Reviews for Lite-On LH-20A1L 20x DVD±RW Drive with LightScribe

Liteon SATA

Strengths: Dual Layer DVD±RW Writer 20x/8x DVD+RW, 20x/6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD±RW DL, 12x DVD-RAM and Lightscribe AND SATA FAST

Weakness: none

This Liteon model is faster than its older model LH-20A1H for two reasons one its 20x DVD±R and the fact it has a SATA connection. I have burned over 100 DVDs now its has yet to give me a coaster. Any known or unknown brand DVD I have tried so far it reads and writes them without any problem. I give it a 5 out of 5.

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Fast Sata Burner

Strengths: Fast, sata, easy installation, not as loud as I thoughtn an all around good product.

Weakness: None yet.

Did quite a bit of research before buying this drive. I know it is just a DVD burner and they all seem the same but after looking at many forums it came down to this or the new Samsung 203b drive. While the Samsung was "very slightly" better than this drive and will probably become the new "drive to have" it is not available in the US yet and has no lightscribe.
So, for almost the exact same performance as the "latest and greatest" but with lightscribe, this is the one to have.

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SATA DVD Burners have arrived!

Strengths: Burns and reads every kind of popular disk format, incredibly fast, very good at reading disks, average at burning disks, versatile firmware.

Weakness: Loud as a lawnmower.

The first round of SATA burners released by manufacturers failed to impress users due to their slow speeds and compatibility issues. Fortunately this latest entry by LiteOn shows that SATA burners have finally arrived and are now the preferred choice of DVD burners. The LH20A1L06 burns every type of disk format (CD, DVD+-RW, DVD-RAM, Dual Layer) except for HD formats at the highest speeds commercially available. The drive itself comes with a black and a white cover for color matching to your case, SATA cable, and Nero Essentials 7. Additionally, the drive supports LightScribe allowing you to burn text and images to the non-burnable side of special disks. From a functional standpoint, the drive is very good at reading disks making it ideal for use in disk quality scans. It is also a competent burner with all types of media as I have had no coasters so far. Finally, there are many firmwares available on third-party sites that add additional functionality to the drive.
The only drawback of the drive is that it is very loud even at lower speeds, but that doesn't remain a problem for long since the drive finishes its tasks so quickly. If you are looking for a drive to be used in an HTPC though, the noise will probably prove unacceptable. Overall, this is an excellent drive and proof that SATA burners are the future.

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Good buy

Strengths: Price, Super fast speed, SATA, Light Scribe, Dual Layer

Weakness: A little bit noisy comparing to my Plextor

LightScribe technology is fun. The idea of flipping a disc upside down and burn an image on it is just awesome. I got this drive for $37 which is a steal in my book. It comes with SATA cable, mounting screws, and Nero 7 limited edition software.

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This is the best of the best...

Strengths: This dvd burner burns dvds much faster than having two dvd burners because of the sata cable. Read every single cd or dvd I have. Easy to install. Plug and Play.

Weakness: Maybe the sound and the noise that comes from either reading or writing cds or dvds. But its not an actual weakness if you want to compare with others drivers.

This is the second dvd burner for me and guess what? its great product, very fast, and can handle everything. If you really thinking of upgrading your system from IDE to SATA this is the best choice for you and you'll not regret it.

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Good burner! SATA works great!

Strengths: I was wary of purchasing a drive that was so inexpensive - but the drive runs very fast, burning times for the cd's are very quick, the drive itself isn't terribly loud compared to some of the other drives I have owned in the past - Lightscribe function

Weakness: The only downside is you have to visit Lightscribe's website and download the drivers to make your computer recognize the drive - but that is done easily in just a few minutes.

All-in-all its an excellent drive. It's been very hand to have in the short time I have owned it. I bought a drive from Dell for $xx, and ended up returning it because it didn't work - this drive is half the price and burns faster then the Dell drive does!

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Liteon 20x SATA Burner with Lightscribe

Strengths: Fast 20x Burn and Read Speed. Uses newer SATA interface. Comes with extra beige faceplate.

Weakness: none right now.

Liteon use to be the best affordable brand for CD-Burners, if can't afford a Plextor. This DVD burner is pretty good when compare to the flaws of NEC which have problem reading certain discs. And Samsung which read DVD's at half speed. Liteon don't have those problem of the previous burners I just mention. And it have everything I need, 20x burn/read speed, SATA interface, and Lightscribe. Can't ask for more.

