detail information

 

To round off this review we will run some advanced tests on the BenQ DW822A. These tests are: making backups of protected data and audio discs as well as some special disc test.

Copy protected data discs:

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For this test, we will use CloneCD 4.3.2.2 and Blindwrite 5.1.6.132 to make a backup of games containing some of the most popular copy protections. In the screenshot below we see that the BenQ DW822A supports all available write and read features in CloneCD:

BenQ DW822A supports DAO-RAW96 recording mode, which basically means that it can write uncorrected data and subchannel data. Below are our results for all the tested games:

 

Motoracer 3 is protected with Tagé?s, a protection that uses a very special sub channel protection. So far no drives have been able to backup this game successfully.

 

Flé?klypa grand prix is a Norwegian game that is protected with CD Cops, again a very special protection that is added during the manufacturing process. So far no drives have been able to make a 100% working backup, a few drives in combination with a few media types may make a backup that works in a few drives.

 

Desperados: Wanted dead or alive is protected with Laserlok, a protection that takes very long time to read for most drives, but most drives is able to make working backups of this game.

 

The Diablo 2 expansion set is protected with SecuROM version 4.62.00 0100, a widely used protection scheme. Writers able to read and write subchannel data correctly should be able to backup this Game.

 

Grand Theft Auto: Vice city is protected with a newer version of SecuROM: namely version 4.84.69 0071. Very few (if any) writers could reliably make working backups of this protection. There are a few tricks that advanced users may use in combination with some writers to make a backup that will at least work in some drives, but this is still not a perfect copy.

 

Max Payne 2 is protected with one of the most recent SecuROM versions: version 4.85.04. Very few (if any) writers could reliably make working backups of this protection.

 

Max Payne is protected with the very popular Safedisc protection; the version used on Max Payne is version 2.30.33. If a writer supports 'Almost correct EFM encoding of regular bit patterns" it will be able to backup this protection without problems. If it does not support this you need to enable the 'Amplify weak sectors" option in CloneCD. This is a software trick to make most writers able to backup most Safedisc protected games with weak sectors.

Serious Sam is also protected with the very popular Safedisc protection; the version used on Serious Sam is version 2.51.21. If a writer supports 'Correct EFM encoding of regular bit patterns" it will be able to backup this protection without problems. If it does not support this you need to enable the 'Amplify weak sectors" option in CloneCD. This is a software trick to make most writers able to backup most Safedisc protected games with weak sectors.

 

Command and Conquer: Generals is another game protected with the very popular Safedisc protection, the version used on Command and Conquer: Generals is version 2.80.10. If a writer supports 'Correct EFM encoding of regular bit patterns" it may be able to backup this protection without problems. If it does not support this you need to enable the 'Amplify weak sectors" option in CloneCD. This is a software trick to make most writers able to backup most Safedisc protected games with weak sectors. Note that some writers may still have problems with this version.

 

The protection on The Sims: Superstar expansion pack is also Safedisc protected, this time it's version 2.90.40. Very few writers are able to reliably make a working backup of this protection. . If a writer supports 'Correct EFM encoding of regular bit patterns" it may be able to backup this protection without problems. If it does not support this you need to enable the 'Amplify weak sectors" option in CloneCD. This is a software trick to make most writers able to backup most Safedisc protected games with weak sectors. Note that some writers may still have problems with this version.

 

And Vegas: Make it BIG is yet another Safedisc protected game, this time it's version 3.10.20. Very few writers are able to reliably make a working backup of this protection. . If a writer supports 'Correct EFM encoding of regular bit patterns" it may be able to backup this protection without problems. If it does not support this you need to enable the 'Amplify weak sectors" option in CloneCD. This is a software trick to make most writers able to backup most Safedisc protected games with weak sectors. Note that some writers may still have problems with this version.

The table below shows the backup capabilities of the BenQ DW822A:

*Only with Amplify Weak sectors enabled
**Only when using Blindwrite 5 to back it up, CloneCD backup does not work.
***The drive was only reading errors after the protection as well, it was at 23% when we aborted the reading process after 6 hours reading '? still reporting read errors, which there should not be at that point.

Settings for CloneCD: Read subchannel data and write them uncorrected. Fast Error Skip: enabled. Intelligent bad sector scanner: enabled and set to 100-error skip. First we tried to write with AWS(Amplify Weak sectors) disabled, if that did not work we wrote again with AWS enabled, as a last attempt we tried the emulate option as well.

