I'm planning on purchasing a new DVD drive. There doesn't seem to be a lot of info out there on the drives available today.

Can anyone comment on the Sony Optiarc AD-7240S?

I currently have a brand-new Samsung SH-S223Q, but it is having a lot of trouble reading my media. I'm getting a high number of read and sync errors, that my Lenovo Thinkpad drive (Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7910S brand) can read just fine.

I'll be happy to consider any other recommendations as well.

I've got the AD-7241 - its probably the exact same electronics - I'm happy with it, its not as good as my old plextor but it seems good at reading most discs.
I've got another computer which i think has a samsung dvd and its considerably faster at DAE that the sony, but it also has picks up more read & sync errors that the sony.

For me i've found that i will try to rip on the faster samsung first, then if there are problems (which is a good percentage ~20-30%) then i'll try it on my sony, and the 7241 usually can get most of them, if it can't then i'll try it on my laptop drive, that usually doesn't work, then after that i will run it through my CD/DVD disc repair machine to try to clean it up.

So if i only had one choice i would take the 7241 because its more likly to read the disc

Great, that is good to hear. If I can't get anywhere with the Samsung drive tonight, I'll be putting in an order at NewEgg.

We tested a Optiarc 7630a - it was a poor drive for DAE (one of the worst we have ever tested):

http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?t=17274

If the offset was the same between the two models there is a chance they have the same internals.

The offsets are the same, however one is a slim drive and other standard 5.25" PC size. Hoping the performance is better than your results.

But thanks for the info on the Teac drive. I remember my old 55S ... that was a soild drive for a long time. If I have to, I'll consider that, if the Optiarc doesn't work out. In the mean time, I'll post an update with the initial impressions of the Optiarc this week, compared to the Samsung.

Got the Sony Optiarc drive last night. I ran through some discs that the Samsung could not read properly, even in secure mode, and the Sony was able to read in burst-mode without any problems.

I did find a disc that the Sony could not accurately read the last track. However, I used the "toothpaste trick" to buff some of the more visibly damaged areas and the was then able to get an accurate read from off the disc in secure mode.

Overall, with the 30 minutes of testing I did, it looks like the Sony's DAE is much improved over the Samsung. Of course I'm only comparing it to one Samsung drive, so its possible the Samsung drive is just an outlier.

Hope this helps with anyone considering either drive.