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Good cheap burner

Strengths: Fast, cheap burner. Easy installation. Burns everything except Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. Quiet.

Weakness: Doesn't really take advantage of SATA speeds. Lightscribe is slow.

This is a great burner to have if you have a spare SATA port. Installation is idiot-proof, just 2 SATA cables and 4 screws. Just make sure your motherboard can handle SATA DVD drives (most newer ones can, some older ones can't). It comes with 2 different colored front bezels, a nice added touch. Performance-wise, this is the fastest burner I've ever owned, while also being the cheapest. Technology sure has come a long way :) That being said, just because it's SATA doesn't mean it's any faster than a comparable PATA drive.

I haven't burned any coasters yet. Some other reviews complain about the noise, but it seems pretty quiet to me. The included software is pretty standard fare, Nero Essentials 7. There were a lot of updates to Nero after I installed it, including some critical ones to make it work with Windows Vista, so make sure you download the updates. The only other minus is that Lightscribe takes a long time (20-30 minutes per disk). But that's the same with any Lightscribe burner. All-in-all, a great buy.

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Great sata dvd recorder

Strengths: affordable quick noiseless

Weakness: none

he drive runs very fast, burning times for the cd's are very quick, the drive itself is quiet and better than other drives I have owned in the past - Lightscribe function is really great. This is the best SATA drive I ever had. Plug and play.

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By member: undyingforce - Mar 19, 2008

You get what you pay for

Strengths: SATA, Lightscribe, Inexpensive

Weakness: Loud, Vibrates, Reading & Burning Errors

I do not recommend this burner, Here is why:
The drive Wont recognize blank CDs all the time. I get constant burning errors on several different media (I make nothing but coasters!!) LiteOn Customer Service is non existent. I will never buy a LiteOn product again.

Do not bother with this product. You get what you pay for!

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By member: ricoh5006 - Jan 2, 2009

Lots of good and bad reviews.

Strengths: Reading speed was fantastic. I noticed a great improvement of loading time over my PATA drive

Weakness: Tried three different burns and all came up with "Unknown error"

Until I find a better SATA DVD drive I use the Liteon to read and a PATA to burn. There seems to be a minimum of verbiage so please don't mind these extra words to fill up space.

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Good product

Strengths: Good performance and price

Weakness: none

My purchase of the Lite on ihas220,could not have been better.I read the other reviews and bought one anyway.10 minutes to put the unit in and it works great. Don't know who wrote the other reviews, b

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Time Waster

Strengths: Cheap

Weakness: 100% failure rate

I bought two of these drives when I built my last computer two months ago. The computer acted erratically when I was trying to install XP, and once I got through that ordeal, it was blue-screening several times a day. I eventually narrowed down the problem to one of the Lite-on drives. Removing it cured the problems the computer was exhibiting ... until today. I wound up staring at another blue screen again, and when the computer eventually re-booted, it no longer recognizes the remaining DVD drive. Talking to co-workers, the mention of Lite-on produces hysterical laughter and gagging noises. No more for me, thanks.

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Lite-On SATA 20x DVD Writer

Strengths: SATA connection; Fast; good bundled software

Weakness: None

I am looking at getting rid of my PATA devices, so this drive was the perfect candidate. It was pretty much plug and play. My comptuer recognized it right away, and the bundled Nero software did the trick. I was burning CDs & DVDs in no time! I did download the latest firmware, as this is important. One important feature is that it does not appear to be rip-locked, which means I can rip DVDs without any unnecessary lag-time. It comes with two faceplates, so I used the black one to match my computer case.

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DVD BURN LITE-ON|LH-20A1L-06 LS RT

Strengths: An inexpensive drive. A great add-on to your system. SATA FAST!!

Weakness: Kind of loud and had to get the new drivers from website to make it work.

I have burned nearly 50 DVD'S and NOT ONE COASTER!!! That is a first for me. You cannot beat the price and what you are getting for the price. SATA speed is great. Although there is a higher noise level, I can deal with it. A must addition to your system whether you are building it yourself are replacing a drive.

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LITEON ROCKS

Strengths: no coasters

Weakness: none

This is my first SATA liteon, my IDE liteon is still going strong for 2 years.

This SATA drive is faster then IDE, and it has yet to give me a coaster. I have burned dual layer disc after disc, and regular DVD-R with this baby. I have no complaints at all.

The best out there. Buy it.

