• PC World
• » Software
• » Multimedia

First there was CD-Recordable, and the Lords of Data were pleased. But in time, they grew angry at having to throw away their old discs when the recorded data became old and toothless. The decree came down: "Give us rewritable CDs, or be buried under mountains of useless platters." And so the CD-Rewritable was born.

The CD-RW was hobbled at first by slow performance and high prices. Fortunately that's changed. Today's data mavens can choose from a plentiful offering of quick, affordable CD-RW drives.

So Many Drives, So Many Features

We recently evaluated a variety of models from Hewlett-Packard, Hi-Val, Imation, Mitsubishi, Micro Solutions, Pacific Digital, Plextor, Ricoh, Smart and Friendly, and Yamaha. And from now on we'll be testing the latest and greatest CD-RWs every month in an ongoing Top 5.

The models we tested feature a multiplicity of interfaces, including IDE (also commonly called ATAPI), SCSI, parallel port, and Universal Serial Bus. IDE drives make the best choice for most because they provide the right balance of affordable price and fast performance. SCSI drives generally cost more than their IDE counterparts and require a separate adapter, although SCSI accommodates a greater number of devices per system. SCSI also lets you connect to fast external CD-RW drives--a boon if you've already filled every externally accessible drive bay. Portable external USB and parallel port drives prove the easiest to install, but they're also inherently slower than IDE and SCSI models.

As usual in these evaluations, we give credit where it's due, whether for a good price, speedy performance, or easy installation. We noted the differences in bundled software: All vendors offer basic audio- and data-copying applications, and nearly all models come with packet-writing software for dragging files to and from CD-RW discs. Backup and disaster-recovery utilities were common, and one drive--Hi Val's 4X24X4 CDRW--even came with a desktop publishing package. Every drive we tested came equipped with at least 2MB of buffer memory, which helps provide the smooth, continuous writes critical to CD recording; Plextor's high-end PlexWriter 8/2/20 doubles this amount to an impressive 4MB.

The Top Five

Our Top 5 drives are a varied lot. The Ricoh MediaMaster MP7060A--equipped with a 6X CD-R write mechanism--owes its top ranking to terrific overall performance and a $349 price that's only about $50 higher than the average cost of a 4X model. Honorable mention goes to the $199 Hi Val 4X24X4 CDRW, a smart choice for buyers on miserly budgets. The $349 number-three Hewlett-Packard CD-Writer Plus 8200i earned major points for its consumer-friendly installation and the outstanding out-of-box experience it delivers.

The fourth-place Imation CD-RW Super Recorder 4x4x20 ($229) performs well, but like the Hi Val, it owes its ranking on our chart to lowball pricing. Plextor's $439 PlexWriter 8/2/20 SCSI drive makes a great choice for people who need to burn a lot of CD-R discs but also need occasional CD-RW capability. This plush model fills the chart's fifth spot despite its high price, thanks to its breathtaking 8X CD-R write performance and premium software bundle.