NEC ND-3520A DVD±RW Double Layer Drive

Strengths: Very Fast, Clean Burning, Accepts mosts media , not noisy

Weakness: None that i can see so far

Before i had this dvd/cd burner i had generic one that would write a coaster (failed disk) every 2 or 3 disks. With this NEC burner every thing goes fast and i have yet to burn a bad disk. I have copied cds and dvds as well as used it for backup of data and either way it does nice job. I would recommend this drive to anyone , especially becuase of the great prices it can be found for online.

pete

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NEC ND-3520A DVD±RW Double Layer Drive

Strengths: Buffer underrun protection keeps the dvds from turning into coasters so far. Pretty quiet and burns TYG02 at 12x fine.

Weakness: If your computer isn't up to speed or your harddrives are slightly congested, it'll go into buffer underrun protection a lot and make the DVD's burn take up to 30 minutes.

Cooling my computer down a bit helped the drive speed back up so it take anywhere from 6 minutes to 20 minutes to burn instead of 30 minutes now. It used to have a problem of burning cds (every cd turned into a coaster..) now those burn fine too. Make sure you get the firmware update, it fixes little quirks and improves speed and allows you to use DVD/CD testing programs on it (nero cd speed) to check. The drive may take a few dvd's to become stable. Mine started out with 6 minute burns all the time, nicely burned dvds.. then went beserk and dropped to 30 minute burns with spikes. It slowly stabilized (along with changing some equipment) to be around 14 minute burns. Sometimes it's annoying when it does slow down and burn extremely slow but I'd rather have that and well burned DVD's than ones with high errors. The drive is a very good buy for its price, even more so now that it's dropped in price. There aren't many DVD's that can go at high speeds yet but this is a good prep for when 16x is more popular. Better to get the faster good quality with a low price, than one that could be counted as outdated soon while it being still expensive.

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One of the best drives I have!

Strengths: Excellent quality, very good speed, never have any problems with it, burned over 50 DVD, 20 CD, I even overburned DVD and CD more than original capacity with no errors.

Weakness: none so far

Bought in March, 2005 with $52 from NewEgg, it is excellent in everything, I use it mostly with Nero, I had to overburn a few DVD's and CD's and I was very happy that it worked with no errors. I would recommend it over any other, it is the best for the money!

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NEC ND-3520A DVD±RW Double Layer Drive

Strengths: Works as advertised. Seems as fast as expected.

Weakness: Sometimes, and I haven't figured out why, it won't open/release the media in the driver. I have to shut the drive off, then on, and then it will release it. But it is only a minor annoyance now.

It was easy to install (I built my own external drive using a Bytecc case with usb & firewire). And it just works on both my Mac & Windows machines. So now I just unplug either the firewire or usb cable and move it to my other machine and it is up and running. I like it.

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Great burner, No problems, Quiet.

Strengths: Good price, works great, fast burning on all supported formats, and quiet.

Weakness: Does not support DVD-RAM, but a non-issue for most users.

This drive has performed great since day one. I have not had any coasters due to the drive. I have however ran into some issues using older software. These drives are well supported with firmware updates. They also are highly compatible with many disc formats. I have had the best luck using (Memorex 16x dvd-r) discs, which worked out great because you can find them just about anywhere for a great price.

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NEC ND-3520A DVD±RW Double Layer Drive

Strengths: Easy to install and use

Weakness: none so far

This dvd reader/writer is exactly what I expected it to be. It works just fine. The drive looks like its well-built and sturdy. I have been able to burn both dvds and cds successfully. Hopefully my luck continues.

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NEC ND-3520A DVD±RW Double Layer Drive

Strengths: Quiet. Very good compatibilty with various brank of DVD blank disks.

Weakness: Nothing so far.

This drive operates very quietly, which is much better than my previous owned I/O Magic 8X dual format burner. It also has very good compatibilty with various brand of DVD blank disks. The I/O magic drive can not erase Ridata DVD+RW disks very well. But this drive gets it done very easily.

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not bad but....

Strengths: works pretty good for the price Very Fast, Clean Burning, Accepts mosts media , not noisy

Weakness: I tried slightly over burning a disc and the drive broke, now it wont even read a disc. Word of cuation dont over burn with this drive!

There aren't many DVD's that can go at high speeds yet but this is a good prep for when 16x is more popular. Better to get the faster good quality with a low price, than one that could be counted as outdated soon while it being still expensive.

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DVD Burners round-up: NEC ND-3520A Dual Layer tested

Perhaps the most important reason we specifically looked to compare against this drive is because its popularity among system builders. The ND-3520A has enjoyed of great reviews among consumers that have looked for the cheapest branded drive available. Like the Plextor drive, the NEC is compatible with pretty much anything you throw at it, except DVD-RAM.

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