People at cdfreaks.com have been crazy about this drive since it came out.
It's a very good burner and I like it a lot.

Edit: not recommended anymore see further down. Left old text for reference.
Edit2: The drive is actually quite nice, it's just not amongst the very most silent ones and that is what this site is about.
/If you need a new DVD get one. They are cheap too.

I bought one this week and I must say it isn't a noisy DVD burner (can never fullfill SPCR standards at higher speeds). I bet you'll like it./


A review at CDRLabs
http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.php?reviewid=306&page=Features

A technical freak review at cdfreaks.com
http://www.cdfreaks.com/reviews/Samsung-SH-S203B-DVD-Burner-Review

I hope this will help people to build a good new rig.

I've been waiting for reviews of this drive to finally hit.

It's finally a decent DVD-RW that includes good secure DAE and error correction... WOOHOO!

I'll be buying two shortly.

I actually bought one of the last ones at NewEgg before they went out of stock, basically because I heard they were quiet and the price was decent. Thing is so much quieter than any optical drive I've used in the last 10 years... seriously. Haven't done a ton of testing on it yet though, but I did install a 5-disc game and it seemed to go quickly.

My Samsung drive just failed on me (it works, but keeps crashing the system), and I've only had it for about a year. I obviously need to get a new one, but I'm not exactly hot on Samsung right now. I've been looking at the Plextor PX800 as a replacement, seeing that Plextor has a pretty solid reputation around here and it's been praised for being (relatively) quiet outside SPCR. Is this new Samsung drive really that silent to warrant giving another chance for Samsung instead of going with the Plextor drive?

The new Plextors are actually rebadged and not Plextors at all. Wouldn't recommend it.

I've got the Samsung in question, not especially quiet, certainly nothing special. Have to use Nero to control the speeds as CD Bremse can't. The only really good things about the drive are the compact size and non-obstructive cables.

Otherwise it's pretty standard fare. Sounds more like a jet engine than a foundry, but still loud.

Also: MagicSpeed, what a scam.

Well magicspeed only works on CDs not on DVDs so yes it is more or less useless crap.

It is true that when the drive spins fast it sounds like a jet engine (for a SPCRer) on a "SPCR standard" computer.
It is certainly louder than my 1200 RPM Scythe S-Flex at full speed. Probably as load as a 1600 RPM fan or something.

I just can't expect something else as it is probably spinning really fast.
You'd probably have to buy a much slower drive to get it more quiet.

A hard drive is not easy to get more silent and it is an enclosed device which a DVD drive generally is not.

Also you can use an enclosure for a hard drive but for your DVD/CD player/writer I do not see how that can be done at least not without a major DVD design change.

When the DVD is not used it is dead silent though (of course).
So just use it sparsely or get a slow one.

Also I have heard the LiteON drives are noisier than average so compared to them I guess the Samsung is less noisy (as all other DVDs probably are also).

Maybe Pioneer and Asus are quieter drives?

Is there a parallel ata version?

I've even visited a friend whose old LG was less intrusive, so by any and all means the drive is not quiet. As this is SPCR, if something's not quiet, people shouldn't get it, nes pa? I'm not saying it's failing at what it's supposed to do, but it is disappointing with SPCR standards, as pointed out.

It has been a very solid performer thus far, but also far from perfect or even acceptable. One of the greater irks is the spin standby, which can only be reduced to two minutes with Nero's DriveSpeed. CD Bremse can't even control that.

I doubt there's a PATA version.

And if there's a slow DVD drive out there, let me know. They sell none over here.

OK LG is less noisy (damn Samsung ). Spin standby is not short that is also true . So which DVD drives can have reduced spin standby times, is LG OK for that?

Good you tell us there are better (less noisy drives) out there.
I just noticed Asus has released a new 20x DVD player also. Maybe that one is better for SPCR members then? Tests and reviews will hopefully reveal the truth soon.

Asus DVD news link.
http://www.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=8285

Happily the DVD was not too expensive so I might through it out soon, (that is not environment friendly behavior though I must admit).

model number for PATA is 202.

My old LG was fully adjustable(old hardware + new software = compatibility), but sadly sounded like a foundry during boot before software kicked in. The Samsung only sounds like a jet engine, which is just a bit better but still appalling.

I would've bought an Asus drive after the praise they got, but they're just not available, nor are Pioneer drives.

Conclusion: no silent drives over here. Best you can do is a compact, solid performer. Like this Samsung.

I'd be willing to pay good money for a silent, slowed-down drive, but manufacturers seem unwilling to deliver.

I wonder whatever happened to the TrueX drives-- quiet and faster than the competition. That and slot loaders.

