Why doofus needs to buy a new CD burner

[berelinde]

Yeah, it was. He said it was pointless buying a CD burner when I've got a DVD read only drive on the machine as well and you can get more on a DVD.

[underdog]

Are you trying to back up just your data or a full backup?

The best full backup is using drivesnapshot, www.drivesnapshot.de

you can use another (usb external) drive make an image of the drive and

when restored, it will start up as if nothing happened, everything is already installed, configured and ready to go.

[TheWizard]

Holy schnikies! $90 for a DVD burner?!?!

 

True, there is no point buying a CD burner since a DVD burner can burn CD's as well, but there is also absolutely no reason why anybody should pay $90 for a DVD burner! Your boyfriend must have bought it at a retail place like Circuit City or Best Buy. Sadly, I think that was mistake #1. From time to time, retail brick & mortar stores have cheap DVD burners, but only after sending in a mail-in rebate. That's how they get you. If you want the same burner that you can buy at Circuit City/Best Buy for (in this case) a third of the price, buy it online from a reputable vendor such as Newegg.com or Zipzoomfly.com. Since you live in Jersey, berelinde, you will pay sales tax when purchasing from Newegg, but there are lots of other reputable vendors out there which sell DVD burners for cheap. Pricewatch.com and Resellerratings.com are your friends. You can also buy hard drives for cheaper online than in brick & mortar stores.

 

As for Spinrite and Steve Gibson, well, has there ever been a person or product that has *not* received bad press? There will always be people writing about how a person or product stinks, but it is only their opinion. Chances are, they were personally disappointed with the software, but are only a small minority of the population. I say, form your own opinions about the man and his product. Listen to him on Security Now or watch him on Call for Help on G4/TechTV in Canada.