The specifications of the LG GSA-H42N state that the drive is able to write CD-R discs at 48x CD-RW discs at 32x. Let’s find out how the drive really performs in speed and quality.

Writing Quality with CD-R discs:   

For our data writing tests, we simply set up a new compilation of about 702Mb using Nero Burning ROM software. Writing method used is DAO (Disc At Once), and the disc is set up as a non-multisession disc with “finalize disc” enabled. The screenshot below shows how long it takes to write a disc at the highest speed (48x):

The drive took 2 minutes and 42 seconds to write the disc at 48x. Let us see how this compares to other drives:

The LG GSA-H42N is a very fast performer when writing CD-R media at 48x.

Write Quality:   

First we will test CD-R discs from different manufacturers. To really measure the write speed, we used the “create data CD” function in Nero CD-DVD Speed. The discs were written at the maximum speed that the drive supports. For the quality test, we will use K-Probe 2, a tool developed by a Lite-On employee. It runs under Windows and works with drives made by Lite-On. Also note that different drives and different reading speeds may affect the results obtained when scanning the discs. For our tests we used a Lite-On CD-RW SOHR-5239V drive with firmware 2$08 and the discs will be scanned at 48X speed.

A written CD-R disc will always have some C1 errors; C1 errors are easily corrected by the drive’s error correction capabilities. The next level of errors is C2, while C2 errors could also be corrected by most drive’s error correction capabilities; they are not wanted on a good quality disc. A good disc should not contain any C2 errors, and preferably have an average C1 error amount of below 2.0 for the best quality discs, or at least below 10.0 C1 average for good quality discs. After C2 errors, there are only un-correctable errors that will make a disc unusable.

In short, our analysis will be based on this guideline to determine the quality of the burned disc:

CD-R/RW quality scan guideline

And below are the obtained results:

Editor’s note: We have been working with LG and testing new firmware to try and fix the C2 error problem, you will notice some extra CD-R scans and they will be labeled with the new firmware RL02.

RL02 firmware

Taiyo Yuden media has C2 errors so it goes in the ”Poor Quality” category.

RL02 firmware

Maxell media – manufactured by RiTEK Corporation has C2 errors so it goes in the ”Poor Quality” category.

Memorex Music media – manufactured by RiTEK Corporation has C2 errors so it goes in the ”Poor Quality” category.

RL02 firmware

Memorex Black media – manufactured by CMC Magnetics has C2 errors so it goes in the ”Poor Quality” category.

Sony media – manufactured by Sony Corporation has C2 errors so it goes in the ”Poor Quality” category.

Verbatim media – manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation has C2 errors so it goes in the ”Poor Quality” category.

RL02 firmware

Fujifilm media – manufactured by Daxon has C2 errors so it goes in the ”Poor Quality” category.

Writing Quality with CD-RW discs:

Due to requests from our readers, we will add a few write quality tests with re-writable media. Settings and testing procedures is the same as used earlier in this review, so you may want to go back and read them if you are unsure. All discs used for these tests are new and have not been written to before.

Verbatim media - manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation has C2 errors so it goes in the ”Poor Quality” category..

Sony media – made by Daxon has C2 errors so it goes in the ”Poor Quality” category.

Summary:

The LG GSA-H42N is a very fast CD-R writer but is showing questionable results with C2 errors on all our CD-R test media.

But nevertheless, this is a DVD-Writer, so head on to next page and read about DVD-Writing performance and DVD media compatibility…

On the next page let’s take a look at the DVD+R/RW Writing Performance…

Reading Performance

DVD+R/RW writing performance