Buy Cheap LG GGW-H20L Super Multi Blue - Blu-ray Disc Burner / HD DVD-ROM Drive w/ Lightscribe - 6x2x6x/3x - Serial ATA - internal - 5.25" From Here Now!
GGW-H20L is similar to GGC-H20L, except it has BD Writing Capabilities.
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Technical Details
- Device Type - Blue Ray Disc Writer- Internal
- LightScribe Support: Yes
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By Wavey Davey (Southern CA, USA)
I built a new PC tower back in April 2009, and I needed a SATA II BluRay/DVD+/-RW reader/writer to go along with my Pioneer DVR-110 IDE/ATA Region Free optical drive so I picked the LG Super Multi Blue GGW-HG20L (as it's known loosely) to fill the bill, and it hasn't disappointed me at all. I had never owned an LG optical drive before, but if this drive is representative of the features and quality of LG optical drives across their range of products it won't be the last. I needed to be able to back up my AppleTV/iTunes video library on BluRay discs (I opted for the 25GB BD-R discs for this assignment) and that was no small order, but this optical drive rose to the task and successfully burned some 1500+/-GB worth of movies into storage and my mission got accomplished with little fanfare.
In addition I utilize DVD-RAM discs for my photography backups (hard backup...what smart users utilize vs using HD's and other types of storage for precious items), and I've been slowly but surely accumulating a vast collection of stock and literal photography on the DVD-RAM discs this year. This LG drive has been able to burn multiple 4.4GB discs without failure, problems, or caveats to doing such a job. This drive supports every type of media available for writing and reading, which I didn't know at the time of purchase but it was a pleasant surprise to find this out! This drive can read and write EVERYTHING there is, so there's no point in listing everything, just take it from me that from DVD-RAM to every type of DVD+/-RW disc, and BR disc, this one can do it all...there are no exclusions.
There's a nice 2048MB buffer in place at all times that acts as the write and read-to frame buffer mechanism so that it doesn't get bogged down when doing massive reads and writes, the industry standard for buffers so that is good also ("buffer under-run protection"). The GGW-H20L has yet to have a firmware upgrade of any kind (that I am aware of) to enhance this or that feature, so I guess the the engineers at LG have been pleased with this EOL product and chose to not support it further than the OEM firmware, thus far...who knows about down the road.
One of the different features of the drive is that the status indicator light is BLUE, just like its BR capabilities, instead of green, so that took some getting used to at first but now I don't react to it when it flashes, and it will flash a lot during writes and reads. The finish of the drive is like "Piano Black" instead of a flat or typically dull to non-glossy finish like you get with Pioneer optical drives, so that's a bit different also. Last but not least, one must not forget that this optical drive is SATA/SATA II all the way, ie it is NOT an IDE/ATAPI optical drive so don't purchase it if you don't have a SATA connection in the case!
All in all I gave this optical drive a solid 5 Stars rating for features and performance, and after using it virtually the whole year of 2009 it has not failed my assignments once, it has performed up to and beyond my wildest dreams in terms of BR and conventional disc applications, especially the DVD-RAM writing which I need all the time, both for work and personal uses. If you have occasion to purchase one of these or its successor optical drives from LG don't hesitate because they make a quality product and it shows with this optical drive's abilities, performance, and features. I have always been a Pioneer man for my optical drives, but this LG product has opened my mind up to their products after using it this year for so many important things.
Now if I can just find some Region Free firmware for the drive that doesn't screw up its abilities I'll be 100% sold on LG products! I always have the Pioneer DVR-110 v1.41 (Dangerous Bros!) firmware to do my bidding with respect to Region Free status, but it would be nice if the LG drive could also be unlocked so I could have backup in this respect, but even without it being Region Free it's just a stellar performer and I could not be happier with it...it's that good of a product, and you, too, won't be disappointed if you get one.
Wavey Davey - Dec 3, 2009
By Christopher M. Veal (Seattle, WA)
I was installing Windows 7 Professional, 64-bit. The installation stopped, asking me for the drivers for this DVD player. When I went online, I learned that there ARE NO WINDOWS 7 DRIVERS FOR THIS PRODUCT! Considering that I bought this drive just a few months ago with the purpose of running it on Windows 7, I am quite upset at this fact. In fact, from what I'm reading, the manufacturer has no intent of ever releasing Windows 7 drivers for this product because the product is "obsolete".
By John T (Phoenix, AZ)
I've been using this LG blu-ray burner since last summer. I purchased it primarily to archive HD videos from my HD camcorder to blu-ray disc. As well as burn HD recordings made with my Hauppauge HD PVR. Up until today, I've had zero issues with the drive and would have given it 5 stars. Suddenly of all the things the eject button on this drive has become an issue after upgrading to a new Lenovo desktop PC.
I originally installed the drive last summer in an HP Media Center duo-core PC that I've had for two years. The HP has a snap on front bezel with its own optical drive eject buttons. You press the eject button on the front bezel and it in turn exerts pressure on the drive's eject button to eject the tray. I upgraded to a new Lenovo K230 Quad Core desktop PC which similar to the HP, doesn't give you direct access to the LG drive's eject button, instead providing eject buttons on the front bezel. Last night I switched out the dvd burner that came with the Lenovo with the LG blu-ray burner from the HP PC. The install went smoothly. But when I booted up the Lenovo into Vista and pressed the eject button on the K230's front bezel to insert a disc, the tray wouldn't eject. The drive was installed correctly as it shows up in Vista just fine and I'm able to perform a soft-eject by right-clicking the drive in My Computer. It's just the Lenovo's bezel eject button won't work with this drive.
Part of the problem is LG decided to get a bit too fancy and gave this drive an eject button unlike most you'll find on other dvd and cd burners. The LG has a slim eject button that barely protudes above the silver strip that runs across the front of the drive. The Lenovo is expecting a more typical rectangular eject button with more height, so it's unable to exert any pressure on the LG's button. And the LG eject button seems to be a bit to the left of where the Lenovo expects it to be. My HP PC had no problem with the height and location of the LG drive eject, so I partly blame Lenovo for the design of their bezel eject buttons as well. I was able to find a workaround. I can get the tray to eject by using a small pen-sized screwdriver to exert slight downward pressure on the bezel plastic right above where the LG eject button is located. Or using the "soft eject" within Windows will also work by right-clicking the drive and selecting Eject. It is an incovenience that I now have to resort to these workarounds to just get the drive to eject! This may just be an issue with this particular line of Lenovo desktop PC I purchased, but do keep it in mind if you're planning to use this drive in a Lenovo.
By Peter P. Strawn (Leesburg, VA USA)
The LG drive installed easily in my Dell Inspiron 530 and was up and running within 10 minutes. Thankfully LG included the data cable to mate to the motherboard which prevented any delays in buying additional hardware. The drive was immediately recognized by Windows Vista on power up, drivers loaded, and ready for use. The included software is sparse but functional. I would buy this drive again or recommend it to a friend.
By mojave45 (Salinas, Ca)
The drive is fantastic, does everything as advertised. zero problems with installation or use. Just remember to always update your drivers when doing an install.
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Buy LG GGW-H20L Super Multi Blue - Blu-ray Disc Burner / HD DVD-ROM Drive w/ Lightscribe - 6x2x6x/3x - Serial ATA - internal - 5.25" Now
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