X-bit labs

Six DVD Burners Roundup (page 6)

Category: Storage

by Andrey Kuznetcov

[ 06/24/2004 | 08:22 AM ]

Nero CD-DVD Speed: Basic Tests

We ran CD-DVD Speed on discs of two categories. First we used five CD discs: a molded CD enclosed with a computer magazine, 700MB data CD-R and CD-RW discs, written with the testing utility itself, a likewise-prepared 800MB CD-R disc, and an Audio CD. Second, we used five DVD media: a DVD-ROM with a movie and its copies on a DVD-R (Digitex), DVD-RW (TDK), DVD+R (Fujifilm) and DVD+RW (Verbatim). Thus we can see how the drives work with different media types and reveal any compatibility problems.

CD media

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All the drives reach their maximum declared speeds on CDs and even exceed them somewhat. The Sony DW-U14A couldn’t work with a CD-R disc from TDK of 800MB capacity. The four high-speed drives with a specified maximum read speed of CDs of 40x reach only about 33x on the CD-RW. The TEAC DV-W58G and the Sony DW-U18A look best of all in the access time parameter, while the Sony DW-U14A is the worst. The rest of the results can be read in the table; they are of less importance, mostly.

DVD media

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Now, let’s examine the results we got with DVD discs. The read speeds are given as we had them in CD-DVD Speed. Several extremely high values we got at the end of discs are due to the problems the drives met at the final stage – you can see it in the graphs. In such cases we should pay attention to averaged numbers to compare the performance of different drives. All the models reached their specified read speed, save for the Sony DW-U14A, but this is only because we used a DVD Video disc and this drive is declared to process such discs at 2x. Overall, summing up the results on all the media types, I’d say the ASUS DRW-0804P, Pioneer DVR-107D and Sony DW-U18 are the fastest, while the Sony DW-U14A is the slowest (again, because of the manufacturer’s imposed restrictions on its speed with video discs). The TEAC DV-W58G boasts the smallest access time; the Sony DW-U18A closely follows.