External CD RW help

[Breeze4u]

I've got an older IBM laptop with USB 1.1, floppy drive, and no burning capacity. I've just bought a new Gateway desktop computer with bells and whistles..DVD burner, CD RW, USB 2, Firewire ect... and no floppy drive.

I need to transfer data back and forth between the two pc's. My thought is to buy an external CD RW for the laptop, using it to copy files back and forth between the two machines. I'm looking at the Lite-On CD RW, but don't know if it will work properly with my USB 1.1 on the laptop (it mentions only USB 2 in spec info). And don't know if the burned cd's from the laptop will then work in my new desktop.

Also will burned CD's from the faster desktop, work in the external drive on the laptop USB 1.1.

Is the Lite-On a good choice? Is there any inexpensive software I should buy? What CD RW disc are the best?

Heck, is this the proper way to handle this data exchange issue?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[EzyStvy]

Is the Lite-On a good choice? -> Yes

You shouldn't have ay problems. The lappy will just run slower with 1.1

[glc]

Why don't you just network the 2 computers?

[Breeze4u]

Thought about that, but would need to add cards to each, and don't want to hassle with it. Don't need to transfer data often.

[glc]

The new Gateway should have an onboard nic - almost everything does these days. A PC Card nic and a crossover cable is a lot cheaper than an external burner and is no hassle.

[Breeze4u]

Thanks, but networking not an option.

Can you recomend a brand of CD RW discs that work well with a Lite-On device?

[glc]

I can't - I haven't used a CD-RW in years. CD-R's are so cheap I just burn them, it takes too darn long to format a CD-RW and the recording speeds are too slow. My TDK drive is made by Lite-On and I use TDK media. My last spindle of 100 cost me 20 bucks on sale.

[Breeze4u]

Thank you. Thats good information.

[rcvalencia9]

The Lite-On External CD-RW is a good choice. I have one. Im using it for my laptop. I have USB 2.0. Lesser bandwidth of the USB affects the burn speed.

[glc]

Definitely. USB 1.1 will only burn at 4x.