Speedomania: 48x/16x/48x-Burner from LG

Writing Performance Part II - Packet Writing To CD-RW

We carry out a number of tests to check the writing performance in packet writing mode. First, we measure how long it takes to completely format a disk. Then we copy a 447 MB folder (using drag and drop) from the hard disk to the CD and back again. We clock both times using a stopwatch. The size of the files within the folder varies from one kiloByte to several megaBytes, which makes the exercise something of a real-world test. We then quickly erase the media with CloneCD and then copy the same folder in TAO mode using Nero. Finally, we erase the disk completely with CloneCD.

Each test is repeated at least twice to check the accuracy of the measured results. These are summarized in the table below.

For the reasons already stated, we had to use 12x media here as well. The difference between both LG Electronics drives is less than the margin of error we apply to our measurements.

Writing Quality And Media Compatibility

Getting data onto a CD fast is one thing. No less important, however, is making sure that the data is written accurately. After all, you want to be sure you can play your CDs in any drive. Writing quality is therefore an extremely important factor.

We used six different writable and three different rewritable media in order to reach our verdict as to how dependent writing quality is on which CD is used.

We copied 717758 kBytes to a 700 MB CDR and 660152 kBytes to a 650 MB CD-RW. Writing method is DAO or TAO. We enabled the "Superlink" buffer under-run protection for each test. The GCE-84810B's "Fail-Free-Burning" feature selects the maximum write speed. In theory, this should produce the best possible results. After burning, we checked the surface of the CD for errors using the Scandisk function in Nero CD Speed (damaged or illegible sectors).

All in all, the "Fail-Free-Burning" mechanism proved to be a very effective system. Although it did not allow all media to be burned at its maximum rated speed, it did produce flawless CDs.

Here is a summary of our tests using three different RW media.

GCE-8489B writing quality DAO mode

Apart from a small hiccup when run in conjunction with the Ricoh 10x RW media, the writing quality of the GCE-8480B is very good with RW media.

When the TAO write mode is selected, something very interesting happens:

GCE-8480B writing quality TAO mode

The last sectors of the TAO data CD-RW are unreadable. We found the same thing with data CD-Rs that were written in TAO mode.