I got a 48x12x50 external Cendyne Drive this weekend at OM.

I found out that is was an Aopen drive. I've read consistently negative reviews on the Aopens

Anyways..........

I'm thinking of swapping the Aopen out for a 52X Lite-On

Are there any problems doing that?

It looks like it will just unscrew apart.

I read on AT that it's very much possible to do, provided you have the tools to remove the drive and some creative juices to get it mounted.

I can't give you any real details on how to do it, however...

Do you have any idea where that info would be on AT? Thanks

and

Does anyone know which 52X internal CDRW is better? Asus or Liteon?

(I've got one of each right now)

Liteon by FAR (and I don't mean free after rebate )

Asus drives tend to be louder and the firmware updates are more troublesome (so I've heard) than that of Liteon. Liteons also tend to have faster DAE than Asus.

I'll try to dig up the thread on AT...

Do the Free AR lite-ons(Cendynes, buslinks,etc) differ from the Lite-On Branded CDRWs?

Nope.

The internal architecture is exactly the same, whether you buy a liteon rebadge or an OEM liteon.

That's why liteon rebadges have the same serial number (LTR-321240S, e.g.) as their OEM counterparts.

Thanks for the info.....

Lite-On it is!!!

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It's kind of fun being able to pick and choose the best equipment in my Free AR pile.

There is, actually, one exception to this rule that I'm aware of.

Some Verbatims, when pulled out of the box, have a Verbatim label and a Verbatim part number (and a prog like Nero would detect the drive as a Verbatim), instead of a Liteon. I've heard that these can be firmware updated to make them into Liteons (in essence, they are Liteons).

I'd use the Cendyne/AOpen drive as-is before swapping it out. It may not be that bad.

Both the Asus & Lite-on drives have great reviews. In my opinion it's a toss-up between the two.

Yupp. I've have one. It's a 24X10X40 Cendyne/Verbatim/Liteon. Cendyne box, Verbatim label, Liteon drive. Detected as a Verbatim due to firmware. There was a little trick to update the firmware to Lite-on, but I forgot what it was. Never did it though. Drive works great as-is.

I'm definitely going to try it out a couple times. But if i ever get one bad burn.....out it goes.

I've got a couple rebadged internal Lite-Ons and i have yet to get a bad burn....

I'm skeptical about the AOPEN....but it is hard to say how bad it is because a lot of people reviewing will not settle for anything less than a Lite-On...

i'll do some tests today let ya know how it works out....

I played around with the Aopen for a little bit. It was a nice drive. Burned Quickly. The media was getting rated a little low. I'll test out the lite-on and see if the media is getting rated similarily.

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Anyways i decided to swap for a Lite-On 52X drive.

It was really really easy to do.....just undo about 8 screws. Disconnect the old and put in the new drive.

I was kind of surprised how easy it was since a lot of burner manufacturers are making the external drives impossible to come apart.

The toughest part was getting the power cable off of the old drive. It was completely stuck on.

Very easy job and i even updated the firmware on the Lite-On Drive. So now it is up to date with latest firmware.

You can't even tell i broke the warranty seal on the drive.

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That is one awesome thing about Lite-On. The firmware updates are readily available on their website and they work very well.

YAY!