Drives used to verify that the backup works: Toshiba SD-M1612 and JLMS XJ-HD165H, No emulators or ATIP hiders are running while testing the backup copy.

As we could see the BenQ DW822A is not the perfect drive for backing up protected discs as it do not support 'correct EFM encoding of regular bit patterns" and has problems with the Laserlok protection.

Copy protected Audio:

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For our protected audio test we used the Exact Audio Copy program. We inserted the protected audio discs and if the drive was able to recognize the disc we tried to extract the music tracks to the hard drive. First let us look at the discs we had available for this test:

 

Westlife: World of our own is protected with Cactus data shield 100.

 

Natalie Imbruglias White lilies Island. This disc is protected with Cactus Datashield 200

 

Shakira: Laundry service, which is protected with Key2Audio version 2.

 

And finally Celine Dion: A new day has come, that is protected with key2audio version 3

Results:

Game '? protection	CloneCD Read time	Backup  works?
Motoracer 3 '? Tages	1m:46s	No
Flé?klypa '? CD-Cops	1m:57s	No
Desperados '? Laserlok	-	No***
Diablo 2 expansion '? SecuROM v4.62.00 0100	1m:56s	Yes
GTA Vice City '? SecuROM v4.84.69 0071	1m:35s	No
Max Payne 2 - SecuROM v4.85.04	1m:41s	No
Max Payne '? Safedisc v2.30.33	18m:13s	Yes*
Serious Sam '? Safedisc v2.51.21	17m:26s	Yes*
C&C: Generals '? Safedisc v2.80.10	17m:23s	Yes**
The Sims: Superstar '? Safedisc v2.90.40	17m:48s	Yes**
VEGA$ - Make it big '? Safedisc v 3.10.20	17m:59s	Yes**

Protected Audio	Protection version	Exact Audio Copy
Westlife: World of our own	Cactus data shield 100	Use secure mode, reads very slowly. But extracts everything ok.
Natalie Imbruglia: White lilies island	Cactus data shield 200	Use secure mode, reads very slowly. But extracts everything ok.
Shakira: Laundry Service	Key2Audio version 2	Use secure mode, reads very slowly. But extracts everything ok.
Celine Dion: A new day has come	Key2Audio version 3	Use secure mode, reads very slowly. But extracts everything ok.

The BenQ DW822A is not the best drive for protected audio discs as it will generate a lot of timing errors unless you use secure mode. And when using secure mode it reads really slow, below 2x actually.

Overburning:

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To test the overburning capabilities of the BenQ DW822A we used the overburning test in Nero CD/DVD-Speed. According to Nero CD/DVD speed the drive can overburn to more than 99 minutes:

 

To make sure that it actually works we wrote a 99 minutes long disc in Nero Burning ROM:

 

We tried several disc and it failed during the lead out every time, yes we did try all available writing speeds (12x, 16x and 24x) but no luck. It could be the drive or the media or Nero causing this. We decided to try Nero CD-Speed as well:

 

When using the create data disc function in Nero CD/DVD speed we did not have any problems at all, it actually wrote the disc successfully all the way up to 100 minutes! This leaves us thinking that there is a bug in Nero causing the drive to fail during the lead out. Let us try to read the 99 minutes disc:

 

Outstanding! The drive reached a top speed of 47.77x and did not have any problems with reading the 99min disc.

8CM CD-R and pocket card CD-R discs:

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Now we will try to read and write 8cm CD-R discs and pocket card CD-R discs from Memorex.

8cm CD-R disc:

 

Brand:	Memorex
Manufacturer:	CMC Magnetics
Code:	97m26s66f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 6: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Capacity:	23:59.74 (210.64MB)
Certified Speed:	24x
Write Speed:	18-24x P-CAV
Write Time:	1m:30s

 

The BenQ DW822A did not have any problems with writing and reading the 8cm CD-R disc.

Pocket card CD-R:

 

Brand:	Memorex
Manufacturer:	CMC Magnetics
Code:	97m26s66f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 6: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Capacity:	06:00.00 (52.44MB)
Certified Speed:	Not specified
Write Speed:	18-20x CAV
Write Time:	1m:57s

 

And there are no problems with reading and writing the credit card disc either.

Now, that concludes our BenQ DW822A review, head on to the last page to read our conclusion…