Review: LG GSA-H10N removable media

LG describes the GSA-H10N as a ‘Super Multi DVD Rewriter’ and it would certainly seem to fit the bill.

The internal drive – available in silver, black or traditional computer beige – can write to a wide selection of disc types.

CD-R-writing speed is a respectable 48x, while DVD-Rs and DVD+Rs can be written at a fairly blistering 16x, assuming that you use discs that are compatible with these speeds.

In addition, the GSA-H10N can write to re-recordable CD-RW, DVD-RW and DVD+RW media, all at very competitive speeds.

On top of these well-known disc varieties, LG’s drive can also handle some slightly less common formats, including DVD-RAM and dual-layer DVD-R and DVD+R discs.

Those who need to back up large amounts of data will find the larger capacities of these formats (9.4Gb for a double-sided DVD-RAM and 8.5Gb for DVD+/-R DL) extremely useful indeed.

Being an internal drive, installation requires opening your PC's case, finding all the right connections and fitting the device in place with a screwdriver.

This may sound daunting but installing a disc drive is actually one of the easiest DIY upgrades you can perform. Certainly in the case of the GSA-H10N we had no problems at all.

Physical installation took a matter of minutes and Windows XP recognised the drive straight away.

Included with the GSA-H10N is a useful selection of applications for reading and writing various discs – Nero Express for writing CDs and DVDs, Cyberlink PowerDVD for watching DVD movies and Cyberlink PowerProducer for creating DVDs of your home movies.

These programs cover most bases, although it’s a shame that the ‘Super Multi’ drive leaves playback of emerging audio formats like DVD-Audio and SACD out in the cold.
You should be able to pick up the GSA-H10N for less than £30 if you shop around, which makes it pretty good value.

The only thing to bear in mind is that there are new disc formats on the horizon, so those looking for a future-proof investment may want to wait for drives that can read and/or write to Blue-Ray and HD-DVD. However, these are likely to be much more expensive at first.

Also consider
Pioneer DVR-111 
Not vastly different from the DVR-110, but if you're after a cheap and versatile optical drive, it's a good choice
Verdict: 4/5
Price: £30