X-bit labs

ASUS SCB-2408-D Combo Drive Review (page 8)

Category: Storage

by Andrey Kuznetcov

[ 10/06/2004 | 08:20 AM ]

Nero CD-DVD Speed: Transfer Rate (Write Simulation)

To evaluate the CD-R burn mechanism, I carried out the test of burning four blanks in the simulation mode. The discs were the same as I used in the Overburning test.

Digitex

Fujifilm

TDK

TDK 800MB

The drive reached its declared write speed of 24x with all the four discs. The speed had been steadily growing up to that mark and remained constant thereafter.

Nero CD-DVD Speed: CD Quality Check

The CD Quality Check test once again helped us to evaluate the drive’s ability to process low-quality media. To do the check, I used a molded data CD with a mechanically damaged surface and a CD-RW disc written with CloneCD.

The drive found quite a lot of C2 errors in the first disc which the disc really had. The absolute lack of errors on the CD-RW disc suggests that the drive is very good at burning such media.

Conclusion

The undisputable advantages of the ASUS SCB-2408-D drive are its compact size, small weight, support of two interfaces, ability to work with DVD media of the two competing formats, and efficiency at processing C2 errors.

On the downside, there is the too high offset value. Even with the highest quality score in the audio extraction test, the high offset may negatively tell on the quality of the audio copies you make with this drive. The speed characteristics of the SCB-2408-D combo-drive are rather low for it to compete with modern full-size external and internal devices of that class, so it targets specifically users who need a very compact optical drive. The rather high price of the device also differentiates it from other models, making it a not very optimal choice unless you are really interested in getting the smallest optical combo-drive possible.