The main criteria for selecting & ranking a CD-Writer are:

• Fully supports for 80 Minutes CD-R's.
• Supports OverSizing/OverBurning.
• Writes CD-R's at 4x speed or better.
• Should be able to copy Protected CD's.
• Must support TAO, DAO, Multi-Session & Incremental Packet Writing.
• Must support RAW Writing (used in CloneCD & BlindWrite).
• The firmware must be Flashrom upgradeable.

The Plextor PX-W12432 has replaced the Sony CRX-145S as the Best SCSI CD-Writer available. This change is mainly due the fact that with firmware 1.04 (or better) the Plextor PX-W12432 supports both reading & writing in MMC DAO RAW mode. CloneCD uses the MMC DAO RAW mode for writing CD's, which means that it can almost copy any kind of CD Protection!

The Sony CRX-145S has move to the second place as this CD-Writer supports writing in iMMC DAO RAW mode but it can read in this mode so another CD-Reader capable in reading RAW is needed! There are 2 models of the Sony CRX-145S, they are physically the same:  CRX-145S/C (Europe) & CRX-140S-RP (US).

As you may already have noticed, there has been a shift from SCSI to IDE for most quality CD-Writers. Previously IDE CD-Writers were less reliable because of a combination of poor hardware & software. This has totally been changed the last year, especially with the arrival of the BURN-Proof standard which rids us from the dreaded Buffer Underrun Errors!

The Plextor PX-W121032 has replaced the Sony RX-145E as the Best IDE CD-Writer available. The most important change has been the release of CloneCD which enables DAO in RAW mode (meaning it can almost copy any kind of CD Protection) and the BURN-Proof feature which is utilized in the Plextor PX-W121032 drive.

The Sony RX-145E is currently second best as Sony has changed their policy concerning the support for 80 minutes CD-R's. This CD-Writer supports writing in RAW mode, it can't Read RAW so another CD-Reader capable in reading DAO RAW is needed!

Note:  There are 2 models of the Sony CRX-140E, they are physically the same:  CRX-145E/CH (Europe) & CRX-145E-RP (US)

The HP 9300i/9310i series are also using the Sony CRX-145E so the same applies for these drives! Both still can't OverSize/OverBurn but this is not that big a deal now as it fully supports 80 minutes CD-R's!

Third best is the Mitsumi CR4804TE because is supports everything and is very cheap, the only bad thing is that it is VERY hard to get! The drive is fully supported by CloneCD and is capable in Reading & Writing in DAO RAW mode!

The Plextor PX-W8432T is also a good drive because Plextor recently upgraded the drive so it also support the DAO RAW mode. The bad thing is that the new firmware doesn't seem to support Overburning anymore!

If copying CD Protections is not an issue then the Ricoh MP7060A is a good alternative. Check the CD-Writer Technology page to get more vendors/drives using the Ricoh MP7060A and to get full overview who is using which drive.

They are hard to get as they are getting old but if you just want a cheap & working CD-Writer which can handle CD-R & CD-RW media and is able to write 80 minutes CD-R's then the Philips CDD3610 or Philips CA362RW is the best writer available (the CA362RW is just a retail pack which includes the CDD3610 writer). Just make sure that the v3.01 (or higher) firmware is in it. At the moment the Philips CDD3610 is very cheap because it is not made anymore as it has been replaced by the Philips CDRW400.

There are more than 40 companies who are also using the Philips CDD3610 in their writers, checkout the CD-Writer Technology to find out who they are!

The previous Best SCSI CD-Writer, the Teac CD-R56S-600, is not made anymore and now is replaced by the Teac CD-R58S. If it is still available it still is great value for money but it doesn't support DAO in RAW mode - Teac will never update the firmware for these drives to support it! Still there is a "fix" the downgrade both drives to a Teac CD-R55S by setting a jumper on header 6.

The previous second Best SCSI CD-Writer, the Plextor PX-R8220, is not made anymore and now is replaced by the Teac CD-R58S. If it is still available it still is great value for money but it doesn't support DAO in RAW mode - Teac will never update the firmware for these drives to support it! Still there is a "fix" the downgrade both drives to a Teac CD-R55S by setting a jumper on header 6.

• HP 8100 / Sony CRX100
  The main reason is because these CD-Writers don't support OverSizing/OverBurning & 80 minutes CD-R's. HP/Sony will not fix this "problem" as they claim that  OverSizing/OverBurning & 80 minutes CD-R's are outside the CD-R Redbook specifications and therefore are not supported...
• Creative Blaster CD-RW 4224
  The main reason is because DAE (Digital Audio Extraction) is very bad!

Keep in mind that these drives will work fine as long as you are not using 80 minutes CD media.

• CD-Writer Technology
• OverSize/OverBurn CD-R's - Write more than 659 Mb to a CD-R
• 80 Minutes CD-R
• CD Protections