I was wanting to put a CD writer in which I have been assured is possible if I am only intending to write data. Now then, I have been told that there are issues relating to compatability between the drive, the software and the discs. I don't expect the write ability to be very high. I was going to install a used drive. However I have been told that the newest discs have a MINIMUM write speed and I would avoid any potential problems by asking first. I have a downloaded copy of Burn Quick (copyright 2002, 2003 by Triton Interactive). There may be a issue of what drives this was intended to work with. Anybody know the answer to this one?

I don't know that your system will meet the minimum requirements for a CDRW drive...Win95, 233mhz CPU & 49mb RAM? I kinda doubt it. What's the make/model of the burner? I'd check the manufacturer's website before ripping into the case & installing the unit.... Here's an example of minimum specs for a TEAC CDRW: "Windows 98SE/Me/XP/NT4 Workstation/2000; Pentium II 300MHz or higher; 64MB of RAM; hard drive with 1GB of available capacity or larger; 1.2MB/sec. data transfer rate or higher; 12ms average acces time or less"

A P11/233 will do OK for a CD-writer...; just run it slower speeds, which is generally better/wiser anyway (regardless of OS/CPU etc.) - fewer coasters/bad-burns etc. I run an HP (rather fast) burner on a P11/233; it burns CDs fine (I usually burn them at 2x or 4x rate). As for using '95 as the host OS??? I'm not sure about this. I have '98/NT/W2K/XP around on this system and use one of those. I can't recall if I ever used '95 when that was on the system. I managed to burn CDs with 128Meg RAM installed OK; but with 320Meg now installed (almost the max this Mobo can take) it does do things a little smoother/faster (and is closer to the specs suggested by HP)??? Currently use Nero5x as the software.

Another example: Buslink 52X Internal CD-RW drive PII, 266Mhz or above Win95 and up 64MB RAM or or above 1Gb Hard drive or above This unit ($20 after rebate from Staples)came with Nero Burning Rom. Similarly I was wanting to get a DVD burner but my machine meets but does not exceed the minimum requirements. I have looked at several and they all seem to need 800Mhz processor (which I have) with the recommended minimum to be 1.2Ghz so I won't bother. I figure it will just have a lot of problems and will create poor DVDs. Maybe, if you look around for one of the older models (24X burners) then maybe you will find they may only need Win95, 233 but more RAM would still be good no matter what. Another example: LG24x10x40CDRW: Product Requirements ---------------------- Windows 3.1 or Higher, 95, 98, 2000, Me, NT 4.0, XP Linux Slackware Version 2.3 CPU: Pentium 233Mhz with IBM PC or Compatible (266Mhz or higher is recommended for writing) E-IDE/ATAPI/Plug and Play Interface RAM: 32MB (64MB or higher is recommended) 75MB or more free space Available Power Connector 5.25" Internal Drive Bay MPC III CompliantAvailable IDE Controller Here's one: TEAC CD-W54E internal IDE CD-Rewritable drive and can be had fairly cheaply at PriceGrabber for $55. HTH Bryan

One problem you might run into with Win95 is a basic (read) CD driver. Win98 has it built into the OS. Win95A doesn't and Win95B might not either. It might be necessary to load the basic driver using Config.sys and autoexec.bat.

The lowest spec computer which I tried burning is P120 32M RAM (created a lot of coasters), next was P150 32M (some errors). Now using P200 32M fast enough to copy CD to CD-R and data on HD to CD-R at 2x (without errors) Win98SE Adaptec CD Creator.

Minimum requirements are given for the use of the maximum ability of your hardware. I have used a P166 with 32 MB ram to burn numerous CDs (mostly software for Windows 95), and i have never had an error. Howerver, i always use the slowest speed available, which with the particular burner (LG 24x10x40) and with this particular software (Roxio Easy CD Creator 5) is 8x. If you use newer software, you will probably not be able to go below 12x, but then that should be fine too. Even on newer machines, burning slower is always recommended (if you have the time to spare, at night is perfect!). The slower the burn, the less likely you'll get errors. HTH. Lightspeed. http://oldfiles.org.uk/lightspeed/main.html http://oldfiles.org.uk/lightspeed/lightspeed95.html