Optical Disc Drive Compatibility: CD

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Revision as of 13:08, 29 November 2024

A list of Optical disc drives compatible with the Compact Disc format (CD-ROM, CD-Audio, etc) which includes many retro console discs.

See also: Optical Disc Drive Compatibility and Optical Disc Drives: Incompatible

Plextor brand Drives

Proper CD dumping requires optical disc drives to support a range of features. Certain models of Plextor brand drives in particular are most compatible and reliable.

Best Plextor Models: Easiest & Recommended

Your drive should have the final firmware installed. The final firmware is linked below on archive.org for most models.

Plextor Drives with Known Limitations

Exercise caution, read notes before buying.

Plextor Drives with Severe Limitations

DO NOT BUY! Some of these may be technically supported and capable of dumping certain types of CDs, but have various limitations or potential issues so are not recommended.

¹ Multisession support is regarded as compatible and accepted through the Redumper dumping tool.

Notes regarding specific drives and capabilities

• IDE models can be used on laptops or desktops using a USB Adapter. UGREEN / Kingwin brands are often recommended but anything using the Innostor IS611 chipset
• Additionally, IDE models can be used on a Desktop tower with a cheap card, or with a 5.25" IDE USB enclosure (can be found on eBay or similar, but supply might be scarce).
• SATA drives can be hard to find or expensive, it may be easier to buy an IDE model + IDE->USB adapter. Note that most IDE adapters also support SATA drives also.
• SCSI models can only be used with a Desktop tower with a cheap card (no laptops).

Suggested eBay search terms

To search ebay quickly, you can use the following searches. Only use one at a time, as otherwise the search text will be too long and it'll give an error.

• (PX-760AUF, PX-755UF, PX-716UF, PX-716UFL, PX-712UF, PX-708UF, PX-708UF2, Plextor Premium2U, Plextor Premium-U, PX-W5224TU, PX-W4012TU, PX-760SA, PX-716SA, PX-712SA, PX-760A, PX-755A, PX-716A)
• (DVM-DM16FBS, PX-716AL, PX-712A, PX-708A, PX-704A, DVM-H44FB, Plextor Premium2, Plextor Premium, PX-W5224A, PX-W5224TA, PX-W4012A, PX-W4012TA, PX-W4012U, PX-W4012S, PX-W4012TS)

LG & ASUS Drives

Plextors are preferable, as more testing is needed for these.

• Dumps from the following drives (with good firmware) will be accepted under the following circumstances:
  • They are new discs or verifications of CDs consisting only of a single data track
  • They are verifications of Data CDs that also have audio tracks
• For pure Audio CDs, we are presently only accepting dumps made with Redumper and drives from the list of Recommended Plextors above.

Please note that the below drive models are not sufficient to determine if your drive is compatible with the recommended custom firmware, you can determine if it will be compatible by reading the sticker's manufacturing date and the PCB date code on your drive. PCB code JB7 2011.11.17 and older designs are not cross-flashable to the recommended custom firmware, but are acceptable for some single-track Data CDs if used with a firmware that supports scrambled reading. Before buying any of the drives below, ensure the date of production is mid 2015 or later (2016 if you want to be safe), with a PCB code JB8 2015.05.08.

Also note that only certain firmware versions will work with Redumper and/or DiscImageCreator. The below firmware versions are known official firmware versions that support scrambled reading, however they are not all currently supported by Redumper out-of-the-box (will work with custom flags). Other MT1959-based drives with firmware that supports scrambled reading may be acceptable given further testing, however they should be purchased only by those willing to invest their time and money in testing and on the understanding that they may eventually prove to be incompatible for use by Redump.

Half-height SATA drive models

^ Older productions of these drives (PCB code JB7 2015.05.08) are not cross-flashable to the recommended custom firmware.

Technical Note: In theory, the JB8 drives with good firmware can produce good dumps for mixed-mode CDs when there is a negative combined offset (disc write offset of less than -6, as JB8 has a read offset of +6). DIC and Redumper are able to dump CDs with greater than -6 write offset by reading the drive's cache, however it is not always reliable. The recommended custom firmware avoids having to read from the cache to dump discs with any write offset (as well as enables unlimited lead-out reading), therefore a JB8 drive with the custom firmware should in theory produce good dumps for any mixed-mode CD. The only technical limitation for audio CDs is the inability to read the first 15 of the 150 sectors in the pregap. This is not a problematic limitation however as the majority of audio CDs do not have audio data that far into the pregap, and Redumper can alert the user for CDs where this occurs. Despite all this, all discs should be dumped twice to ensure matching hashes, and Redump is not currently accepting new submissions for mixed-mode or audio CDs using JB8 drives until further testing is done to obtain the same level of confidence as Plextor dumps. For more info, see the detailed notes at Compatible LG/ASUS Optical Drives