Hardware Review :: Mad Dog 6 in 1 8x DVD+-RW

Hardware Review :: Mad Dog 6 in 1 8x DVD+-RW
Posted :: Aug 7, 2004 by Impact

Manufacturer :: Mad Dog
Product :: 8x DVD+-RW
Included Materials :: Nero 6, (4) Drive bay screws

I had to buy a DVD burner for myself at some point. If you follow the deals forum here on Absolute Insight, you would have noticed that you could have bought this burner for $25 after rebates (along with a 100 pack of slim jewel cases). I decided to jump on the opportunity, due to the product's favorable reviews.

However, hearing multiple people claim it to be a ND-2500A really caught my interest. For those of you unaware, the ND-2500A is a NEC brand DVD burner that is very easy to firmware upgrade to a dual layer burner drive. The difference between the current drive, and the dual layer version: Double the data on one DVD (and about $50-60 in stores).

Here are a couple quick shots. One of the box with a vicious puppy on the outside, and the other of the DVD burner drive itself.

The drive looks fairly generic, but I like the fact that it's black so it matches my black case.

This is a picture of the label, showing the drive to be just what I had hoped, the ND-2500A.

Note the label says its a retagged ND-2500A, just what I was hoping for.

The drive went through the basics with no problem. I threw in the Nero CD, and installed it without any issues. Unfortunately I was unable to test the full write speed of the drive (8x) since the only DVD R's I had sitting around were some 4x DVD+R discs. Nero was able to flawlessly burn the discs with data. While fairly slow (4x), the burner did meet and exceed my expectations for a $25 DVD+-RW burner.

In other good news, the drive showed up in BIOS without a problem.

The only thing I was unhappy with regarding this DVD burner drive was that it didn't come with an IDE cable. I had many spares lying around, so this wasn't a problem for me, but other people may need to purchase an extra IDE cable.

This burner deserves a 9/10 overall rating. The price was a big factor in determining its rating. While you can find a good 8x DVD+-RW burner at any store, but finding one for $25 is still tough. If you are looking to get a DVD burner anytime soon, I would add the Mad Dog 6 in 1 8x DVD+-RW to your list.

Check back in a few days, we will have a guide on upgrading your new Mad Dog 8x DVD+-RW to a dual layer drive!