Why does it seem that the 4020i drive has taken such a beating in several discussion forums. (Usenet etc) Is it a good drive to purchase?
As far as I can theorize, it is because the 4020i drive was one of the first low priced, mass marketed CD-R drives out. The 4020i beat most of the competition to the market for one reason. It wasn’t finished. It wasn’t ready to be used by the general public. When first introduced, it had buggy firmware, and the original units were shipped with beta software. This is a bad combination for any device, but is particularly bad when your dealing with a device that uses write once media, that costs $8.00 per disc (average). In addition to being reasonably priced, HP’s good reputation for quality computer peripherals lead many buyers to purchase a 4020i drive. Since the drive’s original release, HP has released new (non-beta) firmware, and Adaptec Software Products Group has released new (non-beta) software. This has certainly had the effect of silencing many of the critics of the 4020i, but many still remain. Many of these critics are having trouble because they do not have the necessary har
