Stand alone dvd-rom or combo drive?

[ilike95s]

I'm putting together a new computer and I've decided on a NEC 2500a dvd burner. I need a second drive in order to be able to back up dvds. Shoud I buy a plain dvd drive as my other drive or get a combo drive that will also burn cds? The combo drive would burn cds slightly faster and might save some wear on my dvd burner. What do you guys think? Also, can anyone recommend a drive they have had good luck with? Thanks

[Brian48]

Earlier combo drives were somewhat unreliable, but I think the current crop is just fine. I've two Lite-on LTC-48161H CDRW/DVD and they work great.

The only issue (which may be a non-issue) is that some versions of burning software may have a problem with two burners installed on the same system, but that's something you can easily check ahead of time.

[bachviet]

Combo drive if you could find a decent priced one. Otherwise a stand alone DVD-Rom is good.