In the previous thread on silent DVD drives, dated 2006 iirc, people recommended Plextor among others. Though the general consensus was that there is no such thing as a silent optical drive.

Anyways I'll be getting a new Plextor drive in a couple of days to replace this POS Samsung, so will know better then.

Hold on there, new Plextors are just rebadged, they're not real Plextors and Plextools can't control them.

Recommendation: avoid.

Inspired by 2.5" HDDs I did a little research into laptop optical drives that are perceivably quieter than desktop ones. They are, and there are some for sale, but let's just say I'm not reay to pay that good money for it.

And what would the alternative be?

The Plextor I'm about to get is PX800A, so it's not exactly a brand new product. Still new enough to not be a genuine Plextor? Or should I be getting PX-755A or PX-750A instead?

I don't know a single drive I could recommend without reservations right now.

I think the genuine Plextors ended with a 760. It's been discussed on the forums.

I have some Asus "quietrack" drives. They are fine when not spun up, but like any drive, they are noticeable when spun. However, compared to say the Lite On drives I have had, they are not bad. Those Lite On's are unbearable.

what do you guys mean by "spin standby"??
Do you mean Spindown time???



(I've found this image from the net, is not for the SH-S203B)

so, the samsung stays spinning 2 minutes after access has finished??

Yeah that's it arga.

I cobbled the term together from the words "spin" and "in standby" to implicate that the drive just idles there for two minutes after action stops. It's not a huge irritation as the speed is slow, but it's still a source of noise you pick out, and then there's the little squeal when it finally stops.

Stops until you fire up explorer.exe again and either that or my AV accesses the drive.

It sure was a huge bitch with my old Samsung that now has retired itself. Not because it would have made any difference after a long burn/read process, but because it meant that when the drive spun up when idle, it kept spinning for 2 minutes before settling down - at full speed, and for no good reason.

Yeesh... well I can assure you this Samsung doesn't do it - if it's that way by default or because I have Nero controlling it, dunno.

this Samsung doesn't do it? what do you mean? sorry I don't understand this part.

its a pity the Samsung has such a long spindown time.
I have a NEC 3540A and spins down fairy quickly, regardless of the spindown time setting in Nero-Drivespeed.

I would buy a NEC again, but I have read NEC's newer models (Optiarc) are much noisier now. Is that true?

Refer to previous post.

I have read the previous post. It says that his drive stays spinning for 2 minutes,
>>
but because it meant that when the drive spun up when idle, it kept spinning for 2 minutes before settling down - at full speed, and for no good reason.<<

and you said your Samsung doesn't do it.
But you said it does it before.

So I got that Plextor PX-800A installed. Plextools works to the effect of setting the drive speed, but apparently setting the spin down time does nothing, though it's by default shorter than with the Samsung. As for noise, it might actually be a bit louder in absolute dB than the old Samsung SH-W163A, however the sound is a very soft whoosh instead of the ROAR! of the Samsung, at full speed. It also causes a lot less vibration to the case. At 8X speed it's practically inaudible, and up to 16X it's not bothersome. I'm quite satisfied with it, far more so than I ever was with the Samsung drive.

The ROAR vibrating noise is something that must be avoided at all costs. It can damage the discs inside the unit and the hard drives in the same PC, because everything vibrates so much.

But Exel, your old Samsung is not the SH-S203B, isn't it?
I hope the SH-S203B is not a vibrating sound, but a powerful windy sound (jet engine like). In that case, it is bearable.

No, it isn't. And it could be lightyears better than the SH-W163A I had, I wouldn't know. But the bad experience with this older Samsung kept me from getting the S203B and I got the Plextor drive instead - just reporting how it is, as a viable alternative.

thanks for sharing your experience with your Plextor.
But there is no way I would buy a Plextor, which costs twice the price of the competition.
I will think about the Samsung. The Spindown time is a real pain. Maybe I will stay with my several NEC drives (IDE).
I was just considering the transition to a SATA drive, but maybe I won't do it after all if I can't find a suitable drive.

One more question about the Samsung. Which speeds are available in Nero-Drivespeed for this Samsung? Do all of them work?

Max - 12 - 8 - 6 - 4 on my Nero. All work. CD read speed unavailable for control.

ok, thanks Das_Saunamies.
So, if you want to hear a music CD, and you don't use any software to control the speed, the Samsung will play it at full speed with jet engine sound??


Well, there is a solution. According to Samsung
http://www.samsungodd.com/eng/Firmware/ ... MSpeed.asp

MagicSpeed can control CD playing speed. Please confirm that.
(But MagicSpeed can't control DVD reading speed).

So, in practice, you have to use both Nero and MagicSpeed, depending on what disc you are using, which is quite a hassle.

My NEC 3540 can control the CD speed with Nero.