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Excellent drive

Strengths: Fast, reliable, lots of utilities available only for Lite-n. Few coasters. Frequently updated by Lite-On.

Weakness: Some issues burning the DVD+RW at 4x, burning this media might fail but can be easily corrected.

Excellent package, very fast drive, eliminates the clutter inside the computer case. Works just fine off the Jmicron on my Asus P5W Deluxe, not so sure about other motherboards. Love the SATA connection which saves so much space and improves air-flow in the case.

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Great Burner and SATA too!

Strengths: SATA interface, comes with beige and black faceplates, Super Fast. Great burn quality

Weakness: A little noisy on some disks

This drive has been great for me. Burns DVD's quickly, and so far no coasters. I love the SATA interface. THe only bad thing is it is noisy reading some CD's.

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Liteon SATA dvd drive

Strengths: easy to install, no problems right out of box, no adjustments or tweaks necessary, no FLASH download necessary.

Weakness: None. only minor weakness is it would be nice if it had a SATA power cable dongle, it does come with SATA data cable however.

This drive is comparable to a LiteOn ATAPI/EIDE dvd drive.
I am able to confirm that it perfoms DVD scans with Nero CD/DVD Speed, "disk quality" scans, which many other DVD drives do not. It is in all ways comparable to an EIDE dvd drive. This SATA dvd drive frees up an EIDE cable to be used for another purpose.

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A GREAT SATA Drive

Strengths: SATA connection that seems faster then IDE

Weakness: None to date

Very happy with the choice of this drive the SATA connection is nice and the drive seems actually quiet. Its been a nice change from everything being so loud in the past.

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Quite and Great Drive

Strengths: SATA interface and quiet also includes the white face plate.

Weakness: None

The SATA interface is and is allowing me to move away from IDE completely. I have not had this drive fail to burn a good disk for me. Lightscribe is nice but its not important to me since I have never used it before.

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LiteOn DVD Burner A Good Buy

Strengths: Lightscribe, quality drive, quiet, good value for the money

Weakness: None so far.

I have only recently gotten my DVD burner and had it installed. I am very pleased. I don't burn a lot of CDs and/or DVDs, but I had a huge amount of digital pictures that I wanted on a single DVD instead of multiple CDs. This burner performed the task exceptionally. I even made an additional copy for extra protection. The drive is not loud at all and works better than I wanted. I did not need the extra front cover as my computer is black, but it is a nice option if yours is not. For anyone looking for a good quality DVD burner, this is one I would highly recommend. Plus if you have the Lightscribe media, which I don't have yet, you can utilize that with this drive as well. Overall an excellent burner that I would recommend without reservation.

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By member: QrafTee - Aug 18, 2007

Good DVD drive that handles everything but HD.

Strengths: Handles all CD/DVD formats. Dual-layer support. Lightscribe support. Changeable faceplates.

Weakness: None.

There's nothing wrong with this DVD drive. It handles everything, but HD discs (Blu-ray/HD-DVD). With Lightscribe and Dual-layer support, it's a nice drive. The interchangeable faceplates allow you to make it match most computer cases without worry. Black is default.

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Lite-On Dual Layer DVD+/-RW LightScribe Burner with...

Strengths: Quiet operation (opening/closing/burning). Fast write speeds when given the correct media. So far it has provided quality burns on my DVD+R DL discs. The SATA is much better than ATA!

Weakness: None of me so far.

I wish there are some better "modified" firmware for this drive as my previous drive, NEC HD-3540A, had a good deal of support from the DVD burning community. So far this Lite-On drive has done its job as a DVD burner/reader and I am completely satisfied with it.

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LiteOn DVD - Nice Burner For The Money

Strengths: SATA interface. Quick burning speeds. Beige replaceable bezel. Lightscribe.

Weakness: Some noise on spin up, but not bad.

I am very happy with this purchase. This drive was for my first SATA board and it has worked flawlessly. Just plug it in and it's ready to go. I haven't tried the lightscribe feature yet, so I cannot comment on that. I notice some noise when the disc spins up, but it is not loud. It came with some software that I did not install as I already had Nero which works excellent with this drive. I haven't burned a coaster yet and with the Smart-Burn, I never should. I highly recommend this drive for the price and performance!

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Lite-On LH-20A1L

TestSeek.com has collected 6 expert reviews for Lite-On LH-20A1L and the average expert rating is 86 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use TestSeek.com to find all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

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