HP DVD940E External 18x Super Multi DVD Writer

I'm not sure where these 1 star folks are coming from but I've had this drive for over a year and probably burned 5 to 600 + DVD's flawlessly. I suspect that they are having trouble with the software they are using. I never liked Nero anyway, I use Clone DVD. The drive has been outstanding. Yes, once in a great while (maybe 1/2 of 1 percent) I'll find a bad DVD blank disc, but my software catches it and I just toss the coaster and the next disc is burned without a hitch.

Ordered it via Circuit City online purchase on July 4 evening. Got it last week by post. Opened it, installed the Nero software, tried... Finally I gave up. It ruined 3 DVD-RW and 1 DVD-R.

Tried to return it to Circuit City at the Union Square Store. The staff said that a HP software was missing, and saying that I had been using it for 2 weeks! I tried to explained to her that it took more than a week to get it by mail and I did not have time to come to the store. She refused to listen, refused to accept my return.

I called Circuit City customer help, she said the only way to return it was by mail but I had to pay for the shipping.

The question here is I did not have it for 2 week, and what good for me to keep the HP installation software? What if the software was not there right from the beginning! The only software I got was the Nero..

I checked HP's web site, there was no driver or software available for download.. Does it mean that there is no HP installation software? The staff of Circuit City Store there was not helpful. If there is something missing in the box, we will not know it until we paid and opened it. Then, it's too late! you can't return it!

I returned the whole box this morning, costing me $10 for nothing but time and energy.

Bought this unit and it failed inside of 48 hours. Exchanged it for another unit (same model) and so far so good. The principal advantage of this unit is that it is widely available, which is why I bought it. So, if you need an external Lightscribe burner, and you are in a hurry, this unit is for you. However, save your receipt and the packing materials, as you have a decent chance of needing to return it. Note that HP is not the OEM on this product, it is actually a re-badged Lite-On IT Corp. burner. Don't be misled into thinking you are getting HP printer quality here. This is a stopgap purchase until you can replace it with something better.

I got this unit to take some of the strain off of my laptop's internal DVD writer and found that 80% of the DVDs I burnt with this unit were ruined. It might be due to the USB connection, but premium quality blanks and a slow writing speed didn't seem to help at all. I lost several VALUABLE presentation files because of the constant errors in writing from this unit. I didn't catch that the drive was responsible until I was backing some data up with a program that does a verification check and the software kept telling me that the just-burnt DVD had failed the check. This happened 23 times before I gave up and returned this paperweight.

If you want a DVD reader that can make slow labels with Lightscribe, then this is for you. If you want a reliable WRITER unit, then go get an internal drive for a desktop.

I plugged the unit in, attached to USB port and it worked perfectly. DVD's
playback great as well as CD's. DVD's and CD's burned with the included
software worked great. (I used Verbatim DVD+R Lightscribe) Unit runs quiet
and sits on rubber feet so there's no vibration. Lightscribe works great,leave around 20 min. to burn a full size high quality image, a few lines of text takes a min. or so. Recommended