detail information

Besides supporting 4x DVD+R recording the AOpen drive can also write DVD+RW media at 4x. On this page of our review we'll see what these speeds mean when writing normal data compilations and when using the packet writing method.

Re-Writing Data:

For our CD-RW data re-writing tests we set up a new compilation of 650MB using the Nero Burning Rom 5.5 software. We used the DAO (Disc At Once) writing method. In the screenshot below you can see the burn process completed successfully:

As you can see our data compilation was written in 8 minutes and 14 seconds. This was about 7 seconds slower than the Sanyo CRD-BPDV2 drive. For our next DVD+RW test we set up a new DVD-ROM compilation of about 4.4GB. We again used the DAO writing method and started the write process:

The total compilation was written in just under 15 minutes. This recording time is about 9 to 10 minutes shorter than when recording at 2.4x (which is what most DVD+RW drives currently support). When we compare the AOpen write time to the Plextor PX-708A which also supports 4x DVD+RW recording, the AOpen again needs a bit more time, about 17 seconds, to complete the compilation.

Packet Writing:

For our packet writing tests we used Ahead's InCD 4 software and tested both the AOpen's CD-RW and DVD+RW performance. For our first test we set-up a test folder with random data measuring roughly 400MB in size. After formatting was complete we measured the time it took for the drive to write the test data. In the table below we've summed up our results:

If you've read some of our previous reviews where we used the InCD 4 software you'll know that we have often seen strange results when looking at the recording times and speeds. The AOpen drive can re-write data at 10x but with InCD 4 we only achieved an average packet writing speed of 5.11x. So, to check if the InCD 4 software was the problem we simply uninstalled InCD 4 and replaced it with Ahead's InCD 3 software. In the table below you can see the new results:

As you can see from the results the AOpen DRW4410 now achieved an average packet writing speed of 7.53x but strangely enough, the formatting of the CD-RW disc took (much) more time. Let's continue with the drive's DVD+RW packet writing performance. We've included the write times when using InCD 3 and 4:

And again we can see quite a big difference when using InCD 3 or 4. When using InCD 4 the DVD+RW disc is formatted faster but writing to it takes more time. When using InCD 3 it's the other way around although an average packet writing speed of 2.9x when using InCD 3, is not very fast for a 4x DVD+RW drive. Because the AOpen drive does not support the Mount Rainier format this concludes our re-write tests.

Write Tests

Advanced Tests