make where you're sending it?

Good luck with that. Let's hope he changes his mind, as you asked him nicely.

prowler

[thomas]

@Loedown

I'd rather try to find a cheap second hand SCSI writer. For example a Yamaha CDR4416 or CDR8824. These devices are very reliable and recommended for use with MakeCD. Looking at German EBay, there are lots of them offered and they usually sell for less than 10 EUR.

The Acard adapter are mainly meant to achieve speed. For example on the SCSI adapter of the CSPPC an IDE HDD with Acard adapter is more than ten times faster than on the internal IDE bus.

But as you don't need a fast device anyway, IMHO the Acard is much too expensive.

[Loedown]

Originally Posted by thomas

@Loedown

I'd rather try to find a cheap second hand SCSI writer. For example a Yamaha CDR4416 or CDR8824. These devices are very reliable and recommended for use with MakeCD. Looking at German EBay, there are lots of them offered and they usually sell for less than 10 EUR.

The Acard adapter are mainly meant to achieve speed. For example on the SCSI adapter of the CSPPC an IDE HDD with Acard adapter is more than ten times faster than on the internal IDE bus.

But as you don't need a fast device anyway, IMHO the Acard is much too expensive.

Greetings,
I have a number of options, DC33 will get back to me regarding any burners he has, which isn't a bad idea, but I risk the age of the burner.

The 7720U is good too, it enables me to not only use an IDE burner, as I have two newish Sony CDRW around, but I could also use larger HDD down the track, or CF, or whatever IDE.

I have an old Yamaha drive here, but the laser is shot (CRW4416S-NB), getting a new laser isn't so bad, but I can bet that it will cost $40 minimum with freight.

If I do buy a unit, as you suggest from Germany, again I have the freight issue, as in the cost and as we all know and love, weight, freight and cost go hand in hand, usually exponentially .

Old hardware, particularly HDD / CD, are a dangerous thing to play with and move, alignment issues and alike.

So many options, so many thanks for help.

@Prowler, I always ask for things nicely, the first time anyway


Paul

[Loedown]

Originally Posted by prowler

Hi Paul,

I wonder what he's got against shipping to Australia (or anywhere else, for that matter)? If the buyer covers the cost of shipping, then what difference does it make where you're sending it?

Greetings,
I am Australian, therefore I can't like Englishmen, or I am English, I can't like Americans, just as examples. Unfortunately I am not him and cannot know his motivations, only my own.

I ship worldwide, just check to make sure what I am sending is legal.

Paul

[DC33]

I am Australian too and I hate Australians..... even myself.

I get this all the time as well. It seems that just because the destination is outside the originating country, things ain't gonna work out!!!

Some people should realise that once the money is paid, it makes no difference where it is posted to.... Never mind Paul.... It will sort itself out

[Loedown]

Greetings,
I don't actually hate any nationality, I was hoping that would be seen from my post, suggesting that some people may have a hatred towards others, without even meeting them, but not I.

I was a wondering, DC33, whether you've had a chance to look through your mountains of stockpiled CDs to see if you have any old burners?

Paul

[thomas]

Originally Posted by Loedown

The 7720U is good too, it enables me to not only use an IDE burner, as I have two newish Sony CDRW around, but I could also use larger HDD down the track, or CF, or whatever IDE.

You know you can only connect *one* IDE device to an Acard adapter. If you want to have more IDE devices on the SCSI bus you need a seperate adapter for each device.

If I do buy a unit, as you suggest from Germany, again I have the freight issue, as in the cost and as we all know and love, weight, freight and cost go hand in hand, usually exponentially .

I didn't mean to suggest to buy from Germany. I just looked at Ebay and German Ebay is default for me. You should look at Australian Ebay first, if such exists.

[DC33]

Originally Posted by Loedown

I was a wondering, DC33, whether you've had a chance to look through your mountains of stockpiled CDs to see if you have any old burners?

Paul

Paul.... emailed you this arvo with details. please confirm.

[Loedown]

Originally Posted by thomas

You know you can only connect *one* IDE device to an Acard adapter. If you want to have more IDE devices on the SCSI bus you need a seperate adapter for each device.



I didn't mean to suggest to buy from Germany. I just looked at Ebay and German Ebay is default for me. You should look at Australian Ebay first, if such exists.

Greetings,
Ebay does exist here, but I did a search for CDR4416S, the unit I just binned because I cannot get a laser for it and there's no hits. Doing a search for "SCSI Burner" turns up 2 hits, one is a huge pile of various old bits of hardware, the second is for an old Matsushita with driver card.

I think the biggest issue is, can I really trust them to be working? I am not prepared to take the gamble, I really get sick of fiddling with the Amiga, I just want it to work. I believe I can trust DC33, that if he says he has a working SCSI burner, that indeed, it will be a working burner and postage to here won't be too bad at all.

I am still swaying towards the card option, as others here have stated that it does indeed work, with Makecd and other pieces of software / hardware.

Still, I very much appreciate your input, Thomas,

Paul