Digital Trends

TDK VeloCD 24/10/40F March 14th, 2003 | by Ian Bell

Introduction

I was interested in the TDK external VeloCD 24/10/40F ReWriter for a couple reasons. First of all, the style of the VeloCD was unique and secondly it connects to the computer externally via a Firewire connection. I had just recently purchased a sound card with a FireWire port built-in, I had to try it out.

Looks and First Impressions

I had just recently purchased a new black computer case (similar to Alienwares) with a front door covering the drive bays. I wanted an external cd writer that I could set on my desk next to my monitor; I did not want ant drives showing on the computer case, I am going for a sleek look The TDK VeloCD is the perfect match to compliment my new computer system. The casing of the VeloCD is a sleek grey and the shape reminds me of a flat sea shell because it curves slightly to the left and angles in the back giving it a nautilus look to it.

Down the center of the top of the VeloCD is a neon blue light which glows when the power is on and flashes when a cd is being burned. I found the light pleasurable at first but whenever a CD is being burned the light flashes throughout the whole process, so if you are susceptible to seizers you most likely will either have to cover the light up or go with another drive....I am not kidding.

Installation

Installation was a breeze, simply plug the unit into your FireWire card and turn it on. Providing that you have your FireWire drivers' up to date, Microsoft Windows (98/Me and above) should pick this drive up instantly and you will notice a new CD-Rom icon under “My Computer”; I was now ready to burn some CDs.

I had to update my various CD writing programs to make sure they would recognize the VeloCD Drive. Up to the date of this review, I was unable to get Golden Hawks CDRWIN to recognize the drive, so if this is your favorite program to use, you might want to wait till there is an update before purchasing the FireWire VeloCD. Easy CD Creator, Clone CD and Disk Juggler all found the drive without any hitches.

If you own an Apple computer with at least Mac OS 9 and 128Mb of memory installed and a FireWire port installation should be a snap. Our office iMac recognized the drive instantly and had no problems installing it.

On the back of the VeloCD Writer is a power on/off switch and two FireWire ports, one for plugging into the computer and the other as a pass through to another FireWire device. I use a pocket hard drive which is FireWire compatible and I had no trouble writing cd's while having the pocket hard drive plugged into the VeloCD via pass through.