Only when reading data from pressed CDs does the GCE-8480B 48x drive outshine its predecessor, the GCE-8400B, which performed well in all individual areas. Both drives have good error correction. Reading scratched media does not present them with much of a problem.

Writing Performance Part I: Data CD And CD-DA

The GCE8480B can write CD-Rs at a maximum speed of 48x. When burning, the transfer rate increases as the writer moves closer to the outside of the disk. This writing strategy is known as Full CAV (full constant angular velocity). The disk spins at the same speed during the entire burning operation (providing a constant angular velocity).

Link between rotation speed (yellow line) and writing speed (green line).

The average transfer rate is 36.93x, with a maximum of 48.52x.

Data CD, Audio CD, And Data RW

For our data CD test, we create a 702 MB (718384 KiloByte) image. We burn it onto a 700 MB blank disk at maximum speed in DAO mode.

As the screenshot shows, burning took 3:07 minutes from start to finish. This is a top-notch result. Comparing this result with that of the earlier model (GCE-8400B) puts this result into perspective, however.

The twenty percent speed advantage that the GCE-8480B has over the GCE-8400B translates into a time saving of only eleven seconds, or five percent.

This "phenomenon" is easy enough to explain. For one thing, there is only a few percentage points difference in the writing speeds of each drive. For another, creating the lead-in and lead-out takes up a substantial part of the overall writing time. In fact, it accounts for a good 20 percent of the overall burning time. Put all this together, and you can see why a 48x writer provides only a slight performance improvement over a 40x model.