Technical Question: DVD Burner Installation

[lucian]

Well, I'm still not very computer friendly but I am getting adventurous. I have questions about tools and installing some hardware.

Several months ago I bought an internal DVD burner - SONY DRU-540A. This weekend we're having the birthday party for the 1 year old grandson so tomorrow I'm going to install the DVD burner.

I looked for tool kits and keep coming up empty. I've seen some that are packaged in a small notebook like case. Is there a special term used for these kits?

A friend told me there are no drivers for this DVD burner. He said as long as I have XP it's just plug and play. So next question is when I install the hardware in my XP (Home Edition) stand-alone unit does the XP figure out what burner I have or do I have to tell it something?

The unit I'm going to be working with is an HP a420n. The top drawer is a DVD-ROM drive. The bottom drawer is a CD-R burner. I want to replace the CD-R with the new DVD Burner. I have "Record Now!" as my burning software. When I go to burn a CD it automatically opens the CD-R drive.

So my next question is should I replace this drive with the DVD burner or would it be best to replace the DVD-ROM drive?

I don't know if Record Now! will burn a DVD. I think I may have to upgrade or install Nero Express 6 (comes with the SONY DVD burner).

I know, duh, but me and these things have never had a peaceful relationship. Your suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[LoungeLizard]

Originally Posted by lucian

Well, I'm still not very computer friendly but I am getting adventurous. I have questions about tools and installing some hardware.

Several months ago I bought an internal DVD burner - SONY DRU-540A. This weekend we're having the birthday party for the 1 year old grandson so tomorrow I'm going to install the DVD burner.

I looked for tool kits and keep coming up empty. I've seen some that are packaged in a small notebook like case. Is there a special term used for these kits?

All you'll need is screw drivers. These drives all attach with small philips screws.

Originally Posted by lucian

A friend told me there are no drivers for this DVD burner. He said as long as I have XP it's just plug and play. So next question is when I install the hardware in my XP (Home Edition) stand-alone unit does the XP figure out what burner I have or do I have to tell it something?

Correct. Windows XP will recognize it as a DVD drive and your software will handle it fine.

Originally Posted by lucian

The unit I'm going to be working with is an HP a420n. The top drawer is a DVD-ROM drive. The bottom drawer is a CD-R burner. I want to replace the CD-R with the new DVD Burner. I have "Record Now!" as my burning software. When I go to burn a CD it automatically opens the CD-R drive.

So my next question is should I replace this drive with the DVD burner or would it be best to replace the DVD-ROM drive?

Record Now will continue to use this DVD burner as a recordable drive. A DVD burner can burn CDs or DVDs.

Originally Posted by lucian

I don't know if Record Now! will burn a DVD. I think I may have to upgrade or install Nero Express 6 (comes with the SONY DVD burner).

Record Now will burn to it - but only data. Depending on the capabilities of Nero Express 6, it may be the same. If you want to burn movies, you'll need some type of video editing and DVD authoring software. Some on the market include My DVD (also from Sonic - the makers of Record Now), Adobe's Premier Elements, and several other packages. The better packages tend to be expensive. I've used My DVD (it was OK), WinDVD Creator (it was OK), and a couple of others before settling on Sony's Vegas (they now offer a "lite" version of it.)

Originally Posted by lucian

I know, duh, but me and these things have never had a peaceful relationship. Your suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Best of luck. Main thing to remember is that to create a movie, you'll need DVD authoring software - which is different from writing data.

[RubenZamora]

Check the HP manual. You may not even need tools. A lot of new and factory PC's have it all layed it with clips, so you just open it up and hold a few clips and you can slide out the DVD drive.


If you do need tools, a simple small phillips screwdriver is all you need really. Your basic home tool kit should be enough. I've never had to use something other than a phillips screwdriver when working on a PC. And I build mine. The phillips is the cross (x) screwdriver.


As for windows, yet it should recognize the drive but its still good to install the factory drivers. XP may put in generic and you may not get extra features. I'm pretty sure you can find the drivers online through sony's site. If you have trouble, let me know and I can find them and post them here.

I would keep the 2 burners and diss the DVD-ROM. The DVD burner will play DVD's so no need for 2. The CD-R is good because sometimes you can burn 2 CD's at the same time or use multiple burners. Ahead NERO should let you do this. I also think for burning CDR's my CDR is faster than my DVD burner. But thats just me.


As for the software, do use anything ROXIO. Roxio is the devil and is CRAP. NERO is the way to go, fine piece of software and is always recommended.


Again, please try not to be afraid, its not that hard once you do it. You dont need any special tool kit.

[RubenZamora]

Longlizard beat me to it lol

[Murph]

Make sure when you remove the CD-R drive you look on the back where the jumpers are set, and see if it is set to "Master" or "Slave". Then set your DVD-RW jumper just the same. After that its a simple matter of just plugging in all the connectors.

NOW THIS MIGHT BE AN ISSUE.

How old is your copy of Record now? I had an issue with Easy CD Creator 5 and 6, recognizing the drive to do recordings, so I went out and purchased the latest version of the software.

XP will recognize the drive, but make sure that you have all your patches installed for XP, it makes life easier. Its not critical, but it makes life easier in the long run.

My Plextor DVD-RW took all of 15 minutes to get installed and up and running. All you need is a screwdriver.

[LoungeLizard]

Originally Posted by RubenZamora

Longlizard beat me to it lol

Great minds think alike - and so do we! :lol:

[lucian]

Thanks for the replies.

Tomorrow after work I'll give it a go. I'm anxious to get this up and going. A while back I bought Premiere Elements. I also have ArcSoft Showbiz II which came with the computer (Mar 04).

This is going to be fun. I hope.

Thanks again. Very much appreciated.

[LoungeLizard]

Don't bother with Showbiz...

[Hogleg 44]

Here is another thought...What I did.

Instead of putting it in my computer, I bought an empty external USB2 HDD case that was built to also enclose a burner. I put my burner in that case and powered it up, plugged it into a USB port, WinXP recognized it immediately and it was ready to go!
Now I can use that burner on any XP, 2000, or 98ME computer that has USB ports.