DVD Writer - Send it Back or Keep it?

Question

Just got mail delivery of a new DVD Writer, but it says the minimum system requirements include:

Pentium 4 with 1.3GHz or higher (I have only a Pentium III );
and,
over 9GB HDD free (mine is only 8GB total with about 4.2GB free).

All other system requirements appear to be met.

Would I be awfully stupid to try and use it?
Or do I send it back intact and unopened?

Any other sensible alternatives would be gratefully appreciated.

The writer has something called an "Ez-Dub facility". Anyone know if that needs the 9GB?
Before rushing out for a new PC (which I can't afford) can I get by using other burning software from somewhere? If so, and given I use MS Windows 2000Pro, where please?

Answer 1

stop worrying,the min specs that are quoted by the dvd-rw are for the software that comes bundled with it,dvd-rw will run on a pentium 2,even a 486 if you can manage to install a operating system on it
i had a dvd-rw on a compaq deskpro en(pentium 3) and i used it with nero and i had no problems at all,you say you only have 8gb,well i only used 10gb on that system and it was ok
so what i would do is unpack the dvd-rw and check the jumper settings,if you are using it as your main optical drive set it as master and if you wish to use your drive you are replacing set that as slave,you should see the jumper settings on the drives or in the manual
there are plenty of basic burning programs avalible at http://www.download.com/3150-2646_4-0-1-0.html?qt=&author=&titlename=&desc=&dlcount=&daysback=&swlink=&gfiletype=&os=&li=49&dlsize=&ca=,but check the user reveiws before you download them so you use a decent one,or try to get a copy of nero 7 or any version of nero,this is a good burning program and only takes up around 500mb
i hope this helps

Answer 2

You've not said if it's IDE or SATA. If it's SATA, master/slave settings are irrelevant. If it's IDE - yes, you need to set the master/slave for each IDE channel - on the back of the device, there will be a jumper with M/S/CS on it - put the jumper for one at M, and the other at S. Also, there's nothing wrong with having two optical devices on one IDE channel. It used to be a bit dodgy *if you were copying on teh fly from one to the other*, but in practice, no one actually does that (it gets buffered on the HDD first). And in any event, bus speeds are now capable of handling the throughput. EDIT: also, modern BIOSes don't really care if your HDD is master or slave. Gone are the days when you booted from a specific channel - nowadays, you simply pick floppy, hard disk, CD, or whatever... EDIT for 'thebestname': your 'correction' is redundant. Although you *can* specify boot orders if strictly necessary, in normal circumstances - and certainly in this case - selecting 'hard-drive' is fine. Apart from anything else, with SATA (and you'd be in a distinct minority if you're running 8 IDE drives - it's that or SCSI, which is set by jumper on the controller card)the BIOS 'remembers' the boot drive - so even adding new ones will not disturb the boot order. Also, I would point out that for the last few years, IDE cables and sockets have invariably come keyed, so you have no option but for pin 1 to match with pin 1.

Answer 3

DVD Burners themselves have no minimum system requirements (except the correct hardware)...this sounds like system requirements for the DVD burning software that comes with the burner. The burner itself will work fine, but the software might not. There are plenty more software out there though.

Answer 4

This is a Dual layer dvd burner? If so it needs 9Gb harddrive space to cache the files before burning them. So if you are only going to use single layer DvDs you will only need 4.7Gb free.

Answer 5

That is stupid. This is only for installing some extra software that it is giving you. all you need to install is you drivers. And download free burning utilities off the internet. 9GB minimum? What the HELL?

Answer 6

Does seem to be an awful lot that it is asking for. Be that as it may, I'd be inclined to ring the supplier and ask pretty please if you could return it for one that matches what you have.

Decent suppliers would understand and agree. Technically, they COULD say tough, you got what you ordered. Ask nicely and don't try to open it yet.

By the way, looks like you could do with either a new hard drive or a new PC - I'd consider the latter!

Answer 7

Send it back, it will never work well with your PC. Sorry but it just isn't up to it. You will get all sorts of buffer under runs and get DVDs tat are all jerky, if they play at all. And I assume you're on maybe Windoze 98 or similar? may well have all sorts of driver problems

Answer 8

send it back. if u have cd writer then use it or buy it. untill upgrading pc dont use the dvd writer.

Answer 9

Why would it need such high system requirement? Don't know what HDD size has to do with it

Answer 10

i am sure that the dvd writer will not work.i would advice you to upgrade your system to the required configuration.